Coffee table in the interior: elegant and practical accent
A coffee table is a discreet interior item that, despite its small size, plays a leading design role in the room. The choice of a table depends on its purpose: whether to put magazines on it or throw up your legs, drink coffee, or play board games. It is worth it because you have children, and whether they like to draw at a table in the living room. Or maybe you want to surprise the guests with originality? What is more essential for you: functionality or beauty? Consider both options.
You can choose a coffee table that will perform two functions at once: aesthetics and functionality. But if nevertheless, your choice gravitates to beauty, you can buy a decorative or antique coffee table. Decorative tables include:
If functionality is more important to you than quality, then you can choose a practical table made of solid wood or a transforming table.
Features of choice
A coffee table will help complete the design of the living room. You can put drinks on it and put on its surface a couple of glossy magazines, newspapers or catalogs, thereby making a bright accent in the interior, combining all these accessories into a single whole. More often, preference is given to square shapes and rectangles: such items are convenient to move, deploy the desired side to the guests, or the wall. Materials for tables are better to choose shockproof and heat-resistant.
When selecting a coffee table from a specific material or size, be sure to imagine how it will harmonize with chairs or armchairs in the room where you intend to place it.
For the coffee table, it is best to choose catchy and originally designed items with backlighting or additional shelves.
Size and types
Small table for breakfast
Usually, they have a round tabletop on four legs or one support. They are no different from a standard dining table, except for size.
Showcase coffee table
A glass top represents this view with an internal shelf-stand, where you can put all kinds of things, including souvenirs and beautiful figures.
Transforming coffee table
All kinds of tables, which can be adjusted in height, size. Some models can be folded. Such a table is convenient for those who value practicality. You can have breakfast/lunch on it at the same time, and having folded it, turn it into a pouf or a banquet.
Stand coffee table
The name speaks for itself. According to the design, they are on legs, like a table-guéridon used to stand a vase, a lamp, a trinket, or a telephone.
Matryoshka coffee table
By the principle of nesting dolls, such tables are sold in a set from the smallest to the largest. Tables are arranged in cascade or distributed around the room.
Cribbage coffee table
It is a small square tabletop, pushed to the sofa.
Decorative coffee table
This table is designed for admiring. In this case, modern materials, fresh ideas, as well as old furniture, which designers gave a new life to, are used. The peculiarity of such tables is that they are not intended for books, coffee, and magazines, but play an exclusively decorative role.
How to choose a coffee table
It is recommended to adhere to three basic rules:
Depending on what is more important to you, it is worth starting first. Price does not always reliably characterize quality. You can choose a classic coffee table made of wood or rattan. The tables from Italian manufacturers are considered the most expensive. Still, even among Chinese production, there are decent forged models, transforming tables, white round classic ones, as well as loft-style models.
By functionality, coffee tables can be distinguished depending on the level of load and capacity. A truly functional table is one where you can not only drink coffee. But if for someone, it is more important than the table serves only as an ornament in the interior of the living room, then you can fork out for a designer model. At the same time, do not forget about the design of the living room – the table should not differ from the general style of the room.
The size of the coffee table is significant for the living room. It concerns the proportionality of the whole room with the purchased piece of furniture. It also matters where the table will stand and what shape it will be. If the living room is small, it is better to choose oval and round tables. They will give not only the general structure of the room but also allow you to move around the living room freely.
If the room is spacious, then you can safely get a coffee table of any shape: from rectangular to round and tall. As for the height, it is a matter of taste for everyone. There are a lot of folding models, unusual shapes made of wood, folding tables in the loft-style on wheels, the height of which is easily adjustable.
Rattan coffee table
Not only metal models on wheels in the loft-style pretend to originality, but also rattan tables are trendy. There are several advantages at once:
Even though most often they have a round shape, their unusual appearance affects many connoisseurs. They can be small black, with a glass and wooden worktop, metal, and even folding.
