Ten Tips On Decorating Your Coffee Table

Decorating your coffee table can be hard. What do you put on it? And how do you style it? How many accessories are enough or too much?

Your goal is for a pretty coffee table display that is not cluttered.

Then you also need for your coffee table to be functional. After all, you need a place to put drinks (aka coffee), snacks, remote and reading materials.

But how do you get the popular Pinterest look to decorate your coffee table?

I have the following ten tips that will give you lots of coffee table decor ideas!

What Is A Vignette

A vignette is a small grouping of eye pleasing objects displayed on a table or shelf.

Simple, huh?

Coffee table styling isn’t hard.

Well, I struggle with vignettes on my tables. Especially my coffee table. I don’t know why I find this so hard. Object placement should be easy, right? Well, I have put together a group of decorative accents then taken them apart and put it all back together. Over and over. Never really satisfied with how it looks. Judging gets too hard.

Sound familiar?

If so, read on for my ten tips for decorating your coffee table, that will have you putting together a vignette easily. I have developed a formula that works every single time. Just follow along.

How To Style Your Coffee Table

1. Anchor Your Vignette
   • Start with a base as an anchor. This could be a tray or a basket. The anchor is what you build our vignette on. It holds everything together.
   • Decorating your coffee table with a tray is a good starting point.

I always start with a base to display my vignette on. I like to use a tray or a basket. This anchors your vignette to a section of your coffee table. This is one way to corral your vignette. This will keep your coffee table from looking cluttered. The tray gives your decor a boundary so nothing looks out of place.

Decorating with a basket on your coffee table will add texture to your space as well as character. Experiment with different sizes and styles. Round baskets are lovely on a rectangle or square coffee table.

By placing your decor in a tray, this makes it very easy to move for dusting. Or if you need to move it out of the way for game night!

2. Choose Your Theme
   • You want to choose items to create a theme. The theme could be a style such as farmhouse decor or vintage or rustic to name a few ideas. I am currently heavily into the farmhouse look. I especially like the grays and rustic texture. The chippier the better.

3. Height And Scale
   • When looking at any display, you want the eye to be able to look up and down as it travels across your vignette. Height will give it visual interest.
   • Scale will balance your coffee table. The last thing you want is to have very heavy pieces paired with light and delicate. Go ahead and pair chunky and small items but don’t over do the scale. For example, pairing a huge vase with a very small figurine. This throws the entire aesthetic off balance.

You want to vary the size of your accessories in terms of scale. Don’t do all the same size. Do add different sizes. This make the grouping much more appealing.

Height and scale play an important visual effect.

Since this is a coffee table, don’t use any piece that is so large it blocks the view of another person sitting on the other side or the very important tv.

Mix up objects and levels.

In summary, keep like items together but vary the heights and scale for an eye catching display . This will help all of your decorative elements to be visible.

I used these tips when I decorated my family room for winter.

4. The Rule Of Odds
   • Always arrange objects in set of three, five or seven. Odd numbers are more eye catching. This is the number of accessories in your anchor tray.

In all my displays, I add accessories in odd numbers in my tray and again in the basket that sits in the tray. There should never be an even number. It just flows better in odd numbers.

5. Choose Contrasting Colors
   • Even though I am into grays and whites, my coffee table and trays are a deep brown. In order for my vignette to stand out, I use lighter colors for my vignette. This way they stand out from the table and tray.

Using a light colored table runner on the coffee table would be another way to break up all the brown. Or if your table is light you could do the opposite.

Coffee Table Accessories

6. Choose A Light Source
   • Use candles or fairy lights to add light to your vignette. This is especially pretty at night. Using a battery operated candle or tea light, timed to light up at dusk is a lovely and unexpected part of your vignette. You could add lights to a lantern for a farmhouse specialty.

7. Add A Natural Element
   • Use plants, flowers, or bowls of fruit to bring a life to your vignette.

I love using planters of boxwood. This is a real plant that has been dried yet when taken care of will stay green for years.

Fabric flowers are another favorite of mine. When shopping for faux flowers, I look for fabric flowers over plastic. They are more realistic looking.

You could also use inexpensive moss balls placed in a small bowl or basket. An inexpensive yet effective look for your coffee table vignette.

8. Add Books
   • Old books are the perfect accessory to add to your coffee table decor. Books as decor are simple and inexpensive ways to add texture to your coffee table.

Thrift stores are an abundant source for old books.

They can add height when used to elevate smaller items. They can be placed in small baskets for an interest feature.

Cover the covers with kraft paper if the book cover doesn’t match your theme. Or dare I say it? Take the cover off to expose the bare pages. This tip may not be for book lovers. I hesitate to even mention it but maybe you already own a book or two that was damaged. Just a thought.

I purchased a couple of faux books from Hobby Lobby that I use in my trays. These books are hinged so you could place remote controls inside to hide them. I love that.

9. Use Something Unexpected
   • Put some of your personality into the vignette. Add a personal treasure.

An old toy, clock or even a small framed picture.

Instead of the expected tray as a base, I used parts of a pallet that my mister put together. I love the rustic texture of this piece.

Placement is crucial to the functionality of your coffee table.

My coffee table is rather large. I like to keep my vignette either diagonal to one side or placed in the middle. This keeps the vignette anchored with an uncluttered look.

Plus this allows the use of the other space of the coffee table for function without worry that something will get knocked over.

Kids and pets come to mind.

10. Step Back And Edit
    • Once you have finished with your display, take a step back and decide if you have too much or too little.

You may want to take a picture of it. Pictures can help to point out any element that may not be pleasing to the eye. You be the judge.

Then go ahead and add or take away.

Decorating is very personal. After all this is your cozy home and it should please you first and foremost.

Break the rules. That’s how new styles are born.