According to interior designer Tamara Eaton, the material of your vintage coffee table is something you need to consider. If you’re shopping for an older coffee table to bring into your home - be it an antique Georgian-style coffee table made of mahogany or walnut with decorative inlays or a classic square mid-century modern piece comprised of rosewood designed by the likes of Ettore Sottsass - there are a few things you should keep in mind.īoth the table itself and what you put on it should align with the overall design of the room, not just by what you think looks fashionable in isolation. The elongated rectangles and wide boxy forms of Evans’s desirable Cityscape coffee table, for example, will meet your needs but undoubtedly prove imposing in your living space. Visionary craftspeople such as Paul Evans introduced bold, geometric designs that challenge the traditional idea of what a coffee table can be. In recent years, however, metal, glass and plastics have become popular in coffee and cocktail tables, and design hasn’t been restricted to the conventional low profile, either. Originally, these tables were as simple as they are practical - as high as your sofa and made primarily of wood. It didn’t take long for coffee and cocktail tables to become a design staple and for consumers to recognize their role in entertaining no matter what beverages were being served. In the United States, furniture makers worked to introduce low, long tables into their offerings as the popularity of coffee and “coffee breaks” took hold during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Early coffee tables surfaced in Victorian-era England, likely influenced by the use of tea tables in Japanese tea gardens. Low tables that were initially used as tea tables or coffee tables have been around since at least the mid- to late-1800s. As a practical focal point in your living area, antique and vintage coffee tables and cocktail tables are an invaluable addition to any interior.

Hidden bar side table