November 04, 2016 / by Emma Jones

You know those little horizontal spaces where we accidentally or not stash all of our stuff? And no, I’m not talking about shelves, but the essential every home needs: an occasional table. The most famous occasional table of all is the coffee table. A living room without a coffee table is like Harry without Ron or Hermione – you can imagine it but it’s definitely incomplete.

Now when we all agree that occasional tables are a must, we have to answer many questions about them: Which style will work for my room? What kind of occasional table do I choose? Should it be round or rectangular? Too many questions, I know, but I will do my best to at least try to give you an answer to all of them and help you find the perfect occasional table for your home.

Shape and Size

If you go with a coffee table for your living room, think about the space you have between the sofa and the TV. If your TV is close to the seating area it’s best if you go with a rectangular shaped coffee table. Although the rectangular ones don’t offer as much free space as the round ones, they provide more surface to place things on and if you’re a big family that’s always a plus. If however you have little children or pets, your pick should be an oval or a round coffee table. Their curved edges will mean no sharp corner injuries, so you can leave your children and your pets alone in the living room while you’re doing some domestic chores around the house.

The size also depends on the free space you have for the table. If your room is wide and you can rearrange the seating area, you can go with a bigger coffee table since they always seem more elegant and more functional. But if you’re thinking of buying an end table for example, the rule the smaller the better definitely applies here. End occasional tables are usually supposed to provide space for lightning, so they should be small, simple and easy to lift.

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Functionality

The primary use of your occasional table is a very important factor that you should have in consideration. There are many tables that come with drawers or shelves, but if you don’t need extra space the simpler ones are always the cuter. Instead of choosing a coffee table with drawers, you can always choose an end table or some interesting nesting tables that provide more storage. If your main purpose is the storage and not the décor, you will easily find an occasional table that will be simple yet spacious enough and that can be functional for any room in the house.

Material

The material of the occasional table mostly depends on the other furniture in the house. Wooden occasional tables are much more child friendly than others made of heavier materials, such as metal. Also, the wooden ones give a much warmer and homey feeling and the metal ones give a more modern appeal. The choice of material of the tables should depend on what kind of message you want to send through your room, so look around your house and try to find that hidden message between all the furniture around.

Style

The style is obviously the most important factor you have to consider when buying an occasional table. Is your home country, modern, contemporary, formal or informal? The decorating scheme of your home should be your guide in the search for the perfect occasional table. If you’re a fan of vintage style, a rustic wooden table with a romantic feel will be your perfect choice; but if you’re the modern type and like everything to be plain and clean, you should definitely go with a simple lucite table that will scream art and style all over the place.