Strategies for Decorating Coffee Tables

Author and designer Mary Carol Garrity's best trick for bringing unity to coffee table decorations? Arrange accessories on top of an attractive tray. "It defines your arrangement and clusters everything together in a natural way," she says. "Plus, anything you put on a tray just looks a little more special." Other ideas for containing and drawing attention to coffee table accessories include: placing them under bell jars, glass cloches and hurricanes, which are great for plants, statuary, candlesticks and other vertical items; or apothecary jars, compotes and footed bowls, in which everything from collections of colorful buttons to vintage game pieces becomes an arresting focal point.