Shop Coffee Table Decor:
We just got the Serena and Lily Blake coffee table in natural delivered on Friday and I LOVE it. I had the West Elm Terrace coffee table before and if you follow me on Instagram and see my instastories then you have likely seen how much I loathe that coffee table! I had been wanting a new coffee table for years and just couldn't find anything that spoke to me. I kept coming back to this coffee table and finally went for it.
The West Elm Terrace coffee table worked well in my apartment in terms of size and looks (photos above). It didn't have a big footprint and I like that the glass and brass looked 'light and airy' so as to brighten up my small apartment living room. However, I always tell people how much I loathe that coffee table and I figured I would share because anytime I ever shared, I got so many people saying they were going to buy it and wanted to know why I didn't like it. The glass tiers were the biggest pain ever to clean. I vacuum constantly and dust and really clean and take care of my house (as well as when I was in my apartment) and yet there was still dust that showed up on the glass daily. It would end up driving me crazy that I would truly clean it daily. The 'brass' look in person looks very cheap and fake. It's poorly made as the screws become loose and then the table becomes rickety and you have to then tighten the screws. You definitely couldn't put your feet up on the table or put anything heavy on the table because it was not stable. Overall, I would never recommend this coffee table!!
Back to the Serena and Lily Blake coffee table! The square shape and general size of it is perfect for our space. I've noticed in my searching that square coffee tables are harder to find than circles and rectangles. I also wanted something light in color because we have a lot of dark wood furniture, darker rug, and even a brown leather chesterfield couch. After seeing it in my space, this was the exact right shade to brighten the space up a bit. I am so pleased.
So now I am trying to figure out how to style this coffee table. Interior design and decorating is just not my thing. I do know what I like but I also find it very hard to execute my visions! I think I want to keep things pretty simple and clean and not over clutter it with stuff. But, at the same time, I do love some of the inspo photos I have found that have a lot of 'stuff'. I'll share some photos that I have been loving that are inspiring me- some are of the exact coffee table and some are just images I love.
As a random side note, I'm STILL trying to figure out how to style the console space under the TV in the living room. I cannot get it right. I tinker with it every week or so and just haven't landed on anything that feels right. So hopefully I can get these two things right so the living room can finally feel 'finished' and over a year later, I can share the space with you all!
I thought it was interesting with this styling that they didn't put anything on the bottom level of the table and I also love how they style this in kind of haphazard quadrants. My immediate thought was to put something directly in the middle of the table, which is what I have done right now, but the haphazard look does kind of collected which I love.
I love this one, too. I love a 'cluttered' look- this looks clean but collected, in my opinion. Whenever I try to execute something like this, my own version just ends up looking cluttered (in a bad way). I need to figure out how to replicate this look!
This is another one with nothing on the bottom! I also love that the 4 quadrants are styled in neat little 'piles' and then a low floral center. This seems to be a look that I may be able to achieve on my own.
This is a totally different look, but I just LOVE everything Ralph Lauren does. He does the 'collected' look so well. This won't work for our living room because we can't have anything too tall blocking sightlines as we wouldn't be able to see the TV. But I just love this over the top look.
When all else fails, I turn to Nancy Meyer's interiors and see how the queen herself does it. This is a square coffee table from the living room of It's Complicated. It's not really my personal style, but the proportions of things on the coffee table are inspiring.
Here's a look at the Something's Gotta Give living room. That house is just swoon-worthy and now that I am paying attention to it, it seems like Meyers favors square coffee tables, which is interesting.
Here's my favorite, Father of the Bride. This has more of a 'farmhouse' traditional look which I like and things look to be haphazardly placed- even the books are crooked look like they were just placed there without thought- which I like.
I love the look of this coffee table with just a few items that are large in size. I love the hurricanes, especially and love the idea of using a plant rather than a vase with florals that you constantly have to replace.
I like this one because it has a lot of blue and white which is more in line with my taste. I love the giant orchid.
This is Tory Burch's home and this coffee table is covered in things. Somehow, this just works. I know if I were to do this in my home it just would not work but I love the look nonetheless!
