20 Living Room Coffee Table Looks We Love

Whether you're looking for someplace soft to rest your feet or for a formal finishing touch, the right living room coffee table can pull your entire room together. Here, see chic and practical choices for every style and hear from the design experts on how they chose these particular pieces.

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September 17, 2020

By: Amanda Lecky

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Photo By: Sern C. Boey

Photo By: Robert Peterson, Rustic White Photography

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Photo By: Michael Partenio

Photo By: Steven Dewall

Photo By: Shannon Lazic Photography

Photo By: Regan Wood

Photo By: Bronwyn Poole

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Photo By: Sarah Stacey

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Photo By: Alice Cramer

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Photo By: Jackson Design and Remodeling

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Clear Choices

In a living room that's characterized by its airy, window-lined architecture, a pair of glass-topped tables with geometric bases offer plenty of surface area without looking heavy. "My plan for this room was to give it a very light, relaxed and beachy feel," says designer Aaron Wong. "The tall recycled storage unit at the back was to be a focal point in the space," he adds — a goal the choice of visually "light" tables helped achieve.

New Neutral

Designer Brian Patrick Flynn gave this sylvan great room a subtle urban edge by punctuating the sitting area with a durable, drum-shaped concrete piece. Its round shape echoes the occasional table perched beside the ochre sectional, and its pale, reclaimed elm wood top lends its industrial body just a hint of rustic charm.

From: Brian Patrick Flynn

Midcentury Meets Modern

"To create a cozy family room for a young couple expecting their first baby, we chose custom-make, eco-friendly sofas angled around a midcentury style coffee table," says designer Jennifer Jones. The round table and curvy side chair help offset the rectilinear lines of the sofas and the media console.

Contrast and Character

In this contemporary living room, a display of black and white art by Cartoloji draws the eye up. A pair of reclaimed barnwood coffee tables, from Dwelling Home in Philadelphia, play an important role in the light space, providing a grounding center and adding rich texture to the otherwise sleek and simple design.

Antique Appeal

When designer Cindy Rinfret's clients moved into a larger home, they tasked her with making their new space comfortable for entertaining and for the lifestyle of an active family — while incorporating their existing, collected pieces. "The living room needed to be beautiful and elegant, yet functional," says Rinfret. The coffee table is a perfect example of a choice that spans the project's goals: Its classic form lends time-touched character to the room, but its oversized surface makes it ideal for holding everything from a formal tablescape (as shown) to an array of casual hors d'oeuvres.

Fresh and Family Friendly

In this urban San Francisco home the living space does double duty as both the formal entertaining space and the main family hangout. "To create a laidback and comfortable space in the middle of the bustling city, we turned to natural tones for a calming feel. A seagrass rug, oatmeal linen chairs and a rustic industrial coffee table help keep the space from feeling too stuffy," says designer Tamara Mack.

Natural Balance

“The handmade, maple, live-edge coffee table featured in this living room redesign brings warmth to the room, offering ample surface space and echoing driftwood sculptures in the home,” says designer Sarah Barnard. “The low furniture and sandy color palette accentuate the ocean view, contributing to a relaxing and highly functional living space.” Japanese-American architect and woodworker George Nakashima first brought the look to popularity in the early ‘60s and the world has fallen in love with its sculptural sophistication all over again. Now, tables like this one play starring roles in midcentury modern homes, coastal spaces and everywhere in between.

From: Sarah Barnard

Going for Gold

Hollywood Regency inspired details take center stage in this contemporary living room, where designers Blair Kersenbrock and Shannon Lazic paired a glamorous glass chandelier with a gleaming metallic drum table. Interior aficionados have long referred to pendants as the “jewelry” of a room, but the true statement piece here is at ground level. Use a high-impact metallic touch like this one to give an otherwise neutral space a playful note of pizzazz.

From: Steele Street Studio

Clean Finish

The kaleidoscopic array of larger than life floral window treatments, supersaturated blues and geometric patterns in this family room call for a space where the eye (and coffee table books) can rest. The low-profile Lucite piece chosen by designer Claire Paquin is an apt partner for the colorful characters surrounding it. There’s plenty of functional surface here, but its visual impact is lighter than air.

From: Claire Paquin

Advanced Geometry

Designer Bronwyn Poole knew she wanted a round coffee table to break up this square edged room. “I am a firm believer that all rooms need round elements, and often a coffee table is the best way to incorporate them into a space,” she says. “I loved this particular coffee table as it was made from lovely reclaimed wood and had a worn quality that was very appealing to the senses. It complemented the grays, browns, blues and whites perfectly, whilst being a great size so you can easily reach it from the sofa and armchairs.”

