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How to choose a coffee table for your living room?

The coffee table is an essential element in the layout of your living room. We cannot talk about interior decoration and omit the coffee table. It must combine not only user-friendliness, functionality and design.

To do this, his choice at the time of acquisition is not a detail to be taken lightly. It requires all your attention and requires a minimum of taste. However, even if the choice of the coffee table does not follow any rules, here are some ways to make an excellent choice.

Depending on your decor, the design of the coffee table

The choice of the design of your future coffee table will be made according to the decor in which it will be placed. Thus, for a corner sofa, you should ideally opt for a rectangular or cubic coffee table. For a 5-seater living room with a sofa, you can either choose a cubic or rounded shape.
In addition, the color of the table will be in harmony with the rest of the furniture in the living room. For example, for a living room with a dominant white or gray color, you can try a black coffee table. In the end, the idea is not to marry the colors so as to create an “ordinary” style. Like the kitchen, the living room reflects the taste of its owners. There must therefore reign a perfect harmony of shapes and colors.

Depending on your sofa or divan, the height of the coffee table

It goes without saying that your table should be neither too big nor too small compared to your sofa. The living room is a place of conviviality and relaxation. You can receive friends here or relax after a hard day's work, to enjoy a whiskey or a cocktail. Thus, if the size is not harmonized in height with the living room, it quickly becomes painful to put down and take back your glass or any other object, while sitting. Enough to spoil your moments of pleasure.
You will therefore agree that taking this criterion into account is essential when choosing a functional coffee table. In summary, if you give priority to your intimate moments of relaxation, such as romantic dinners for example, prefer an extra low table placed on a cozy carpet. If you often receive a lot of guests and there is not enough room in the dining room, opt for a table of good height and offering a rectangular top.

Depending on the configuration of the living room, the dimensions of the coffee table

A beautiful coffee table, yes, but it should not prevent you from moving freely in the living room. It is therefore important to take into account the dimensions of your living room before choosing your table. In addition, if you have young children, it is important to take this criterion into account, to limit breakages, but also bruises. Opt for a coffee table that allows you to have enough space between the place where it will be placed and the seats.
The average height for a living room coffee table varies between 25 and 30 cm. If you have young children, prefer rounded edges to sharp right angles. However, you can play with the pre-established rules as a good maverick. The most important thing is to maintain a certain harmony of lines and shapes.

The material of the coffee table

This is very important insofar as on it depends the solidity, the good aging, the cost and the ease of maintenance of the coffee table. Thus, wood is the historical material for the manufacture of coffee tables. It has always been in demand for its solidity and good ageing. There are certainly several types of wood, but in general, wood remains one of the favorite materials for the coffee table.
However, the maintenance of the wood remains delicate so that the table retains its color and its glow. Even if nowadays there are special treatments for wood, preferably the wooden coffee table needs to be protected against water and other products. A good parade, if any time you prefer wood, is to choose a wooden coffee table, but with one or more glass tile inserts. On the other hand, coffee tables evolve with the times. Today, there are a wide variety of materials for making tables.
Among them, glass and plastic have pride of place. And for good reason, these two materials are easier to maintain and make your living room brighter thanks to the reflections of light. In addition, glass or plastic coffee tables are not afraid of water, so there is no fear of inadvertently spilled drinks. Finally, you should know that you have several models of tables on the market that perfectly combine several materials for a very good result.

In summary

To sum up, we will retain, without being exhaustive:

  • In terms of shapes:the rectangular, round or oval coffee table
  • In terms of the materials available to choose from:solid wood, glass, PVC, metal or combined
  • In terms of finishes:varnish, lacquer, matte
  • In terms of style:contemporary, modern or antique
  • In terms of colors, the choice is very varied