Looking for easy ways to make your living room, bedroom, or other home interiors have that EFFORTLESS STYLE? Here I’ll be sharing my tips for using Coffee Table Books As Decor & How To Style Them.
Plus, I’ll be linking up my favourite coffee table books (scroll to the bottom of this post for my lists) covering home interiors, art, and handcrafts.
~The following contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Should you choose to purchase through them, this blog makes a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my disclosure policy here.~
Coffee Table Books As Decor & How To Style Them
Have you noticed that the humble coffee table book is no longer limited to just coffee tables?
We now SEE THEM EVERYWHERE and styled in all sorts of interesting, artful ways. Whether you prefer neutrals or bold colours, styling STACKS OF BOOKS has become a STAPLE IN INTERIOR DESIGN.
Not only do these oversized books add visual interest stacked on their own, they also serve as styling pieces that can be added to a vignette or dressed up with small accessories to reflect your personal style.
Keep scrolling for MY BEST TIPS FOR STYLING coffee table books, including EXAMPLES FROM OUR HOME, followed by a curated ROUND-UP of beautiful coffee table books and where to find them.
Let’s dive in!
Tips for Styling Coffee Table Books
1. Choose a Colour Palette
I know that the idea of choosing books for their colour MAY SEEM A BIT SILLY (as a reader, I feel you). BUT, there is no reason to be snooty about this 🤨 . I have plenty of books – attractive and unattractive – filling a couple of bookcases in our home without any care for the colour palette. It’s all about the content, baby!
I even wrote about styling your hodge-podge collection of books here: Bookshelf Styling When You Have a Lot of Books.
That said, WHEN USING BOOKS TO STYLE A COFFEE TABLE or any other surface of the home, I AM PRETTY CHOOSY about what gets displayed and where. This is where you can take a look at what you have and pull out the most attractive books that also complement your home’s aesthetic.
If you live in a HOME WITH A NEUTRAL PALETTE – think browns and creams, black and white and shades of grey – OPT FOR BOOKS WITH NEUTRAL HUES.
The SAME GOES FOR COLOURFUL SPACES.
In essence, find books that coordinate with your home’s colour palette.
In both cases, CHOOSE 2-3 COLOURS FROM YOUR SURROUNDINGS and focus on those when selecting coffee table books to display as decor.
2. Consider Book Sizes
Most coffee table books are anywhere from 8 X 10 inches up to about 11 X 14 inches. I often look for the LARGEST SIZES TO DISPLAY ON OVERSIZED TABLES and save SMALLER BOOKS FOR SMALL OR NARROW SURFACES like consoles, side tables or nightstands.
That said, choosing a complementary colour palette is far more important and I often find myself with a mix of book sizes styled together.
3. Creating Book Stacks
Once you’ve chosen your colour palette and have some books to play around with, be sure to place the largest book on the bottom of a book stack of 2 or 3 books.
Use just one stack for a small surface – like a nightstand or end table – or create one or more stacks on a larger surface.
4. Top With Decorative & Functional Objects
I have played a LOT with using decorative accessories on my book stacks. There have been some hits and several misses! But, I don’t mind. It’s all about having fun with styling and restyling my space.
Some of my favourites include decorative bowls, trinket dishes, a vase with florals, candles, coasters, and lamps.
Book Styling Inspiration From Our Home
Here are some examples of book styling from around our home and through the seasons.
1. Coffee Tables
For a rectangular or square coffee table, creating a GRID LAYOUT is a simple way to display your decor, while keeping things tidy.
OUR COFFEE TABLE in the Great Room IS OVERSIZED so creating a SQUARE GRID MADE UP OF FOUR QUADRANTS (more or less) makes it easy for me to style each spot without overthinking it. Below, I’ve decorated each of the four quadrants with decor: A stoneware vase filled with faux flowers, a decorative bowl, and TWO STACKS OF BOOKS.
THE SAME GRID, below, is decorated with only ONE STACK OF BOOKS.
This pattern gives me an endless number of decor items to use and allows me some CREATIVE PLAY WITH A BIT OF ASYMMETRY, too. For example, below I divided the coffee table into 5 MAIN SECTIONS (more or less).
It can be especially fun to play with decorating with book stacks around the holidays where I can display festive accessories, too.
For coffee tables that are long and narrow, grab a tray and corral your book stack and decor there. Or create a continuous grid of two or three distinct sections to lay out a stack of books, florals and pillar candles, for example.
2. Entryway Tables, Buffet Tables, Consoles
An entryway table is a great spot to display a stack of books. Choose your palette and size and add an accessory on top like a bowl for keys to complete the look.
As I shared in this fall foyer decorating post, I chose the brown and reddish-burgundy books (above) specifically to complement the moodier tone and accessories in this space (below).
