sofatable

Wood Sofa Tables - Easy to Match to Your Current Decor

2009-03-22T21:24:00.001-07:00

If you need a little more space to put things on display, as well as set down drinks and other items, in your living room, you may be toying with the idea of bringing in a sofa table.

A sofa table is a perfect addition to a room that already has many of the other traditional furniture pieces that you would expect in a house. The only problem is making sure you pick a piece that matches up to the rest of the look that you have already created in the room. Here are a few things to look at and compare when you are selecting wood sofa tables for your home:

Other Wood Pieces

What type of wood are the other pieces in the room made of? This will always be a good place to start when selecting new wood sofa tables to join them in their space. The best option would be to find the same type of wood and finish on a table, but that may not be easy.

The next option is to try and find at least the same type of wood, or a similar looking wood, and stain it yourself to match the rest of the pieces in the room.

If you really want to make some changes in the look of your living room, you can strip your old pieces down and stain them, and the new piece, in a new color scheme.

What's on the Walls?

If the rest of your living room is lacking wood, but you like the idea of wood sofa tables, you need to come up with items to match your wood selection up with. In this case, you may want to look at the walls. What color paint have you selected for the room. Are there any borders? Picture frames? Drapes? You can use the colors in any of these materials to make sure that the wood sofa tables you are considering will be complementary to the overall look of the room.

Partner With the Sofa

One of the most important things to keep in mind when selecting wood sofa tables is that they will match up well with your sofa. After all, a sofa table is going to spend its life beside a sofa, if the two don't look good together, they will always be an odd pairing, and one that everyone will notice. It is critical that you take a note of any wood accents or colors in the fabric of your sofa before you decide on what sofa table to match with it.

Making A Choice

Narrow down your options by shopping online. Most furniture stores have an online presence these days. This can be a great way to see what is out there, and what may (or may not) work for your home. You can even sit in the room where the sofa table will go and compare the look of the piece with the colors at play in the space you need to fill. This can help you rule out bad options and narrow down to the perfect piece of furniture to bring into your home.

By Jennifer Akre

Sofa Tables - How to Make Them Work in Your Living Room

2009-03-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

Do you have a living room with a lot of space and seating room, but you never seem to have enough tabletop area to hold all the drinks, snacks and other items that everyone at your home wants to set down. It's time to call in some sofa tables.

If you haven't used them before, traditional sofa tables are tables that are meant to fit right up behind the sofas in your home to offer another counter space.

The more plain sofa tables are meant to be put up against a wall and offer a little more counter area behind a sofa. But, others are ornate and dressy, meant to be shown off. These are tables that should be set out in an open area of the room with the sofa up against one side of them, but the other side open to be seen by all who pass by.

If you are on a budget, you don't have to spend a fortune to have a great living room setting with a sofa table involved. Sofa tables can range in price from a hundred dollars or so to thousands of dollars. While you may like the ones that cost thousands, you may have to make due with a couple hundred-dollar budget. Here's how to make it work.

First, decide on the focal point in your living room. Whether it's the TV, a piece of art, large glass windows, or any other item, you should put your sofa parallel to that focus piece.

Next, put your sofa table up behind the sofa. This is going to accomplish a few things. First it will be giving you the utility area you needed, but it will also take that less than impressive table and move it where it will do it's job without being the focus of too much attention, since the attention is already going to be focused elsewhere.

Now you get to dress it up. While you don't want it to be the center of attention, you also don't want the table to stand out as being an ugly and unloved piece of furniture with no decoration. Find items that accent the rest of your room or are useful in this space. If you will be doing reading or need a little extra light in the room, this may be a great place for a table lamp. Otherwise, a vase, statue or even some books can fill some of the tabletop area.

Some people wonder if they can really put a sofa table into their living room, and it's not about the money. They think there isn't enough space in their living room because they have a small floor plan. This is actually a time when sofa tables shine. Since they are right up against the sofa they take up less space than using a coffee table would, since there does not have to be room to move around the table.

When it comes to your living room, keep your mind and your options open and consider a sofa table to make this space yours.

By Jennifer Akre

Sofa Tables - They're Great For That Blank Spot

2009-03-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

You have just redecorated your home and everything is beautiful. You are satisfied with all the furniture that you have put into your hallways and living room and then you remember there is just one other space.

