3 Effortlessly Chic Ways to Style a Small Coffee Table

Transitional living room with pale pink walls, orange velvet sofa, midcentury pendant, antique art, marble coffee table with decor — (Image credit: Studio Arall / Sim Canetty-Clarke)

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1. Corral Clutter With a Tray
2. Layer With Literature
3. Surprise With a Statement Candlestick

Styling a small coffee table is a unique kind of torture. There are simply too many beautiful objects to choose from – shiny candle snuffers, santal scent diffusers, stacks of glazed stoneware coasters – and obviously, we want all of them.

Unfortunately, surface area has other plans.

Take it from a Manhattan-based style editor who has exclusively only ever owned small tables: the trick for your coffee table decor ideas isn’t adding more. It’s choosing smarter.

If you want a petite coffee table to command attention from across the room – without looking like you agonized over every inch – these are the three coffee table styling moves I'd try first.

1. Corral Clutter With a Tray

Moody neutral living room featuring softly upholstered furniture and a small, iron-legged coffee table topped with assorted objects. — The line between ‘clutter’ and ‘curation’ is razor thin – and nine times out of ten, it’s a tray.

Some call it clutter. I call it a collection. The instinct to gather decor – trinket trays, bud vases, that cordless lamp (or two) you swear you need – is strong. And frankly, I’m not interested in suppressing it completely just because the table happens to be small.

Containment, therefore, is key.

A tray grants these little unrelated objects newfound legitimacy and cohesion. The border turns ‘messy’ into an eye-catching design moment. One sparsely styled tray can feel unfinished, but a tray confidently layered with your favorite objects? Now that’s interesting. Suddenly, it’s a vignette – and even the remote looks curated.

2. Layer With Literature

Playful green living room featuring patterned furniture and an irregular marble coffee table topped with assorted objects. — Display your most-loved literature. Instant height, instant personality.

If you’re the kind of person who buys a coffee table book every time you travel, develop a new hyper-fixation (who knew you'd get into F1?), or wander into a dangerously good antique store, consider this your sign to give that library airtime.

No, you won’t have room for Kardashian-level stacks rivaling the square footage of a Nolita studio. But you do have room for one intentional pile – three or four books, depending on their thickness. That single stack paradoxically creates the illusion of more space, adding height and structure while giving the eye somewhere substantial to land.

A happy side effect is that you (and your living room) appear more interesting. Curious guests will cue the conversation.

3. Surprise With a Statement Candlestick

Eclectic living room with pink cupboard, fluffy armchair and blue tiled coffee table and tapestry hanging — No room for a candelabra? One sculptural candlestick does the trick.

Big statements aren’t reserved for big surfaces. In fact, the tighter the surface, the more potent a single object becomes.

Think of a statement candlestick as a mini sculpture that just so happens to hold a taper. From high-gloss lacquer to swirls, this is the moment to go slightly off-kilter (Anthropologie and Sarah Sherman Samuel’s collection for Lulu and Georgia are particularly good hunting grounds).

This does two things. First, from across the room, your eye lands there immediately. It gives gravitas to the table – and, by extension, authority to whatever ‘collection’ you’ve corralled nearby. Second, it’s still a candlestick. So light it, and set the mood.

Art, ambience, and a little bit of theatre? Not bad for one object.

It’s good if you’ve checked one of these off. Great if you have two. But nail all three? Your friends will start asking who your designer is. For more beautiful style tips and decor inspiration, we explore the biggest coffee table trends for 2026 in our dedicated feature.

And if your coffee table is small, chances are the rest of your square footage is, too. If that extends to the cookspace, don’t miss these no-renovation hacks that make compact kitchens feel bigger.

Julia Demer is a New York–based Style Editor at Homes & Gardens with a sharp eye for where fashion meets interiors. Having cut her teeth at L’Officiel USA and The Row before pivoting into homes, she believes great style is universal – whether it’s a perfect outfit, a stunning room, or the ultimate set of sheets. Passionate about art, travel, and pop culture, Julia brings a global, insider perspective to every story.