25 Beautiful Design Ideas for Styling Your Coffee Table (Designer Edition)

While often an afterthought in living room decor, your coffee table presents a valuable opportunity to showcase your interior design style.

Once viewed as such, decorating it becomes an enjoyable and crucial finishing touch.

If you’re struggling with item balance, finding the right accessories, or curating your book collection, you’ll find inspiration here.

Our designer-approved coffee table decor ideas cater to every taste. Remember, functionality is key too – your coffee table should accommodate drinks and be easily cleared for activities.

Think Odd Numbers

vibrant navy sofas with round black coffee table

Whether creating coffee table decor or styling a bookshelf, using an odd number of objects creates a visually pleasing effect.

This modern coffee table works well with various heights, shapes, and materials in a neutral color palette to create an attractive yet uncluttered look.

A stack of books, a round bowl of decorative objects, and a tall vase with fiery red stems complete the arrangement.

The objects form a pleasing group of three with enough space left on the table to allow its surface to be seen, provide color contrast, and give the homeowner a spot to put down a cup of coffee.

Colorful Coffee Table Books

Coffee table books are one of the best styling tools out there—they can be displayed in stacks on opened up to a pretty page, their covers add visual interest and can be a great vehicle for carrying a color scheme or a theme, they showcase your personality and interests, and they add height and can serve as a pedestal to highlight decorative items such as small bowls or large floral arrangements.

Use a stack or two on your coffee table and switch them out seasonally to keep the tabletop fresh and current.

Use a Tray

living room with spotted black and white sofa with pink patterned pillows

A tray can serve as a decorative accent, incorporate color and texture, and hold various items when designing coffee table decor.

Contrast shapes by placing a round tray on a rectangular coffee table.

Or play with scale by incorporating a variety of objects in different sizes for a tabletop display—a large tray, a tiny bowl, a medium book, and a small candle.

The variety of shapes and sizes results in a layered design. Or create a unified look by repeating the same finish on your tray found throughout the room.

Here, gold is used as an accent metal on the vase, tray, bowl, coffee table, and lighting to tie the space together.

Stack Items for Varied Heights

blue velvet sofa with gold drum coffee table

Create height and layer objects by stacking them, like this sleek living room’s black and gold boxes.

Utilize books, magazines, trays, and other flat surfaces to switch up the height of your decor as needed.

This round coffee table is also a case study in material mixing—it incorporates glass, ceramics, metal, and resin, all while using a limited color palette to maintain a cohesive look.

Coffee Table with Unexpected Decor

coffee table decor with game pieces and flowers

For an unexpected decor item that doubles as an impromptu game opportunity, place a box or bowl of dominoes on your coffee table.

The game pieces are a playful and nostalgic accent, yet their simple design and neutral colors make them surprisingly chic, not to mention they’re super inexpensive and easy to find.

Add Elegant Coffee Table Decor

traditional living room with cream chairs and marble fireplace

Go traditional with a tufted ottoman-style coffee table that provides a large surface with lots of potential for styling.

Open up a big coffee table book to fill an expansive surface without using countless objects.

It’ll fill the space visually without making it feel cluttered.

Place decorative beads or a magnifying glass on top of the pages for added interest.

It’s a simple styling trick that adds instant sophistication.

Modern Coffee Table Decor

Take inspiration from this modern living room and style a round coffee table with items that have contrasting heights, shapes, and materials.

Here, a tall vase with oversized greenery creates height and volume, a stack of books breaks up the dark coffee table surface and highlights a small vase with a sculptural design, and a set of small nesting bowls brings in warmth and echoes the coffee table’s round silhouette.

Layer Books, Books, and More Books

light colored coffee table with orange roses in vase

When it comes to coffee table decor, books are your best friend! You’ll often see interior stylists use them on coffee tables, and for good reason.

Coffee table books help fill space and can be used individually or in groupings. They also add height, shape, and color and form a flat base to display items such as these decorative blue objects.

Books are also a great way to incorporate a subtle seasonal touch, such as displaying publications about flower arranging in the springor snowy landscapes around the holidays.

Divided Decor

white wall with gallery wall and gray couches

Break up a large coffee table surface by dividing it into sections.

Stacks of books are a great way to do this, as they cover a large surface area, create immediate visual separation, and allow you to play around with their placement, direction, and height.

Leave some stacked books on their own and top others with a small vase or decorative object to create variation and add pops of color.

Glam Coffee Table Decor

Go for a glam look and accessorize a coffee table with an acrylic tray, a colorful floral arrangement, and a couple of pretty books.

In this sophisticated living room, it pairs beautifully with a patterned area rug and throw pillows, white-painted wall paneling, and a gold starburst mirror.

Ottoman Coffee Table Decor

When the coffee table itself is highly decorative, you can keep the decor elements on top simple.

This ottoman-style coffee table features a stunning rattan base and a printed green and white cushion that instantly draws the eyes, so all the top needs is a tray to hold a potted plant and an oversized book topped with a small green bowl.