That one other space just happens to be in a spot where it is difficult not to see it. You have tried furniture there or book stands but you haven't found quite the right look yet. One of the things to consider is a sofa or console table.

Sleek sofa tables are very nice pieces that are just for decoration. You can use them in a space where nothing else will fit and you can even put it behind a couch. You can also use it in your bathroom. Many people purchase a small lone to put in the bathroom for towels and such.

Styles of These Tables
There are all types of styles of sofa tables to choose from and you can find them in a variety of stores and Internet sites. Some of the types include:

- Console tables --there are a variety of console tables to fit any lifestyle. You can find them in round shapes or rectangles and you can also find half rounds and other interesting shapes. Many have mirrors or glass as additions.

- Metal Sofa Tables -- these tables have metal frames and may have wood or other scroll work on it. These are very attractive in hallways or corners where nothing else will fit.

- Mission style -- these look more like bookcases and have places to store things in. These are great for entry ways and are usually made of wood.

Uses for These Tables
There are a variety of ways to use a sofa or console table and there may be some ways you haven't thought about. For instance, if you have the type that has drawers and places to put things you could use it as an entertainment center. Speaking of entertainment, if you have a party and have several guests, a sofa table is a great place to put food and drinks where they will be out of the way.

First of all these tables are longer than normal tables and they are easy to move. They also will provide space for plates and utensils for your party. You can also use a sofa table next to the door and put your keys or things to remember before you leave on it.

The point is that a sofa or console table can provide you with a little extra space when you need it but it looks very elegant in space that is open.

Where to Buy
Any place that sells furniture will have sofa tables. The challenge is to find one that fits into your decorating theme. You can find a variety of websites that sell sofa or console tables where you can look at the designs. You can go to most department stores and find some styles as well. If you are the kind of person who likes to build your own furniture, you can also find many woodworking plans for sofa and console tables. This is one way to make sure that you have exactly the right style.

By Jennifer Akre

Sofa Tables - If Your House Is The Stage What Role Will They Play?

2009-03-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

A sofa table by any other name is still a sofa table, but it can be given the opportunity to do a number of different jobs.

While you may not have known it, versatility is sofa table's middle name. Sure, you may only be able to think of the traditional use for one, sitting behind the sofa in the living room, but there are a number of other places in your home one can be put to work.

First, let's stay in the living room, but that sofa table that had been living behind the sofa, and a place to set a lamp or some flowers, is now going to take on a much more important job. It's about to become the new entertainment center. When you get a new flat screen television, or a few stereo components, why should you have to change out all your furniture that already works with the living space. You shouldn't. Instead, if you have a sofa table with a shelf or two, and a drawer, you have a new entertainment table waiting to happen. You can either put the television on top, and the other components down below or you can wall mount the television and put the components on the tabletop. Use the drawer to put away various extras like remotes and cords or wires you may need.

Entertain a lot? There are a few ways they can take on new jobs that will help make your entertaining a little easier.

First, if you don't have a bar, your sofa table can fill in when guests start to arrive. Just pull the table out from the wall, and get ready to serve. Since sofa tables are longer than normal tables, they make great bar surfaces, with plenty of space for bottles, cups, ice, serving and even a tip jar.

If you have the bar covered, but also have a lot of hungry people, you can turn thie furnishing into a buffet. In this case you would leave it up against the wall, toss a table cloth over it, and it's going to offer up a lot of space for putting appetizers, desserts, or even parts of the main meal. Since the table is long, you will even have the space to put plates at one end of the table and food next to it, so it's one stop shopping.

Yet another way to give sofa tables new life is to make them a replacement for the console table that just can't keep up with the workload. Often this happens in the front hallway of the home. It has always been there as a way to greet you when you come in, and give you a place to put your keys, but with a larger family there are a lot of things to keep handy, and you just need more space these days. Sofa tables offer that space. You can even put dividers in the drawers to make sure everyone has a space for their keys and other small items.

