Design Alchemy: How to Accessorize Your Coffee Table by Mixing Elements

What you put on your coffee table says a lot about your personality while setting the tone for your room. The right accessories can transform a space from generic and uninspired to your personal haven or retreat.

A coffee table display isn’t just for those who entertain regularly. Arranging some of your favourite items can boost your mood at home, connecting you to your living space. Get the best of both worlds with some of our designers’ top tips.

The Type of Accessory Should Reflect Your Personality

A coffee table display should perfectly blend your personality and style. Sometimes you’ll have to do fancy footwork to pull it all together, but some of the best accessories for your table come from items you’ve collected and things you enjoy collecting.

The Book Enthusiast’s Advantage

One of the most obvious answers to the question of how to accessorize a coffee table is books. However, this is a broad category. Many designers love books because they do a great job filling space.

For example, you can display traditional coffee table books with eye-catching covers to draw interest. These books are often displayed flat and can be emphasized with a single book or grouped to create some height. If you like to switch things up, you may enjoy using a book to add colour and reflect the seasons.

Art Lovers Unite with Coffee Table Accessories

Art lovers have a myriad of choices when it comes to coffee table design. Styling your coffee table is a great excuse to purchase or display some of your treasured art or art books.

Coffee tables are sleek options for displaying smart art objects or original three-dimensional art. Pieces of original art, from sculpture to pottery, are attractive and unique, so it’s worth showing them off.

Relive Your Travels and Display Your Treasures

If you enjoy travelling, bringing items home that remind you of your trip is a must. But, it can be challenging to find a good place for those travel treasures. A coffee table motif can be an ideal solution for this dilemma.

Styling your coffee table with your travel mementos is also an expert way to start conversing with visitors about your adventures. Plus, you get to enjoy the pieces you’ve spent so much time collecting.

Enjoy Staying Home? There are Coffee Table Accessories for You

While it's easy to think that you're styling your coffee table for visitors, you are the person who sees the table the most often. So even if you don’t entertain, you want your coffee table design to be stylish and meaningful.

Putting together a coffee table display helps personalize your space and make your home more cozy. You can choose a stack of your favourite books, find attractive boxes to display your sewing items (or other hobbies), or add a unique carafe or teapot you found.

Take Advantage of Styling Elements and Get Surprising (and Useable) Combos

1. Layer coffee table accessories for maximum effect

Layering is an underrated tool for creating an attractive (and functional) coffee table display. Doing this adds height and interest to your presentation and can be as simple as a seemingly random stack of books or several-size boxes. Top off your stack with a carefully selected vase or candleholder for further dimension and visual height.

You probably won’t get your final arrangement in one shot. The fun of design includes experimentation. Try out a few combinations of layers until you find the one most appealing to you. There's no one "right" way to accessorize!

2. Nothing is permanent

One of the best things about coffee table accessories is that, unlike most furniture pieces, they are easy to change. Your hobbies, passions, and design tastes will likely change over time. When that happens, you can switch out your accessories to better suit the new you.

3. Use the rule of three

One of the timeless design rules is that multiples of three create a more attractive and balanced design or display. Human brains tend to like figuring things out, so you can generate interest through the rule of three and give someone the visual center point to find. You could go for a stack of three books, three objects arranged on your table, or three items placed on a tray, like one of each of our Orion Jars.

4. Consider a tray for displaying small items

A tray is a great way to contain smaller items, drawing interest and preventing them from rolling over the table. Trays can be lacquered or covered with leather, or perhaps you’re more interested in a stone or resin tray, like our 1089 Rectangular Tray. Maybe your style reflects the quirky mid-century modern or sleek industrial style. Anyway, you look at it – there’s a tray that suits your sensibilities.

5. Incorporate storage

No home can have too much storage, and incorporating stylish storage into your coffee table motif can give you a convenient place to stow things you often use, such as remotes or chargers for your electronic devices. Do this with decorative boxes or even a miniature desktop chest of drawers. If your coffee table has multiple levels, you can use the lower level as storage for additional books or other (attractive) items. One of our Braque Box collections might be the perfect fit as a storage box.

6. Make sure to leave room for the coffee

Remember when you style your coffee table to stay focused and cover the entire surface. You still want to be able to use the table for things like placing a drink or a plate of appetizers. While the stylish design is essential, the functionality still matters. PS. Remember the coasters to protect your coffee table's surface!

Accessorizing with the Professionals at Domaine

Accessorizing your coffee table should be fun, not stressful. To make your coffee table display attractive and reflective of your personality and interests, select a few of your favourite items, layer them artistically, and remember to leave room for the coffee table to be useful.

To find the ideal coffee table for your living space, visit Domaine Furnishings and chat with the team. Our collective of interior designers is ready to share tips and provide direction for your next coffee table decor project.