Want to learn the designer tricks to style your coffee table and other surfaces with ease? This article details top tips that designers use to make a home look elegant, styled, and polished.
There are no real rules that you need to buy by. However, all designers have some styling tricks. Here are 9 favorite tips that you can use at home.
Before diving in, remember that if you’re struggling to pull your rooms together and learn how to style with ease, this information is for you.
This article is broken down into two parts.
First, you’ll learn the rules, tips, and tricks that designers use to style any surface. Then you’ll see examples of how to use these tips on different types of surfaces. These include coffee tables, entry consoles, bookshelves, and nightstands.
Top Designer Tricks for Tablescapes
The goal is to always make your tablescapes look completely balanced.
The Rule of Threes
You can start by using the rule of threes. If you love interior design and home decor, you may have heard of the rule of threes.
The rule of three basically states that items like to be grouped together in odd numbers. Typically, you’ll start with a set of three decorative items. Three just feels more dynamic than two. It gives your collection a little bit of variety.
Your eye can land from one item to the next. When you have two items, you’re really just going back and forth. That’s not enough variety to make it interesting.
Vary Height and Scale
The next tip is to use a variation in heights and scales of your decorative objects. What you’re looking to create is a little vignette of small, medium, and large or low, medium, and high objects. When all items are the same, nothing gets noticed.
This type of variation allows your eyes to travel around and focus on something really important.
Vary Sizes, Textures, and Sheens
Next, we’ll be moving on to the variation in sizes, texture, and sheens. Maybe you’ll have something glassy next to something matte. You’ll have something small next to something large. You might want to even keep something really textured next to something smooth. Styling objects is all about contrast.
If everything looks the same, nothing feels important.
Focus on Colors
Next, focus on colors. Your color palette could be all similar colors or all contrasting hues. It is helpful to start with your table base. If the table is dark, look for decorative objects that are a little bit lighter in color. On the flip side, if the table is light, you want to look for something dark to anchor the space.
Use a Tray
One favorite decorative item to have in the home is a tray. You can use a tray to streamline the look. It keeps your surface looking tidy, clean, and uncluttered. Instead of having all these little knickknacks thrown about your surface, a tray can give them a place to land instead of floating around in space.
Angles
Play with your angles. Styling with photos are best used against a wall. You can place that photo frame in the bookshelf since it has a backing to it. No one’s going to walk around it, no one’s going to be able to see this exposed back. That photo frame makes more sense up against a wall.
On the same note, you’d want to keep a photo off a coffee table, especially if people are seated all around it. If someone is sitting in back of it, they’ll constantly be looking at the back of a photo frame instead of the pretty front side that you want everyone to see.
Foliage
Foliage is your friend. Every single styling group benefits from something green and fresh. Whether it’s fresh flowers or a branch that you simply cut from your yard, foliage can brighten up every space. It’s great if you can change this out as the seasons change.
Bringing the outdoors in is one of the top designer tricks. Every designer uses it to make a space feel more lived-in.
Personalize Your Space
It is helpful to personalize your space. It’s great when a home shares your story. Make these little groupings as personal as possible. Let those items on your coffee table tell a story about your passions or a special memory. It’s all about giving your home decor a personal twist and a conversation starter to boot.
Interactive Decor
Look for interactive decor. Interactive decor means styling with a personal object that begs the viewer to touch it. It could be a photo album that encourages your guests to flip through it. It could be your favorite coffee table book open to a page that really inspires you.
The more you encourage activity, the more these objects do than just decorate. To say something is merely decorative is to miss the point entirely. Think about styling and decorating with pieces that you absolutely love. Select something that has a special meaning to you. Choose something that feels very personal.
The goal is to be able to decorate your home in a very stylish designer way while still allowing a sneak peek into your personal life.
Coffee Table Styling Basics
You always want to consider the shape of your coffee table first. If you have a rectangular coffee table, look for groupings using the rules of three. Maybe even use a tray and fresh greenery. Group them in a way where they have a dialogue with each other. Don’t space them so far apart that you miss the story that you’re trying to tell.
If you have a round coffee table or a round ottoman, you want to mimic that shape with a round tray or round vases.
If you have a beautiful bold pattern rug underneath a glass coffee table that you can see through, keep the styling on top really simple and streamlined. Maybe it’s just a vase of fresh flowers or a little bit of greenery for a pop of color.