By Jennifer Akre

Modern Console Sofa Table - Popcorn and Soda Not Included

2009-03-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Console sofa tables, the ones that are usually found flat against the hallway wall or in the living room caddy corner to the television, are becoming all the more popular as our needs as a society become more demanding and our indulgences, more vast. While at one time these pieces of furniture served the primary purpose of complementing the couch or sofa with a simple array of shelves of matching style and design, console sofa tables are becoming much more elaborate. You can order a table made of glass, wood, marble, you name it. For a very high price, some people are even following the aquatic trend and putting an aquarium inside of theirs. As with all furniture, there are many possibilities so when selecting your new table you must consider not only the table itself but the room around it. And most importantly, what you wish to utilize it for.

The modern console sofa table is now being made to virtually order. While naturally the obvious decisions apply when selecting a console sofa table, such as shelves versus cabinets or glass versus wood, consumers now have a plethora of different options. Below are listed some of the various console tables of modern times:

Coffee sofa table: This table option has a predetermined space in which a small or medium sized coffee machine would fit perfectly. Some sofa tables even come with one included. Also very common is to see the furniture manufacturer provide with the piece a set of coffee cups and various utensils and/or sugar holders.

Media Center Sofa Table: With multimedia becoming so increasingly popular, the makers of sofa tables have stepped up to join the crowds. Many tables are now being designed fully equipped and constructed to hold various media players such as DVD players, CD players, Tuners, and even Nintendo or Playstation and XBOX games and equipment. Depending on the tables location in the room you can potentially hook all of your equipment up to the television for real ease of use. Operate everything from one portal.

Popcorn sofa table: Some furniture manufacturers have gone so far as to design sofa tables particularly for families who love to enjoy a bowl of popcorn while lounging in front of the television on the sofa. These tables provide perfect nooks to place a microwave behind a cabinet with additional conveniences like a pull out shelf on wheels for easy access. And while the popcorn is not including, one day it probably will be.

Beverage station sofa table: Similar in concept to the popcorn sofa table, the soda table comes either equipped with a built in refrigerator, like a mini bar, or with an appropriate slot for one. Some of the handier tables also come fit with a dining set with cups and a set of matching straws. With this latest evolution of furniture, you won’t ever have to leave the couch!

Books and DVDs: Finally, sofa tables are lending themselves more toward the storage side of the furniture realm and are being made with designated slots for books, DVDs and CDs. Some have extra shelving dedicated to the media racks and others have doors that swivel open to put the items inside and tucked away. It all depends on your personal preference.

Face it, the family room is here to stay. Add a sofa table or console table to give you the space you need.

By Jennifer Akre

Glass Top Sofa Table - There Isn't A Finer Option For Your Home

2009-03-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

Have you walked through the furniture store or looked through online catalogs and fallen in love with a glass top sofa table, but thought it could never be yours.

Many people with children have this thought. They would love a glass table but every time they consider the purchase they have images of horrible things happening. It could be toddler pounding their rattle or other hard plastic or wood toy on the surface, and the glass breaking. Maybe it's the kids who are a little older throwing things in the house and something hits the table, shattering the glass. Or maybe a wrestling match, gone very wrong, ends up with someone hitting the table, breaking the glass, and being cut on the shards. You can set some of these fears to rest by knowing the right kind of glass table to get.

While glass is, by it's nature, fragile some kinds of glass can handle a little more wear and tear than others. The fragile glass tables are the kind that are for a home that won't see any rough times. They're great for an adult modern house or other space where a room is meant to be a place to show off, and not a place for normal day to day living. These pieces can break too easily and send slivers of glass all over your home, most of them will be found now, some of them will be found later, most likely in a hand or foot.

The other kind of glass is tempered. Tempered glass is made especially to be stronger than you would expect glass to be. The process of making the glass has created a glass that is tougher and has more staying power than the tabletops you are used to. It is created in a similar fashion to regular glass, but instead of being heated and cooled in a traditional slow fashion, the glass is quick cooled which makes it stronger. It can handle more heat and pressure than other glass can.

Now, that doesn't mean you can go throw a brick at it and it will bounce off. It is still glass, after all. But it can handle the day to day rough moments that may come it's way, even a little one smacking the top of the table with one of their toys. And when it does break, instead of shattering into a million pieces, like regular glass is known to do, tempered glass has a more limited breaking pattern. This means its quick and easy to clean up, and there is less of a chance of small pieces of glass becoming imbedded in the carpet, lurking to find their way into someone's skin later on.