If you are not keen on displaying book titles TURN THE BOOKS AROUND as I did on our buffet table for a SIMPLE, MINIMAL LOOK.
Below, I used the same method of hiding the book spines and chose only black and white books to blend in with the black and white display.
3. Cabinet Shelves or Bookshelves
Stacks of books are perfect for styling shelves, whether they are classic bookshelves or shelves in large cabinets. Here, in our basement lounge room, I have a beautiful vintage teak cabinet and wanted to display vintage hardcover and softcover books.
I added ceramic and wooden bowls – repeating the pattern for a cohesive look – and balanced things with vintage art prints that filled the vertical space. STICKING TO A SOFT COLOUR PALETTE MAKES THIS AREA FEEL COHESIVE.
In the case of long bookshelves, breaking up the visual with books stacked both horizontally and vertically, can also add interest to the overall look.
4. End Tables & Nightstands
Another great spot to add a book stack is on an end table or nightstand.
Personally, I don’t like to overload a nightstand as I need it to be useful, especially at night where I use the space to add a glass of water or to rest a novel or electronics.
For more CASUAL SPACES, books are a great way to emphasize the informality of the room. For a more ECCLECTIVE VIBE, you may like the look of a STACK OF BOOKS ON THE FLOOR IN PLACE OF AN ENDTABLE, as I did in our basement lounge room not that long ago.
More recently, however, I decided to stack them in this TIERED METAL SIDE TABLE. This tidied things up a bit without taking away from the informal feeling of this space.
A Curated Round-Up of Coffee Table Books
Below, I’ve rounded up 3 sets of coffee table books for different colour palettes. Some I own and some I wish I owned! Feel free to scroll to the one that best fits your style.
And remember, you can also find MANY COFFEE TABLE BOOKS AT YOUR LOCAL THRIFT STORE, on ETSY, and at local home goods stores like HOMESENSE, at discount prices. I have found several this way, so don’t be afraid to explore in unexpected places.
***PRODUCT LINKS CAN BE FOUND UNDER EACH OF THE 3 IMAGE COLLAGES, BELOW:
1. Call It Home: The Details That Matter
2. Create: At Home with Old and New
3. Feels Like Home: Relaxed Interiors for a Meaningful Life
5. Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want To Leave
6. At Home: Evocative & Art-Forward Interiors
7. Curate: Inspiration for an Individual Home
8. The Art of Home: A Designer Guide
9. Made for Living: Collected Interiors for All Sorts of Styles
10. Home with Rue: Style for Everyone
11. Down to Earth: Laid Back Interiors for Modern Living
12. Minimalista: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life
*Honourable Mention: Elements of Style: Designing a Home and a Life
1. Outside In: A Year of Growing and Displaying
3. House Beautiful: Live Colorfully
4. Alexa Hampton: Design, Style and Influence
5. Monet: The Triumph of Impressionism
6. The Complete Pattern Directory
7. The Home Edit: Stay Organized: The Ultimate Guide to Making Systems Stick
8. Timeless by Design: Designing Rooms with Comfort, Style, and a Sense of History
9. De Gournay: Hand Painted Interiors
10. Living with Colour: Inspiration and How-Tos to Brighten Up Your Home
11. The Complete Book of Home Organization
12. Canadian Paintings, Prints, and Drawings
*Honourable Mention: The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish
***NOTE: Although these are not all strictly ‘coffee table books’ (a few are slim, paperback volumes), they are all practical with plenty of visual instructions (for the crafters out there!), so choose according to your style and crafty tastes:
1. Macrame 2: Accessories, Homewares & More
2. Elegant Handcrafted Wreaths
4. The Scrollsaw: Twenty Projects
6. Recreated Designs: Cottage Projects With a Vintage Flair
7. Make A Statement: 25 Handcrafted Jewelry & Accessory Projects (not quite a coffee table book, but the cover is lovely for display)
8. The Complete Book of Nature Crafts
10. Paper Made!
12. On The Loom: A Modern Weaver’s Guide
I hope you found these tips helpful. When it comes to using coffee table books as decor, there are so many possibilities. But the principles are simple: choose your palette, stack 2 or 3 books, then add a decorative object on top and you are well on your way to becoming a book stack style aficionado!
Happy decorating 🙂
Jelica
For more easy style tips, check out these other resources:
Effortless Faux Flower Styling Tips (+ A Round-Up of Faux Flowers Online)
How To Lean & Layer Art for a Cool, Casual Vibe
17 Simple Ways To Reduce Visual Clutter
Decorating Ideas for the ‘Cookie-Cutter’ Home
How To Mix Wood Tones (Just Like a Pro)
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