Coffee table styling is great because its front and center in the living room. You can always use the seasonal changes to dictate how you style the surface. In the springtime, use fresh vibrant flowers. During wintertime or fall, it gets a little bit moodier with metallics and candlelight.
Entry Console Styling
For entry coastal styling, it’s all about function. It is helpful to anchor the entry consoles with the mirror. Add a little tray to put your keys, wallet, and anything that you need to grab right before you leave. Add something fresh, in this case a really beautiful sculptural orchid. The organic shape plays up with these hard rigid lines.
You also want to play with your shapes and angles. In this case, if you have a round entry mirror, mimic that shape with round faces or round objects, maybe like a really cool globe or a little orb. The idea is to be able to walk around that round table and not see unfinished backs of squared items.
Nightstand Styling
Keep nightstands simple. Of course, you’ll have your table lamp. Depending on the size of your table lamp, you’ll figure out how much surface space there is left for all of your decorative objects. Typically, a nightstand doesn’t have a ton of surface space. Don’t decorate just for looks; it’s all about function.
You can style the nightstand with a little box for your vitamins or a larger box to hide your remote control. You can also finish the look with a journal or book and even a candle for aromatherapy. Streamline the look of your nightstands as much as possible because bedrooms are for resting. Minimize the clutter as much as you can.
Bookshelf Styling
When styling bookshelves, a favorite tip is to style with larger decorative boxes. These boxes can hide a multitude of sins, especially if you love to keep a lot of loose paperwork around. You can have these boxes anchored by more personal items like photo frames. Marble bookends makes the bookshelf look polished and chic. You’ll always see the rule of threes used for similar items.
The rule of three is not about buying every single piece; you’re really just counting similar items. For example, if you have decorative boxes that look the same, these two decorative boxes that are stacked right on top of each other is considered one item just because visually it looks the same. Your next item has a different texture, a different size or a different shape. It could be the second item followed by a third item in a contrasting height or color.
Don’t just throw the books on the shelves. Think about a cool way to display them. Some of them can be in the vertical orientation, some of them can be non horizontal. Play with variety and introduce different ways to display common items.
In one custom home design, the homeowners and clients are these crazy world travelers. Everywhere they go, they bring something home from their travels. When they came home from this amazing trip to Asia, they had these beautiful handmade play figurines. A design was made with glass recesses in the bookshelf specifically for these clay figurines. They were lit from above, and from every vantage point, they were a beautiful focal point. When they have guests come to the home, the guests always sit in the living room and remark about them. Design is about decorating with items that share your story and give the viewer a sneak peek into what you’re all about.
Bar Styling
For bar styling, one option is to design with cool bottles, chic glassware, and to anchor the console with something that shares more of your personality. This vibe is industrial, so a sleek metal console can be styled with industrial cage candelabras. This gives you the option to change out the colors of the candles with the seasons or anytime you feel like something new.
Dining Table Styling
How to style a dining table is really a personal preference. If you have a really beautiful light fixture above the dining table, keep the table scape really simple. There’s no need to dress the table because you’re trying to draw the viewers eyes up. A simple centerpiece with just a little bit of flowers of foliage or even a cluster of really bold colored hurricanes is gonna do the trick.
Long Console or Buffet Styling
Break your vignette up into little groups when styling a really long console or a buffet. The rule of threes still apply in this case, but what you’ll be doing is creating little groups of threes all along the surface.
If you’re styling up a face set in a dining space, start by anchoring that surface with symmetrical table lamps. Place a mirror right in the center of that buffet because what you’ll be doing is bouncing the light back from the lamp. Style that buffet with a little tray that you put fresh flowers on it. It’s a look that’s timeless, classy, and elegant.
If you’re going for a more modern or minimal look for your buffet, try anchoring that look with smaller lamps or even a makeshift bar in the middle. Remember that you’re always aiming for a little bit of contrast. If you have a wood buffet, try looking for metal or glass lamps. If you have a console that’s on a pony wall, try not to decorate with anything that’s too high. You want to be able to see through to the other room without any obstructions.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, remember to shop your home first before buying new decor. Use the rule of threes, add personal touches, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Interior design is a journey, not a race, so enjoy the process of creating a space that reflects your unique style and story.
