Having  a formal room without a good coffee table is like a gallery without pictures. A home coffee table says volumes about the folk who have it, so it is crucial to choose one carefully. Ultimately, this item of furniture has come to be associated with conservation and bonhomie, therefore the saying “gathering around the coffee table”.

Chat seat

Coffee grew popular in Europe and America quite a bit than did tea, so it is not surprising that home coffee tables were late add ons to the association of living room furniture, as Alex Aronson mentions in his “Encyclopaedia of Furniture”. The 1st tables, especially designed and made to serve as home coffee tables in England, could be traced back to the late Victorian era. According to accessible historical records, it appears E.W. Godwin was the first European designer of tables specifically for coffee, which was then mass produced by William Watt and Collinson and Lock.

It is unusual that an entirely different kind of table was needed just because the drink in the cup changed from tea to coffee. But then I worked out the logic behind this. Drinking tea was and still is in many countries, a formal affair. So it was conducted on a high table with matched wooden chairs. Coffee drinking had more informal origins, and thus the design of tables for coffee were designed low, to have easy access to the cup from more relaxing positions on a sofa. Home coffee tables are always meant to accompany sofas, the conveniences of

Tradition and modernity

Wood is still the most popular fabric when it comes to home coffee tables. Birch, beech, oak, ash and teak are usually used types of wood. Glass has gained some popularity in this segment, but it’s still a long way before it can catch up with wood.

There was a time when a home coffee table used to be a low, rectangular wood table on four legs. Those days of minimalist designs are past, although the newer designs are usually much more versatile.