Hi there, esteemed design-eers. Long time lurker, first time poster.
I'm trying to pick a coffee table for my living room (situated in a restored 1905 "altbau" in Vienna, Austria). This is the first time in my life I've had the money to buy interesting furniture, and I'm absolutely stuck.
I've been turning the details & options over & over in my head til I've gone insane. I've included all the details below, feel free to ignore them if they're annoying 😉
I love light, classy 1970s style. I love Eames and, when he's being more accessible, Nelson. I love bright colors, and a certain type of Swiss/German abstract art. I want something that's approachable and friendly, but not kitschy. My room is enormous, but my pink sofa (husband's choice, believe it or not) is REALLY enormous.
Already in the room are 3 pieces of 1970s Danish-style teak: a buffet (with the cameras), a less-curvy-than-usual-Dansk glass cabinet (full of books) and my absolute favorite, unknown maker, with the multi-colored drawer pull cutouts.
This last piece inspired pretty much all my other 1970s-era purchases. I would roll around in it and wear it every day if I could. (I also really love my newest lamp, the plexiglass one.)
I'm going to hang a large Rosemin Hendriks line drawing over it soon: http://www.plaatsmaken.nl/shop/index.php/zonder-titel-32.html
The Artifort sofa, red pleather lounger, and orange plastic lamp are only here until we get our home office out of our family room.
I would like to have the big pink sofa paired with something modern and heavy-looking like 2x Munich Lounge Chair by Sauerbruch Hutton or 2x Domus Chair by Tapiovaara, with the black leather lining. (I think. I'm not 100% settled on this.)
As soon as the Christmas markets open, I'm buying a white alpaca pelt rug to go under the sofa area. I would like to remove the center ceiling rose (dominated by my husband's grandmother's Jugendstil brass lamp) and have 2 of the UFO-shaped Nelson bubble lamps, one over each "zone" in the room.
So my coffee table dilemma is: Should I choose something that goes with my 1970s teak? Should I choose something that's light and bent plywoody? (I LOVE bent plywood.) Glass? Light or dark wood? Something else entirely? Should it have a big solid presence to stand up to the sofa, or should I go the other way for something light and airy?
(Either way, I'd love to have a place in it to stick books.)
I'm really honestly stuck. I've bought a couple pieces of furniture based on look and not feel and I had to get rid of them, cuz I came to hate them so much.
What do you think? I'd love your suggestions.
Note: the sofa is not as electric pink as it looks. It's a mixture of pink and orange threads for a type of bright coral color.
Munich Lounge Chair: http://www.contemporist.com/2010/01/11/the-munich-lounge-chair-by-sauerbruch-hutton/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiffariffic/ 
<img class="wpforo-defau
I'd suggest
searching through existing threads about coffee tables on this site. There are quite a lot of them. It seems this is something that many DA'ers struggle with.
I asked a similar question a few months back and got a lot of good feedback I also got some rather snotty feedback as well, so be prepared to get some of that. I think my thread was named 'one more time' or something like that.
Sorry, can't help much but...
Sorry, can't help much but wanted to compliment you on presenting a very thorough and thoughtful question. Olive's suggestions are right on, I think; and yes, be prepared for the snotty response -- that's always very good advice.
As far as tables with book storage, a John Keal table by Brown-Saltman comes to mind. I think your space calls for something kind of woody and angular, but I don't know. Sometimes something very divergent can be really fine ...
Do you really need a coffee table?
With such a huge sofa, consider just using a pair pedestal tables instead. Both Saarinen and Nelson pedestals are great for this. You can move them around as you desire, and are the perfect size for laptop use while on the sofa.
Stephen Roberts doesn't use coffee tables that much in his interiors:
http://stephenroberts.com/
Olive, dear...
When you say, "I really want to buy a Noguchi table, but I worry that people will think I'm unimaginative," and a kind, wise person replies, "Don't worry about what I or any other person might think -- buy what you want," I can see that you might be bothered by the response because it doesn't invite more aimless chatter... But it's certainly not "snotty feedback".
