I recently interviewed nearly a dozen designers on what to spend and what to save on in a living room. They all said the same thing: don’t spend real money on a coffee table. Despite sitting centrally in the room, our eyes (and our rears) go to sofas and other seats. Those book stacks and candles only weigh so much, so for this living room furniture category, incredible construction isn’t actually the smart splurge we think it is.
Of course, they didn’t recommend skimping on style, which is why I’m loving IKEA’s glass-topped TORSJÖ. At just $170, its Empire-style frame and shiny, gold-like finish suggest far more expensive origins. Styled correctly (a lovely vase, a pair of well-chosen vintage chairs), it could live quite happily in some swanky French château or Park Avenue penthouse.
This slept-on IKEA gem has earned a near-perfect 4.9 stars across 70+ reviews, with shoppers calling it “sturdy” and “elegant” in equal measure.
So that’s the character I’d give it: heiress. Surround the $170 coffee table with the appropriate context clues. Not the requisite Tom Ford stack, but niche art books ostensibly collected on your travels. Underfoot, Ruggable’s designer collaborations supply the .001%-favorite details, from the Hilton's chambray blue and double borders to Scalamandré’s riff on the iconic ’60s Tigre. Atop the glass, a candleholder by an unimpeachable talent like Sophie Lou Jacobsen. At that point, who’s asking what the coffee table cost?
In a dream living room, we’d spend with reckless abandon, snapping up every extraordinarily fabulous Carrara marble surface in sight. But throwing money at a room only does so much. Taste is still required. And when the save option looks this good, surely there are better places to siphon a figurative trust fund.
$170 looks a lot more like $1,700 when you spend it right. Keep your most discerning guests guessing with more impossibly posh-looking coffee tables.
This equally opulent number from Wayfair scratches a different living room furniture itch: the organically minded art curator. Those strong forms and convincing travertine finish suggest $2,000 and a pair of strong men required to get it upstairs. Pair accordingly with gargantuan leafy plants, bonsai trees, and forged-iron details.
For the moody and mid-century-inclined, this “burl wood” coffee table looks like something stumbled upon in some smoky, cool vintage shop downtown. Add emerald green, mohair, and plenty of geometry for sufficient swank.
I realize this one isn’t sub-$200 like our elegant IKEA find. However, TOV Furniture’s Libby Coffee Table does Levanto marble so convincingly, it could have anyone fooled. The real thing approaches $4,000, so the “rich” energy payoff here is exponential.
Save on the coffee table. The sofa, as designers won’t ever let me forget, is another matter. With all that money you didn’t spend just now, peruse our edit of the best couches to finish the room.
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