Tips for decorating your coffee table
If your coffee table serves only as a catchall in your family or living room it might be time to do some designing. You coffee table can be the centerpiece of your living room and it is one piece of furniture that can be as versatile as its owner. It is important to remember that if the arrangement's not right, you can keep moving things around until it is. So if you are ready to redecorate your bland (and possibly cluttered) coffee table here are some surprising tips for decorating your coffee table-
|
|
- Keep it personal-Nothing makes for better decorating then if whatever you are doing is a reflection of you and your tastes. The accessories you showcase should reveal something about your personality and tell visitors about the people who live in your home. As you begin start working with what you already have. Anything that you love can be a perfect choice for your coffee table. If you are at a loss raid your closets and drawers for interesting items. When you have found all the possible choices lay everything out and make note of the things your eyes gravitate toward and those that set your heart aflutter. Those are the things you should use to decorate your coffee table.
- Have a theme-A bunch of unrelated objects on your coffee table just looks like a mess. To create a unified display, be sure that you group like items together: whether in color, texture, shape, material, age, function or origin. Go through your gathered accessories and look for obvious relations (everything blue), as well as less obvious relations, like the starfish, fishing floats and sea glass that you collected on your last beach vacation. Another creative idea is to set an item atop a stack of books that relate to it. Remember that even though you are decorating with a theme, do not forget to go for contrast among the items you have chosen. Whether it's rough with refined or rounded with square, the opposite pieces will highlight the special elements of each other.
- Stick to odd numbers-When you are decorating your coffee table there are certain design guidelines that can help. Using an odd number of items is one of these rules. While symmetry has its place on a formal mantle or bookshelf arrangement, coffee tables lend themselves to casual, asymmetrical groupings. The bottom line is that using odd numbers of accessories in a group just looks better.
- Remember that less really is more-Just like fashion experts advise taking off one accessory before leaving the house design experts recommend taking one thing off your coffee table. Just as important as what is there is what is not there. Remember the items on your coffee table need room to breathe. You should also aim to have your accessory arrangement take up no more than a third of the table surface, and make sure there's plenty of room for the table to serve its intended functions.
- See how it looks from all sides-When decorating a coffee table it is important to view it from all sides. Keep in mind that it should look equally good from every perspective. Design experts advise rather than arranging items from front to back, start in the center and work your way out in a circular or triangular pattern. And do not forget to make sure it looks good from above, too. Remember that with a coffee table, you are often looking down at the arrangement instead of straight at it. Decorative boxes and bowls can be filled with interesting objects and other items that look the same from all angles are good bets.
