How To: Style a Coffee Table

What I consider one of the most important parts of decorating is one that many deem the most trivial: object placement and styling. Creating vignettes in areas of your home is a way to give it personality. Displaying your favorite trinkets and knick-knacks from places you've been add a layer of depth and interest that tell a story about who you are to visitors and house guests. I am constantly restyling the coffee table in my living room according to the season or my latest travels. Among the things that I always have on my coffee table are:

1. A large tray to weigh down smaller objects. I got my gold chevron tray from C.Wonder but love a good lucite or acrylic tray like this West Elm version - that is, if you don't have a transparent coffee table like mine. On the pricier end, I adore a shagreen tray like this one from Plantation Home.

 
2. A bowl of candy. If you've visited my apartment, you're probably well aware that I'm candy obsessed. I think that having candy around your apartment is fun for guests and adds an element of color to a bookshelf or coffee table. I like to have a combination of gourmet and drug store candy around, usually in colors pertaining to what ever holiday is nearest. Right now, I have a small Create & Barrel  candy bowl filled with Easter colored m&ms. On my entry console is the same dish but filled with individually wrapped See's Candy suckers and a taller glass on my bookshelf with Twizzlers. 

3. Sculptural object or decorative ash tray. In my opinion, there should be some sort of useless but aesthetic element to every coffee table. In my case, its this Alexandra Von Furstenberg bowl in a neon green color that I reprimand my friends for always attempting to ash in. I'm also a big fan of figurines like this one from Target. I'll often place a bowl of over sized decorative matches like these in a bowl. 

4. Flowers. No coffee table is complete without some kind of living green aspect. Whether that's a small topiary, succulent, orchid, or bouquet is up to you. Personally, I prefer small orchid plants which last the longest. Orchids are expensive (especially in New York City) so I pick mine up either in one of the wholesale flower shops down in Chelsea's flower district, or at Trader Joe's, which surprisingly has a great selection. 

5. Coffee table books. This one's a given. I'm always switching around my decorative books but right now I have a couple of books I bought in Berlin on my coffee table. I like to play around with size when it comes to displaying them. Often a stack of three or four is enough, depending on the height of your table and size of the books. I think that coffee table books are a really great way to tell a story of what you're interested in, whether it's monograph of your favorite artist (mine being Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, or Alex Katz), a book devoted to one of your favorite cities, or periods in history.