KNOW-HOW

Before purchasing a coffee table for your living room, you need first to determine its shape. The proper shape depends on the user’s needs and taste, but also depends on the size of the sofa and on the seating configuration. 

The arrangement of the seating area: The sofas, the armchairs, the rug, the coffee table, the end tables, any ottomans, etc form an assembly of independent pieces that moreover should work as a group. For example, when seating furniture is placed face-to-face then a rectangular or oval table is probably the best choice for this configuration. When two sofas of the same length are placed in L-shaped arrangement, then a square or round table is an advantageous choice.  If the furniture placement is done in the round, then a round coffee table compliments the arrangement. 

 The linear arrangement of the seating furniture in U-shape dictates a rectangular coffee table.

 Two long, 3-seater sofas are placed face to face. An oval or rectangular coffee table is an advantageous choice. 

 A U-shaped arrangement with a large, square coffe table. 

 The square shape of the coffee table ensures that seated people can reach the coffee table without leaning way forward or standing up. 

The size of the sofa is another parameter that influences the shape of the coffee table. If you have a long sofa then you need a long coffee table, either rectangular or oval. It is true, that round coffee tables work best with smaller sofas. A small round table, in front of a long sofa look even smaller and disproportionate.  An oval coffee table works well with longer sofas and it has the shape of a round table. Other choices for long sofas are the nested coffee tables or the pairs of smaller tables.

  Nested tables are a set of small tables of graduated size that can be stacked together, each fitting within the one immediately larger. 

 A pair of small, round coffe tables is an advantagous choice for long sofas.