Table tips

HOW many times have you sat around your immaculate coffee table sipping from tiny espresso cups, trying to muster that indolent elegance of the French?

Or, for you, is the coffee table just a hub of debris that builds up over a week, and a place to plonk the wine bottle, a coffee mug and the daily newspaper?

Coffee tables tell a great deal about their owners’ personalities. There’s the Spartan chic of the sleek model, bordered by contemporary sofas while sparingly decorated with statement candlesticks, and polished to within an inch of its life by an obsessive compulsive owner. It’s the table where we dare not squeak a timid request to place a glass upon it. Or is yours the marginally more relaxed vignette of a well dusted surface artfully off-setting an arrangement of summer blooms that dare not drop a petal?

Then there’s the anti-feng shui coffee table where several week’s worth of newspapers lie flung upon it, hiding rings made by tea mugs and dodgy spills of red wine, along with burnt-out candles and a half-dead plant. It’s the same look that dispenses with the need for footstools as this antithesis of cool doubles up as a perch for tired feet.

Somewhere in the middle of these extremes sits a clean coffee table with a pile of magazines and a stack of coasters inviting you to put your cup down. Perhaps there’s even a scattering of crayons from a recently accommodated colouring-in project. It’s homely, but not so overtly messy that the job lot can’t be tidied up in a flash should an unexpected visitor pop by.

A coffee table really can make or break the look of a room as by and large it’s around this piece of furniture that seating is arranged. Think aesthetics when buying, choosing the shape and size that best suits your space. After that, consider your materials. The transparent quality of glass, for example, will give your room a light unencumbered feel, making it a particularly good choice for smaller spaces. Although manufacturers have somewhat nailed the safety issues associated with glass tables, you’ll be hard pressed to find a toddler who won’t try and climb aboard, so best avoid one of these beauties if you’re still dealing with intrepid tots.

Built-in storage, whether it’s a simple shelf beneath the table surface, or some well-concealed drawers, means this furniture piece will work harder and earn its keep. Watch out for models with little extendable leaves which increase surface area when you have visitors and can retract when not in use.

Whatever the practical purpose of the coffee table as a place to put or display things, it also has the ability when situated between two facing seats to complete the room and give it a cohesive look, removing the potential for that awful chairs around the wall look we associate with the doctor’s or dentist’s waiting room.

Once you’ve made your purchase, it will really come into its own on a Sunday morning if you can grab half an hour away from domestic life. Just root out the coffee pot, your favourite coffee cup and amble to the sitting room with the Sunday papers. Shut the door tightly and sip.

¦ Next week we’re reflecting on mirrors