Coffee table on wheels
Not only for a country house but also in the apartment will be comfortable a table on wheels. It can always be moved without difficulty if it is cluttered with magazines, and also used in different areas of the room, and for different purposes. Of course, more often, it is metal, forged, or rattan models, but there are also glass or wood products.
Forged coffee table
Forged furniture is considered the elite among other models of coffee tables. In the interior, it looks rich and sophisticated, models are both classic and non-standard, complementing the interior in the style of a loft, classic, and others. Along with wood or rattan furniture, wrought iron small tables can look cozy and easy in the interior. The countertop is often made of a material other than metal. Less often, it is metal, more often – white, black, wood, or glass. The material and method of forging affect the cost. But truly unusual models of such furniture can be purchased from artisans.
Design tips in different decor style
If you do not know how to beat a coffee table in the interior of a room, then you should think about its purpose.
The easiest way to cope with the design task is a wooden table since it does not require special, strict stylistic conditions. It will be able to fit into a black room, hi-tech or loft, and a colorful living room in the style of pop art.
Most advantageous will be any table in the living room if you choose pillows of the same color as the table on the sofa.
It is worth considering not only the color of the furniture but also the material from which it is made. It is good if the coffee table is harmonious in this regard. If there is a cabinet with black glass doors in the room, it is obvious that a small black table with a glass top will fit perfectly.
Classical coffee table style
Loft coffee table style
Scandinavian coffee table style
Modern coffee table style
Art deco coffee table style
Hi-tech coffee table style
Materials of manufacture
The most commonly used material for the production of such popular items is wood, and today even individual table elements are made from it. Then the countertop itself can be made of stone, plastic, or glass.
Wood is easily combined with various interior solutions. For example, an oak table will fit, particularly in a room where the floor is from parquet or laminate.
If the load on the coffee table is minimal, then you can choose a product with a glass top – this table will look light and more elegant and will fit into any style. Such models are often equipped with duplicate glass shelves. In this case, the material can be completely transparent and darkened opaque and even multi-colored.
The rattan tables have a striking appearance – light and very durable products. Weaving technique is used here, tabletops more often have the shape of a circle, but they are also decorated more originally in the form of squares. These tables are suitable for summer cottages, can be placed on the balcony, or the outdoor terrace. Such coffee tables made of natural material are in great demand both because of the stylish appearance and because of the cost. In essence, wicker furniture is cheaper than the natural wood table.
Also, tables can be made of unusual material – genuine leather, saw cut wood, and there is a completely unusual combination of materials. Such a product initially serves as a decoration, which requires a very caring attitude.
Tables with a stone worktop or a product made from a single piece of material are the best option for those who want to feel their complete unity with nature. These are non-standard options for the design of the premises, most often found in a single exclusive form.
If you like original tables, then you obviously will like the idea of the handmade table on wheels with a tabletop from a large chest, an ordinary box, an old suitcase.
A simple metal coffee table in the form of a rectangle can modify the atmosphere of a fashionable interior, especially if you play on the geometric contrasts of the elements present in the room.
Combinations in a modern interior
Designers praised the functionality of this item. Such a product can easily be used as a compositional center of a room. Here you can arrange all kinds of decorative elements: figurines, flowerpots, watches, or various trinkets.
In the living room, you can find models in all existing styles: classic and ultramodern, country and loft, in the style of Provence and Empire. For example, tables in a colonial or ethnic style often look like chests.
Coffee tables in the loft-style have an unusual appearance – most often, they are made of a metal frame and a wooden tabletop and have fairly strict colors.
If you want to buy an antique coffee table, then you should take a closer look at products in the art deco style of wood, ceramics.
A cup of coffee on a table made of elite wood is the dream of every collector. Such products are usually exquisite in their appearance, and they emphasize the solidity of their value and the high status of their owner. Therefore they are most often used inappropriate interiors.
Wooden coffee tables have always been considered and will be considered a traditional option for room decoration.
Items made from wood in the colors of wenge or dark oak will look great in bright interiors, for example, in a spacious and bright living room. Polished or humble white and beige colors of the original design of the table emphasize the solidity of the dark cabinet, decorated in a minimalist style.
