Coffee Tables: No Longer Limited To Coffee

Coffee tables, despite their title, are no longer limited to coffee. From intimate gatherings to weekend parties, coffee tables do their duty to help you host in your living room. Propping your feet up on them after work while you watch some TV is also part of their job. Yet your coffee table could probably use a break. Why not update the living room and add some extra elegance with a modernized coffee table? No matter what size, shape, or finish you want, there is a new coffee table waiting to perform the same tasks as your old one.

Over -sized coffee tables have given way to newer, contemporary coffee tables. Old models looked more like storage chests rather than part of a focal point in a living room. Magazines piled high, a collection of pens, a road map of Detroit—these are just a few things I found when helping clean out my Grandma’s house (for the record, she lives nowhere near Detroit). Once we emptied out all the junk the coffee table had been housing all these years, it was a bit lighter, although not by much. After convincing her to toss the scratched up, water marked coffee table and trade it in for a sleeker version, she was so surprised at how much better it looked. Yes, as strange as it sounds, contemporary coffee tables have the power to help change an entire room.

Heavy and bulky are out. Modern coffee tables are lighter with open spaces, designed not for hiding but for displaying. Find your favorite jumbo-sized photography book and leave it out for people to peruse. While wood is still used most often, since it lasts a long time and is easy to clean, the color of the coffee table has changed somewhat. Instead of the mahogany and cherry finishes of the past, you find darker hues like espresso or very pale, natural finishes.

Additionally, contemporary coffee tables also feature glass tabletops. A fresh take on the design of the coffee table, glass tops let the bottom of the table shine through, showing off the beauty of the wood or metal beneath. Glass does need to be cleaned more frequently though, as fingerprints and dust will accumulate quickly. As far as shapes go, asymmetrical designs are also on the rise, with quirky shapes and exchangeable sections.

Many coffee tables now also come with sections you can add or leaves that pull out like dining tables. Whether you choose a dark wood or a muted metal, your new contemporary coffee table will breathe in fresh air to your living room furniture.