How to Style a Coffee Table

We're officially in the summer season, and you might be expecting a ton of company for barbecues and pool parties this year! We don't know about you, but we haven't been keeping up with styling around the house, and now it's time to revive those spaces and switch it up a little bit. And we get questions specifically about coffee tables pretty often, so we wanted to collect all of our favorite ways to personalize a coffee table here for you on today's post.

Scroll through for a few examples from past projects for some ideas you can implement this week!

Choose Your Focal Point

You know how much we love flowers here at MND! For us, a great vase and fresh flowers is usually where we start to create a great collection on a coffee table. Real is always better, especially because coffee table items are so close to your view. Faux plants or flowers are better on shelves and places people view from a distance. We could go into so much more detail on flower/greenery choice too - maybe that's a whole other blog post? Let us know if you need help figuring that out!

Create Layers and Height

Your focal point is visually the largest or tallest piece in your collection. Varying heights is the key to a dynamic collection, so consider using a tray to gather everything inside and create the first layer. This works great on ottomans so you have a hard/safe spot for food and drinks as well.

Use books that you love as their own mini collection, or as a means to vary heights of shorter objects. If you love having lit candles, beautiful candle canisters and matches with a candle snuffer make for a functional and beautiful addition to any tabletop. We typically have three heights happening in any given coffee table collection of objects, but you can definitely do more depending on the size of your table.

Experiment with Finishes + Texture

Don't be afraid to introduce a different metal, wood, shape, or texture into your living room with these objects. They are small in comparison to the space, and different finishes give a sense of depth to the room as a whole. This also makes it easier for you to use pieces you may have collected from travel adventures, or that flea market trip over the weekend with some girlfriends.

Nothing is keeping you from changing it up every week if you want - display things you love and have great stories about. This is your space, after all.

Step back

Always remember to step back and look at your collection of pieces from every angle to see if you have any holes or unbalanced areas on your tabletop. Don't be afraid to edit too if you went a little too far!

If you take our advice, we'd love to see! Tag @madisonnicoledesign on Instagram showing us your newest coffee table styling project, or message us if you have any questions as you create your tabletop collection.