What's on your coffee table?

Question

I bought a new coffee table this weekend and am having a heck of a time staging it.  I found that staging my long, oval table was much easier.  I've tried everything in the house on it and finally settled on a rustic wire basket with some green apples, an antique book and a chrome airplane, but I'm still not feeling it (my accent color is lime green).  I have an over-abundance of glass and vases/bowls in the house, so I'm trying to avoid repeating those things, and flowers seem too frilly for our taste.  Maybe some pictures of your coffee table will inspire me!   Please share and offer suggestions for mine!

KMS Woodworks · Answer

WE keep our empty...right know it has my feet on it...propped up with a pillow from the couch...LOL

Leslie D · Answer

LOL KMS!  The problem with that (other than this is a white table), is that it seems my feet and eyes are somehow connected...the feet go up, the eyes close, then the neck hurts when I wake up.

Z · Answer

I think it looks lovely Leslie. I have a very large 'platter' on our coffee table with a organic shaped candle on it. I'll have to take a picture later. It's nothing special really. I also have a metal tray I've used on it before with a few magazines, but it's not on the bottom shelf of the console table with DVDs in it now.

Miriam Illions · Answer

I think it looks perfect. I love the green pillow + green apple combo. I'm not fond of overdone coffee tables (or anything else for that matter). This is clean, easy to maintain, and lovely.

Sharron W · Answer

I too loke it as is, except for the fact that the apples will ultimately get eaten and then you'll have an empty basket...LOL

Z · Answer

LOL Sharron. I guess Leslie will have to either keep plenty apples on hand or buy some good looking fake ones. I have some very realistic looking pears in our kitchen. So far no one has tried to eat them either. ;^)

Leslie D · Answer

Thanks, all.  The apples are in no danger...they're fake...LOL.  I've wanted to put this book on display for a while now.  It's not a valuable copy, but it's a 1934 edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Tanglewood Tales'.  It was inscribed in the room where Hawthorne wrote the book by by Margaret M. Lothrop, daughter of Margaret Sidney (Mrs. Daniel Lothrop), who wrote 'The Five Little Peppers', and owned the Wayside Inn at the time it was inscribed.  The house was also owned by Louisa Alcott,
'Little Women', and I just thought it was neat that this book had been inscribed in the actual room where 3 great authors had written their classics.  There was a photo of Margaret Sidney stuck in the front, along with an antique postcard of the Wayside Inn and a copy of the history of Wayside Inn and the authors who had lived there.  One of my small treasures.

Ally · Answer

I like everything you have on the table Leslie.  Maybe you could put a few of the 'loose' things on a tray which would ground it somehow.  Y'know?

Z · Answer

Wow Leslie! That is a treasure. I suppose now that we finally have a home library I should start looking for such treasures, but instead we're filling it with books we've read or plan to read while we spend most of our money on finishing our home.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that uses fake fruit. I'm sure some designers would cringe at that, but they don't live here. LOL

Sharron W · Answer

LOL@ Becky...They don't live here....HaHaHa....

Leslie D · Answer

I know....fake plants/fruit is supposedly the #1 design mistake you can make, but your'e right, Becky....unless they want to come help me eat an entire bowl of fruit, fake it is! .  Ally, good idea!  I'll try that...but I'm a bit OCD, so it has to be an odd number of things...great, now I have to go count the applies...LOL

Z · Answer

Being OCD myself I find it hard to break most rules. You know, don't cut corners while turning a corner when driving, fully stop at all stop signs, stay on the right side of an aisle or hallway when walking in a building, etc.... But give me a design rule (other than the odd number thing because that *always* works) and I'm happier breaking them over following them for the most part.

3po3 · Answer

Becky, what's the opposite of OCD? I break all those rules all the time. As for the coffee table, I have always thought that a coffee table book or two are all a coffee table really needs.

Z · Answer

Well, I suppose you could have another form of OCD where you have a strong need *to* break the rules Steve. LOL

Sharron W · Answer

@Becky & Steve....Isn't that called Rebel....LOL  You are decorating rebels...HaHaha

Z · Answer

Boy I never thought anyone would call me a rebel. 8^0

Ellen H · Answer

I may be a rebel too.  I won't have a chalkboard (painted or otherwise) in my house, regardless of how popular that chalkboard paint becomes. I hated chalk and chalkboards and chalk dust when I had to endure them in school - still hate them.

Ellen H · Answer

Sorry Leslie D -that had nothing to do with your coffee table.  If you don''t like the idea of a tray, how about putting the special book at the top of a small stack of books (two more for odd # total, LOL) that are slightly larger and darker - to make it stand out more.  Maybe a volume by one of the other authors, to enhance the story.

Leslie D · Answer

I agree, Ellen....I'm not a 'shabby chic' kind of person.  It's beautiful in other people's homes, and where I like a rustic element or two just to give warmth, I would drive myself nuts trying to clean and/or repair what is supposed to look worn and dirty....LOL

Leslie D · Answer

...and hopefully I won't offend too many people, but every time I see words in people's houses, like 'Love', 'Live', 'Laugh', 'Famly', etc., I always feel like I'm walking into a self-help book.

Ellen H · Answer

I can't quite imagine myself going to the trouble of painting a piece of furniture, then sanding it down to make it look like it hasn't just been painted. My bathroom vanity looks like that already and I want to paint it, but it was originally painted with an oil-based paint and my allergies can't handle messing with that.  Latex paint doesn't bother me too much.

Becky H · Answer

Leslie, your eye for design is still working!!  Your table looks great as it is; you don't need to ask for any ideas.  I'm so happy for you to have your living room back!!

Z · Answer

No chalk paint in our home either. I'm more of a naturalist. If something I have aged in real time then I'm okay with that, to a certain extent, but I won't work hard repairing something to then beat it up. Though I must admit I like the look, I couldn't do it myself.

Leslie D · Answer

I think I will try a small stack of books...thanks...I'm just not happy with it, and I see so many beautifully staged bookshelves/tables on here.

Z · Answer

Well if you're not happy with it then it doesn't matter that we all like it. What I do when I can't quite get something like this right is to start grabbing things from my stash drawers or from other rooms and 'play' until I get that 'YES!' feeling.

Leslie D · Answer

You should have seen my husband and I in 'Home Goods'....after trying everything we owned, we were all over the store, grabbing different things and setting up 'mini vignettes' to see what may work.    My husband is a very patient and understanding soul....LOL

Sherry L · Answer

When I had a round coffee table I used a large fruit bowl and filled it with in-season flowers, fruit, pine cones, Christmas balls, what ever was appropreate at the time or holiday.  Add a couple of candles in pretty holders.

Z · Answer

LOL Leslie, I'd have to drag my hubby into a Home Goods store. Well if we had one. We do very well together in a Sears tool department though. We both love our power tools. He lets me do all the decorating though.

Oh I like Sheila's idea of an apple on top of the books. Since it's a fake one and you don't have worry about it going bad and harming the book.

Sharron W · Answer

@Leslie, the one other thing you might try is a round metal basket or Colander if you have one...in terms of Hard edges (squares, rectangles) I'm fine with mixing in a few triangles...LOL but when I'm making a round pot or tray I don't want a hard edges form on it, it's distracting to me......Just one of my quirks, but it leaves me feeling unsettled as if something is not 'finished'  I just bought the college bound kid a gorgeous Colander, SS inside, red on the outside...I can just see it with your green apples in it...

Marg C · Answer

Steve, I believe that's called ORPD...obsessive relaxed personality disorder.  haha!

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