Coffee Table Decor: Ideas & Inspiration

I’m a sucker for pretty coffee table decor (especially trays) so was excited when the ladies from Project Design (Cindy from Rough Luxe, MaryAnn from Classic Casual Home, & Annie from Most Lovely Things) asked me to join them today to share my favorite coffee table styling tips. If any of you have bare coffee tables in need of a little prettying up, I hope you’ll get enough ideas and inspiration from our posts to get the job done! When I took a look at the two coffee tables in our house (the acrylic coffee table in our family room and the leather ottoman/coffee table in our living room), I realized that there are five coffee table decor essentials that I use when styling them so that they’re both beautiful and functional so I’m going to share each one of those with you today! (post includes some affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})

1. Large Coffee Table Trays (The Perfect Base)

I always use a large tray on my coffee tables. Always. They’re practical because they keep everything neatly corralled and if you want to clear off your coffee table for something (we use our family room coffee table for games and puzzles), you can take everything off with the simple lift of a tray. Trays are also a great way to add some contrasting texture or color to keep things interesting. I loosely mimic the shape of my coffee table with the tray I choose. Our family room coffee table is just a few inches off from being square so I went with a large 28″ square wood tray:

The accessories on my coffee table include: tray (28″ x 28″) | Brass cranes | Magnifying glass | Pinstripe bone box (large) | Book: Elements of Style | Book: The Collected Home | Book: Emily Henderson Styled | Book: Dogs

I had the hardest time finding a large square tray that I liked but ended up finding mine {here} – it was more than I wanted to spend but totally worth it in the end – I love it and still haven’t seen one I like better. You can get them pre-painted but I actually just ordered a bare wood tray and painted it myself so I could get exactly the color I wanted. And I love that if I change up my color scheme in the future, I can simply repaint it rather than having to buy a new tray. 

On our living room ottoman/coffee table, I’ve used mostly light woven trays to add some brightness and texture. I recently bought {this 22″ x 17″ woven rattan tray} which I love (and is a great price for a tray this large!):

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I always go large with my coffee table trays instead of getting a smaller, dinky one. These are my favorites that would work beautifully:

Natural Elements

I love using natural elements in my home so it’s no surprise that they’re one of the first things on my list when it comes to coffee table accessories. You can use anything from a bowl of pinecones or feathers to a mini terrarium like this cutie that I made last year (you can check out my post about how to build a terrarium {here}):

I also love to use elements from the sea such as driftwood, shells, and coral. I love the gorgeous piece of white coral that Bree of ZDesign At Home used on her coffee table for her spring home tour that you can see more of {here}:

The best thing about natural elements is that there are so many outside your door that you can find and use for free. I also have a few “regulars” that I’ve bought (the seed pod “two” is my favorite) and am always able to find a good home four:

Coffee Table Books

Books are another must-have for me – they are perfect for adding a layered look plus it’s nice to have some interesting coffee table books that your family and guests may want to pick up and read. Being the design junkie that I am, most of mine (big surprise) are centered on design but having books about the area you live in or your favorite state or country to vacation is perfect. 

And when it comes time to decorate for the holidays, one of my tricks is to wrap up your coffee table books like presents for easy, inexpensive holiday decorations! 

Having the passion for design that I do, most of my coffee table books are about…yep, design. But I think it’s also nice to display pretty photo albums on your coffee table or books about the area that you live in that guests would enjoy picking up and reading. These are a few of the coffee table books that I own and love:

Something with Height

Coffee tables look best when you use accessories of varying heights, including at least one thing that’s decently tall. It can be a tall plant (by the way, if you’re a plant killer like me I totally recommend these snake plants – they’re seriously unkillable!),

blooming branches that are either real or faux, candlesticks, or just about anything! Just be mindful about getting something too tall if it would be blocking the view of something important. In our family room, I placed this pair of brass cranes to add a little bit (but not too much) height since when we’re on the couch, we’re looking over our coffee table to watch TV. 

Decorative Boxes

Decorative boxes are the best! There are so, so many beautiful options and they great for stashing your TV remotes, coasters, or anything else that you don’t need out all of the time cluttering up your table. I adore the black and white box that Tamara of Citrine Living used when styling her coffee table/ottoman for her recent fall home tour – you can check out more pictures of her beautiful fall home {here}.

Picking just a few favorite boxes was a chore because there are lots amazingly beautiful ones out there but these are some I don’t think you could go wrong with that I’ve been eyeing lately:

Once you’ve got these essentials in place, then it’s time to have some fun and add a few quirky things you love! For me, that’s often brass animals (#obsessed) but for you it might be some kind of memorabilia from a favorite sport, something related to your favorite hobby, or a piece that simply has some history and special meaning to you. I’ve already found a few things I’m pretty excited about using on our family room coffee table – more deets on that along with my week four One Room Challenge progress tomorrow! See you then!