Amyhoy: I like simple geometric-shaped tables -- circle, square, etc. -- for your room. If it were me, I'd get a white circular table, but you said you like bent plywood, so maybe an Eames CTW. No book storage in that one, though. Hmm... I'll keep thinking.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
I suggest editing before...
I suggest editing before adding.
Since you have limited space, I'm agreeing with Beloved that a coffee table isn't necessary...especially with your current set up. If you decide a coffee table is an absolute. Something low profile, say an Eames surfboard? Probably too long. I can think of others, but Eames surboard is the easiest to visualize.
Suggestion 1
Remove the blue sofa entirely. Move the credenza in front of the window. Move the purple people eater to where the credenza was, or where the blue sofa was. . Where the Purple sofa was, add two lounge chairs.
Suggestion 2
Replace either blue or purple sofa with two lounge chairs. If you remove the purple, move blue to purples location. Remove large purple people eating ottman. Use square white table as coffee table?
Thanks for all the ideas! I'm...
Thanks for all the ideas! I'm going to think about it for a little bit before I respond to you individually, but first off: THANKS. 🙂
I don't know if you folks have this experience, but nobody I hang out with in real life is interested in my coffee table dilemma. They all think I'm silly for caring so much 😉 So it's lovely to hang out here & chat with you guys.
WoofWoof, we must be...
WoofWoof, we must be thinking along the same lines because the blue sofa (which is actually very light tan with black and grey stripes) is going away, to be replaced by armchairs. Something manly to offset the pink. The pink ottoman will have to go somewhere else (think the side of the sofa or in the bedroom). I agree - it's too much.
I AM going to call the pink sofa the Purple People Eater from now on!
Re: putting the credenza/sideboard under the window, I'd love to do that. But I'm afraid it would fade miserably. Is there something I can treat it with to protect it?
I've never really owned nice furniture before so never had to think about it.
the_beloved, fastfwd,...
the_beloved, fastfwd, excellent! You're right... it hadn't occured to me to do 2x little pedestal tables. That could do the trick of giving us place to put our drinks and such without creating an impenetrable block of furniture! That's just the type of advice I needed to hear.
A pair of pedestal tables with white laminate top but wood-colored edges would be perfect.
Do you happen to know a particular designer / brand / model that offers the wood edges with white laminate? I know I've *seen* them but can't recall the name.
I'll stick my books elsewhere 🙂
(I also love the Eames CTW/CTM but had somehow forgotten about it! Maybe between the 2 armchairs, when we get them.)
Thanks again!
Olive and hudsonhonu, thank you for the warm welcome 🙂 hudsonhonu, I looked up John Keal's tables and I love the angular side tables with the shelf inside -- like tiered tables but minus the tier. I'll have to find a place to use those in a less-crowded room.
Amhoy--
Regarding the credenza & sun-- sunlight might fade the Purple People Eater, but it would do the reverse to wood-- sunlight wood darken it, not fade. And, if items sat atop the credenza for long periods of time, they'd leave pale silhouettes.
(See Olive's DA fish tank thread, below >>>)
I agree with your decision to move the striped sofa out of there. It's attractive, but out of scale with the other pieces.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
William, aha! Thanks for the ...
William, aha! Thanks for the info. I wouldn't want it to darken, either, so I'm going to keep it away from the windows. Really can't express how much I love this piece of furniture... it's unseemly.
You're right, the grey striped sofa doesn't fit. It really belongs in our "AV Room." We had to move it out here when we lost our office & had to move all 4 desks etc. to our apartment. (Chaos!)
It looks like we've finally found a new office -- or so I hope, because I'm desperate to get this living room in order. (And to get the TV out of here!)
Call me shallow, but the crazier my life feels, the more I crave a home that feels consistent, coherent & well-put-together... and "like me."
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