The second reason you will love a tempered glass top sofa table is if you have ever used your sofa table as a temporary buffet for a large family gathering. While other glass tables can crack or shatter when warm foods are put on them, tempered glass can handle the heat.

By Jennifer Akre

Contemporary Sofa Table - A Sleek Choice For Your Decor

2009-03-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

Not everyone has a lot of furniture in their home. This is especially true for anyone who is creating a contemporary-inspired living space.

The concept behind contemporary living space is 'less is more' and 'function over form'. This means you want to have as few pieces as possible to have the furniture you need, and make sure that each pieces does truly fill a need.

If you really want to do this right, you need to find a furniture piece that can fill a number of needs. One such item is a contemporary sofa table.

Sure the contemporary sofa table can sit behind the sofa most of the time, and do its traditional job. But there are many times it can take on other roles, and help you to be able to keep your floor space, while not sacrificing in the function of this living space.

The use of a living room as a space for more than just sitting back with a few friends has become more the rule than the exception. Today cocktail parties are being held in homes as are concerts. What better way to see a folk singer or lutenist that you adore than to have them come into your home and to enjoy a small, intimate concert.

While you may have available seating for all these people, you are going to need more than just a place to sit for the show.

There is always mingling at these types of events. From the guests wanting to praise the musician after the show is done, to the early birds mingling before the performance, it's all about having the space and furniture that can handle the environment.

A contemporary sofa table can take on a number of roles in this scene. If you are among a crowd that is a fan of imbibing a bit as they enjoy their music, your contemporary sofa table can become a makeshift bar for the occasion. If you already have a bar, but have a lot more imbibing going on than you expected, it can become a backup bar to offer more space for drinks to be set out.

Many of these events are more of a wine and appetizer soiree. If you don't have a caterer walking the room with trays of food, your guests will be best served with one place to go where they can find all the things they need, plates, napkins, and appetizers. While smaller tables can't always hold all these items, the length of the contemporary sofa table comes in handy at this time as it can handle the extra load.

Finally, after the music has stopped, the musician may be looking for a place to set up to sell CD's sign autographs, or other activities. Again, a small table may not be enough space to set up a nice display. It will be too cramped. But were you to have a contemporary sofa table at the ready, they could set up their display, and sign and chat away until every last fan was happy.

By Jennifer Akre

Sofa Table - How To Select The Right One For Your Space

2009-03-18T18:22:00.001-07:00

It's often the finishing touch in a living room, the sofa table. From ornate pieces that help define the theme of a space and finish the look of your sofa to simple tables that offer you a place to put lights and display treasures behind your sofa, the style of these furnishings run the gamut. While the style you choose will depend on your personal preferences, you should also consider some of the other traits to a sofa table before bringing one into your home.

- Length - It doesn't get any tackier than looking at a sofa table that sticks out past one end of the sofa. It looks like someone wasn't paying attention to the details of fitting furniture together. And that's probably exactly what happened. Instead of trying to figure out a way to cover up ill-fitting furniture after the fact, take the time to measure the length of your sofa and make sure that the table will fit well within its limitations. It's ok for a table to be a little short, but having it stick out past the sofa is not going to look right.

- Depth - if you have a smaller living room, this is going to be very important, a deep sofa table will make your sofa stick out more into the room, and will eat up more floor space. If you are already limited by floor space you may well be making this room feel much more cramped by adding this piece of furniture.

- Height - Another important consideration to make is the height of your sofa or console table. You don't want the table to stick up way over the sofa, nor do you want to have to reach way down over the back of the sofa to get to it. Instead you need to try and make sure the table matches the height of the sofa. A way to figure out what range you have to work with is to sit on your sofa and reach over behind you, as if you were to retrieve something from the table. How far can you reach before it seems awkward? Usually it's just a few inches below the top before it starts to feel uncomfortable. Take this measurement into account when shopping.

- Function - if you aren't planning to put your sofa table against the wall with the sofa in front of it, can it serve an extra function? Many are set in the middle of the room with a sofa on one side, and open access to the other side. This is a great space for extra storage. Look for a table with drawers, shelves, and other amenities you can put to use.

While it may seem there are a lot of details to note before purchasing a sofa or console table, you need to remember this is a larger furniture purchase. The price can be substantial, and it's important to make sure you will be completely happy with the purchase once you bring the piece home.

By Jennifer Akre