How to Decorate a Sofa Table Behind a Couch

Long, rectangular tables that can be almost 7 feet in length and as little as 1 foot in depth have been decorating staples for decades. They were originally designed to hide or cover the back of a sofa when it was traditional to not finish the back side of an upholstered couch. These days, however, they add dimension to a room and give storage and shelving options. Decorating sofa tables can show your creativity. They lend themselves to displays of your objects d'art, small photographs or artwork. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Place your couch so that it's "floating" in the room, and not against a wall, or a least the width of your sofa table from the wall.

2

Position your sofa table behind your couch, either flush against the wall or flush against the back of the couch.

3

Decorate with small, short ornaments that you can group or gather to make an interesting cluster of color or design. This is a good strategy if your couch is overstuffed and makes people sit back and relax, in which case you might not want very high, tall ornaments placed on the sofa table. People might lean back and knock them over. For this kind of sofa, shells mixed with small vases or glass ornaments look good as do miniature easels with miniature framed artwork.

4

Decorate a more formal sofa table with objects of various heights. Use different-sized candles and candle holders to bring the focus up and add height to the room. Display plates and artwork, again on easels. You can also vary sizes and shapes of vases and/or glassworks.

5

Use the sofa table as a coffee table assistant. Keep a set of coaster on it and when space is at a premium, guests can place their drinks on the sofa back table. Likewise, set magazines and books on the sofa table to make room for larger items you want to display on the coffee table.