Coffee tables can be the starting point and focus when designing a room. Of course, it exists for a function, a place to rest a drink, to put magazines or a coffee table book. But, it is also an opportunity to have fun, whether it is the actual table itself, or the artful mix of unexpected objects. Here are some examples of how a coffee table can add excitement and spark conversation in an interior…

This drawing room shows how the coffee table and fireplace are the central axis of the room to which the other furniture works around.

Unusually, the coffee table is made up of multiple surfaces and materials with organic forms. The varying heights of marble, timber and slate are fascinating to look at, whilst serving a purpose and can be reconfigured in many ways.

This coffee table has an angular and cantilevered construction. As it is in a hotel room at The Soho Hotel, we have lined the edges with rubber.

In contrast to the angular forms of the previous coffee table, these two coffee tables have voluptuous and smooth shapes. You just want to run your hands over the beautiful craftsmanship.

Although aspects of this residential room scheme are modern, such as the crane converted into a light, this traditional oriental dark wood coffee table adds gravitas to the space.

It is often the legs or the underneath of a piece of furniture that is fascinating, and the arrangement of crosses makes this coffee table reassuringly sturdy. The warm grey timber is an easy tone to work into your scheme.

Upholstered ottomans provide a wonderful canvas to showcase a beautiful fabric. Watched over by portraits of The Bloomsbury Group, the needlepoint ottoman in the Drawing Room at Charlotte Street Hotel is spectacular. We always remember to put Afternoon Tea on a tray to protect it.

Here our needlepoint coffee tables have provided the perfect spot for a game of chess or a solution to the fact that you never have enough storage.

A textile you have found on your travels can add that va-va-voom to a room.

Here at Number Sixteen, the arrangement of the lantern, flowers and books illustrate how using three objects of varying heights can add interest to a simple coffee table.

The Three Plank Coffee Table I designed is so versatile and is available on Shop Kit Kemp.

Beautifully handcrafted in solid wood with a natural finish, a Five Plank version is available for bigger spaces.

It is the surfaces of these generously proportioned coffee tables that make them interesting. This example in our newly refurbished Terrace Suite at The Soho Hotel was once a tribulum, a farming tool that was pulled by horses and used to harvest the land.

In the Drawing Room at The Whitby Hotel we constructed a coffee table from a nineteenth century Indian door and protected the ancient wood with a glass top.

Choose weatherproof materials for an outdoor context, shown here in one of our Terrace Suites at The Whitby Hotel.

I hope this gives you some ideas and will make putting your feet up at the end of a long day all the more rewarding!