The decorative items tie in the colors and textures of the coffee table as well as the decor in this colorful living room.

Layered Coffee Table Decor

white living room with blue couch and coffee table

Layers of different colors, textures, and materials are what makes a room look interesting and your coffee table is the ideal spot to incorporate these layers.

Here, an ornately painted coffee table with a glass topper is layered with a round brass tray which holds a ceramic bowl, sculptural vase, glass candle, and wood beads for a collected and personalized look.

Square Coffee Table with a Round Tray

living room with fresh flowers on coffee table and framed pressings on walls

Keep the shape of the coffee table in mind when styling its surface.

An oversized tray is the perfect layering piece for any coffee table and if you’re working with a square or rectangular piece of furniture, opt for a round tray to break up the straight lines.

In addition to the shape variation, mix up the textures and pair a glass tabletop with a rattan tray for a visually interesting mixed-material look.

Coastal Coffee Table Decor

coastal living room with wood coffee table

Take inspiration from this coastal living room and go for a laid back look with your coffee table decor.

Style the surface with a couple of themed coffee table books, an oversized wicker tray, a blue and white vase with flowers, and coastal-style accents such as seashells, seaglass, or stones.

Coffee Table with Potted and Fresh-Cut Greenery

Liven up a coffee table with a combination of fresh-cut stems in a vase and a potted plant.

Of course you can opt for a faux plant and flower stems if you don’t want the maintenance and simply switch them out seasonally to switch things up a little.

Make sure to vary their height to create contrast and dimension, and keep the vessels—the vase and the planter—in mind as they provide a way to introduce a new material or carry a color scheme.

Modern Rustic Coffee Table Decor

The coffee table decor in this modern rustic living room is in keeping with the room’s aesthetic—it’s light, bright, and elegant, yet beautifully curated.

A large glass vase adds height and provides a vessel for seasonal blooms, a glass hurricane creates a cozy ambience, a rattan tray corrals essentials, and a stack of coffee table books breaks up the black metal surface of the table for a perfectly balanced and visually interesting design.

Minimalist Coffee Table Decor

For a minimalist look, display one statement item on your coffee table.

Make sure its scale is in proportion to the coffee table so it looks intentional and substantial enough, such as this set of books which complements the graphic artwork, echoes the living room’s clean lines, and contrasts the round coffee table.

Coffee Table as a Display Surface

In this eclectic living room, the glass and stone coffee table serves as a display surface for a variety of glass objects.

From sculptural pieces to bowls, the collected pieces take center stage and some are displayed directly on the glass surface while others are propped up on books for a little extra height, contrast, and emphasis.

Maximalist Coffee Table Decor

white living room with wood coffee table

This living room takes a maximalist approach and pairs contrasting patterns and colorful throw pillows, window treatments, and artwork with equally bold coffee table decor.

In true “more is more” form, the wood coffee table is adorned with a sculptural statement vase that holds a gorgeous floral arrangement, a beautiful wood tray, and an assortment of colorful coffee table books.

Textured Coffee Table Decor

When styling a coffee table, in addition to the decorative objects’ colors, shapes, and sizes, keep their texture in mind.

This coffee table uses a neutral color palette, but the decor is anything but boring!

A pair of textured white ceramic vases contrasts a rich stained wood table, a sculptural sphere tops a stack of black and white books, and a cognac leather tray holds a vase with a simple flower arrangement that livens up the decor.

Vintage Coffee Table Decor

coffee table decor in traditional living room

Add character to your living room with vintage coffee table decor.

Create height with a stoneware crock filled with flowers, bring in a large bowl that can be filled with fruit in the summer and ornaments in the winter, and display a couple of small vintage pieces such as a magnifying glass on a stack of beautiful coffee table books.

Coffee Table with a Chess Set

living room with cabinets flanking a pattern-tiled fireplace

This beautiful wooden chess set is both functional and decorative, adding a warm and laid back feel to this eclectic living room.

The chess set brings in a playful (literally!) touch and the wood echoes the other natural elements in the space, including the leather sofa and chairs, wood coffee table, and rattan stool.

Old and New Coffee Table Decor

coffee table with books flowers and disco ball

Don’t be afraid to mix old and new decor when styling a coffee table.

Pairing a vintage bowl with a fun disco ball is a great way to create a little bit of design tension, which is what ultimately makes a space interesting and memorable.

Supplement these items with more traditional pieces such as stacks of books and a vase with flowers for a coffee table that looks like it was styled by a pro.

Soft Coffee Table Decor

The soft tones in the coffee table decor echo this relaxed living room’s soft and serene color palette.

If you have a low-sitting coffee table and sectional as seen here, keep the coffee table decor low in terms of height, too.

Here, a couple of books, a small tray, and a vase bring in just enough of a decorative touch while maintaining the room’s restful tone.

Coffee Table Collection

Displaying a collection is a great way to add personality to your coffee table and showcase your interests.

Whether it’s stones or seashells you collected on vacations throughout the years, corral the items in a decorative tray or a bowl to highlight the collection while keeping the tabletop tidy and clutter-free.