Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005

Top secrets

Expert reveals tips on organizing the coffee table

By CHARLYNE VARKONYI SCHAUB
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Ready to set your coffee table for minimal clutter and maximum impact? Try these designer tips.

What’s on your coffee table?

A. Accessories, all in similar sizes, shapes and colors

B. One or more piles of magazines.

C. Eclectic array of knickknacks — from Grandma’s cut-glass vase to the folk art statues you brought home from Mexico.

D. An elaborate display with no room for coffee mugs or wine glasses.

E. A pile of coffee-table books.

If any of these fit you, it’s no wonder your coffee table doesn't look like those you see in magazines and show houses. So what's the secret to a great-looking tablescape? Joyce Weakley Shore, former president of the American Society of Interior Designers, Florida South Chapter, took us to a home on the Las Olas Isles in Fort Lauderdale to let us in on the “Trade Secrets.”

• Place it like the pros. The table should be spaced about 18 inches from the sofa or chairs. Put it close enough to make it easy for a guest to put down a drink but far enough away to prevent banging a leg when the guest gets up.

• Get it together. When you’re shopping for accessories, look for unity. The key is repetition — of color, texture or material. For our traditional table, Shore repeated the gold and burgundy color scheme in the book bindings and the topiary’s container. Although she used three differently shaped vases on the contemporary table, they are unified with the same orange color. Shore said the same shapes wouldn’t work if they were orange, pink and green.

“You are looking for things that add more interest to the eye,” she said. “We no longer look at things like we used to. We are bombarded by images on TV and the Internet. Using the same color with different objects makes you stop and think.”

• Scale it right. If the tabletop is small, the accessories should also be smaller scale so they don’t overwhelm the space. The idea is to have enough room on the table so someone doesn’t have to move anything to put down a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Items can be bulkier on a larger table.

• Getting high. Many designers think the visitor’s eye should be brought up from the low coffee table with a tall item. Shore used a topiary in her traditional example. If you use a tall item, be sure it isn’t in the way of seeing another person in the conversation area.

• Find a focal point. Most coffee-table arrangements have a focal point — the item that attracts your attention because of its size, interesting color or shape. The three orange vases in the contemporary example appear as one and become the focal point.

• The odd-number rule. While Shore was looking for props for this photo shoot, she overheard two women in their late 20s or early 30s pondering the purchase of some accessories. One of the women was holding two glass objects.

“You know you have to have three,” her friend said. “I read it somewhere.”

“Why do I have to have three?” the other woman said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Whatever you do, it should make sense. You can use pairs if you like, she said. Just think about what you are doing. The odd-number rule comes from the fact that people are used to seeing items in pairs, Shore said, adding that different shapes, sizes and odd numbers provide contrast. Look for varying ways to create a look. For example, she found three similar glass containers in different sizes and layered them with shells and stones.

• Off with the books. Shore suggests finding another spot for your magazines, and she doesn’t like using coffee-table books as an accessory.

“I don’t like to have them there,” she said. “It’s too predictable. And we are looking for what isn’t predictable.”