Strategies for Decorating Coffee Tables

"Use items that really mean something to you," says author and home emporium owner Mary Carol Garrity. "Accessories should reveal something about your personality and tell visitors about the people who live in your home."

Start working with what you already have: Curios, vases and books are all game. Raid your closets and drawers for other interesting items, suggests Nancy Barsotti, ASID fellow, an interior designer with offices in New York City and Pittsburgh, Pa. Next, lay everything out and make note of the things your eyes gravitate toward and those that set your heart aflutter.