From: Bronwyn Poole

Multiple Choice

A grouping of diminutive tables can join forces to create a single, significant look. “This high-rise pied-a-terre features a custom built-in that is very angular,” designer Laura Umansky says. “To counter the orthogonal lines, we selected a trio of cocktail tables with a more organic, free-form shape. The Lowry table from Arteriors has this wonderful irregularity and its antique brass finish adds a modern glamour. As a collection, you notice the minor differences between the tables, and their imperfect connection is a pleasing contrast to the clean lines found in the shelving and rug.”

From: Laura U Design Collective

Soft Serve

Upholstered ottomans are invaluable pinch hitters for coffee tables in spaces that call for a soft touch. If you find yourself searching, don’t be shy about getting creative, as designer Natalie Myers did in this living space. A solution made just for you is well worth the investment. “With two small boys under 5 at home at the time, [this] media room also doubles as a play space. We were looking for a coffee table without sharp edges that the boys could climb on, sit on, fall on, and that wasn't too precious. Getting one made with African mudcloth fabric in the exact right size for the room ended up being the most efficient route.”

From: Natalie Myers

Thrifty Find

Thoughtfully arranged interiors have a way of giving you hints about what they need. In this case, designer Sarah Stacey ran into this Milo Baughman table and had an immediate sense that it was a match for her eclectic project. “I was thrift shopping with a few friends who noticed it and I knew it would be perfect,” she says. I actually didn’t buy it that day, but I kept thinking about it and went back to buy it the next day. It’s an unexpected vintage element, it adds some visual interest and it ties in with some of the other brass and rounded elements in the space.” When a finishing touch stops you in your tracks, trust your instincts and seal the deal.

From: Sarah Stacey Interior Design

Shining Example

"So much of what is special about this living room can be attributed to the spectacular Andrew Martin loop coffee table," says designer Daphne Steinberg. "The whole house has silver accents throughout, so we wanted to continue that metallic streak with this table. Despite the touches of glam in this space, the client is a nature-loving traveler, so we wanted to display coffee table books that spoke to that side of his personality, hence The Map Book and Evolution, which we placed on top of the table."

New Hue

Taking a spin around the color wheel can turn a good piece into a great one. Designer Jennifer Mehditash found (and fell for) this table in a Connecticut secondhand shop. “It’s usually seen in natural oak with a limed finish and very popular,” she says. “We loved that table and wanted to give this beach house family room some pop and help accent the colors in the pillows and the chandelier over the kitchen table right next to it. So we sanded it down and lacquered it this yummy cherry coral tone and it was perfect!”

From: Jennifer Mehditash

Earthy Accent

“We loved this table for this space because of its organic shape,” designer Alice Cramer says. “It adds a more blended feel for a family room area in which their furniture pieces are more contemporary. The clients also appreciated that it was a reclaimed wood piece, and not newly manufactured.” Go easy on the tablescaping with a natural beauty like this one; limit yourself to minimal accessories and let the whorls in the wood tell their own story.

From: Alice Cramer

Precious Stone

With gold hairpin legs and a handsome marble slab, the coffee table designer Jaclyn Joslin deployed in this living room evokes both design history and contemporary luxury. Consider the subtle repetition here as well: the table’s variegated surface echoes the handsome abstract art above the sofa, and the acute angles on those legs recur on the throw blanket, toss pillow, carved vase and occasional table.

From: Jaclyn Joslin

Functional Art

Designer Jen Pinto reached for Isamu Noguchi’s iconic “sculpture for use” table in support of her muse for the project. “The whole room was designed around a painting, everything in the space served as an accessory to make the focal point pop even more,” she says. “The coffee table is a subtle piece that was chosen because of its simplistic, organic lines and in the right light, the glass top picks up on the reflection of the painting. It was a beautiful, yet simple piece that also blended well with the iconic midcentury-style furnishings of the space.” No wonder Noguchi tables are designer favorites.

From: Jackson Design and Remodeling

Indoor Play

Designers Miranda Cullen and Devon Tobin anchored this eclectic living room with an eye-popping pair of inlaid black-and-white tables. Their overlapping silhouettes and concentric circles echo the look of the mirror behind the sofa — and it should go without saying that they make a magnificent case for embracing quirky patterns on functional pieces. Why should accent pillows and area rugs have all the fun?

From: Duet Design Group

Seeing Double

With apologies to the gorgeous sofa, woven leather chairs and even the graphic art above the veined stone fireplace, this living room’s MVP is the layered coffee table designer Lauren Nelson placed at its center. Its upper stone surface echoes the fireplace’s mineral splendor, and its striking joined legs complement the crisp, dramatic black metal on the chandelier and staircase hardware.

From: Lauren Nelson