How to Shop For Furniture Online: The Coffee Table

Part Two of our series on How to Shop for Furniture Online, focuses on the coffee table.

There are many benefits to shopping for furniture online. You aren’t limited by geography in your search, you have a wider selection to choose from, and you can shop at a leisurely pace from the comfort of your own home. But when it comes to purchasing large investment pieces, it’s crucial to do your research before buying.

We’ve compiled some tips and strategies to help get you started shopping for your coffee table.

First Things First.

When shopping for living room furniture online, the best place to start is with the large anchor pieces such as the living room sofa or sectional. If you haven’t purchased your sofa yet, be sure to read part 1 of our series: How to Shop For your Living Room Sofa Online, before continuing on with this section.

Once you have your anchor pieces you can determine how much space you have left in your living room for accent tables.

General Rules

If you plan to add accent tables or a coffee table to your living room, you must take spacing into account. The standard distance between a coffee table and seating is typically 16-18” (with 15” being the absolute minimum). The coffee table should not be wider than the space between the arms of your sofa, and should be wider than half of your sofa.

Side tables, on the other hand follow their own rules. You only need to leave about an inch of space between the side table and edge of the sofa They should not exceed the overall depth of the adjacent piece, and should be about as tall as the arm of the sofa.  Remember to leave a bit of extra room in case a chair needs to swivel.

Size and Space

How high should a coffee table be? This depends on how you plan to use your coffee table.  As a general rule, it needs to be no higher than the seat height of the sofa. But if you plan to use your coffee table for drinks or to put your feet up, make sure it is not much lower than 3” below the sofa seat height for maximum comfort.

The depth of the coffee table can vary. This measurement should be based on the size of your living room and the seating arrangement. The table should be large enough to suit your needs, but not so large that it prevents you from moving around the room. The best practice is to make sure to leave about  36” of walking space in front of the coffee table. This allows people to easily enter the living space.

Other Ideas

Some manufacturers offer sets of overlapping tables, such as the Billy Collection by Cattelan. These tend to feature a lower, larger table that is centered in the space, along with one or two smaller, taller tables nesting over the lower table. This creates more visual depth and dimension, and allows you to move around the taller tables, and use them as side tables as needed. This a great option for someone who does a lot of entertaining and might need extra surfaces scattered around the room.

Additionally, if you are still having trouble finding the perfect fit, you can consider a transformable coffee table such as the Bellagio by Ozzio. It functions as a coffee table, or can be raised to table height.

Stay tuned for our next online furniture shopping guide! Over the course of the next few weeks we will continue to bring you tips and strategies for shopping for furniture online, one room at a time.