How a Coffee Table Makes a Room

The coffee table has long been a living room staple, not just because of the booming popularity of the hot drink that it’s named for, but because of the functionality and multi-purpose aspects of the classic coffee table design.

Mantis Light Mango 6 Drawer Coffee Table

Commonly placed in the centre of a room, the coffee table is often in the interior design ‘spotlight’ and receives constant use throughout the day. So why settle for a dull design? Make a statement with your coffee table and choose something that deserves to be placed centre stage.

Choosing a Coffee Table

Whether it’s the last item to be bought in an already furnished room, or if you’re basing the whole interior around the coffee table, there are a few things you might want to consider when choosing a new coffee table.

Coffee Tables with Storage

If you find that your current coffee table tends to fill up with clutter all too easily, invest in a coffee table with integrated storage. Coffee tables with storage, such as the Mantis Light Coffee Table, include spacious drawers on each side of the table, which ensures quick and easy storage of items such as newspapers and magazines. You could also consider a coffee table with a lower shelf or rack, if you wish to display items such as coffee table books.

Coffee Table Sizes and Styles

If your living space is more on the cosy and compact side, you may want to look at a small coffee table, or perhaps even an expanding table – providing more surface space when you need it an less when you don’t. If you have space in abundance, then go as big as you like. With an extra large coffee table you can afford to put your feet up on it, use the table as a play space for the kids, or host ever more extravagant coffee mornings and tea parties.

When you’re considering style, take a look at the décor in the room. Whether the atmosphere you’ve created is classic or contemporary, inspired by modern oriental design, country cottage style or anything in between, you’ll find the perfect table to slot into the look you have created.

Coffee Table Colours and Finishes

Hardwood finishes such as oak, mahogany and mango are great options to consider when deciding on your coffee table. There is no finish more classic than naturally waxed wood, and no other material will last longer when it comes to both style and durability. Wood is often available painted, stained or natural, resulting in the availability of just about any colour and finish imaginable.

At Oak Furniture Land you’ll find a huge selection of oak coffee tables, modern coffee tables and coffee tables with storage. Whether your home is ultra modern or classically traditional, we have styles to suit all!

Mantis Dark Solid Mango Coffee / End Table

Decorating with Dark Wood Furniture

The popularity of light wood furniture is undeniable; but if you fancy something different, have you considered dark wood furniture?

Dark wood furniture has the ability to enhance a room, adding a warmth and presence which is both cosy, inspiring and relaxing. There’s a certain elegance that only dark wood furniture can capture; which is achieved by its rich and welcoming tones.

Dark wood furniture works well in many different interior settings – whether your home is period, classical, modern or contemporary, dark furniture can be used to create beautiful contrasts and can be dressed up or down depending on your choice of accessories and ornaments.

Make a Dark Furniture Statement

Contrasted with neutral walls, dark wood furniture can make a really bold style statement. Either by using one key dark wood piece in the centre of the room, such as a bed, dining set or coffee table, or by completely re-decorating in sumptuous dark tones, it’s a sure-fire way to stand out from the crowd.

Dark wood bedroom furniture adds an exotic feel to the bedroom when enhanced by soft accent colours and fabrics, and depending on the choice of wall colour and soft furnishings, can create a rich and romantic feel or a bold contemporary atmosphere in any room in the home.

The Mantis Dark Solid Mango Coffee / End Table would be excellent in the bedroom as a bedside chest, and demonstrates an unshakeable sense of style with its clean-cut lines and a delectable dark stained finish.

Mantis Dark Solid Mango Sideboard

Dark Wood Options

There are various shades of dark wood furniture available. For a medium finish, you might prefer something which has been subtly stained with wax polish, such as the Rustic Solid Oak range. If you’re looking for truly dark furniture – verging on black – then the Mantis Dark Solid Mango collection would be just perfect!

Medium dark woods add more colour to the room and can range from the rich dark honey brown of stained oak to the rusty reds of our Tokyo Brown Teak Solid Mango collection, or the deep vermillion of our classic mahogany ranges.

Dark wood furniture creates a bold statement, producing luxurious contrasts and accentuating any accessories you place upon it.

Get Statement Dark Wood Pieces at Low Prices

At Oak Furniture Land, we offer discount dark wood bedroom furniture and fantastic value dark wood pieces for any room in the home. A King-Size Dark Wood Bed – such as the one from our Mantis Dark Solid Mango collection offers – will make an incredible style statement in a bedroom, whether you keep everything else a stark white or use rich jewel tones to enhance the impact of the dark mango wood. When you shop with us, even the most rich and exotic dark furniture pieces are totally within your grasp, so go give that room an inspiring dark wood makeover – whatever your budget!

Rustic Solid Oak Small Sideboard

4. Sideboards

Choosing the right sideboard for your home is the best way to create storage space and also handy surface space in the dining area. Sideboards come in all different shapes and sizes, mostly rising to around waist level, which is the perfect height for placing food and drinks for guests, either as extra storage by the dining table, or as the main setting for a buffet style lunch or cocktail party.

Our sideboards are designed with functionality and style in mind, and we use sturdy dovetail jointed drawers, plus cupboards and shelves to provide storage for all dining room items in need of a home.

Tokyo Solid Oak Large Sideboard

Tokyo Solid Oak Large Sideboard – (to the right)

Inspired by modern Japanese design, the Tokyo range is sleek and smart, with gracefully bowed tops and panelled detailing. The Tokyo large sideboard contains four dovetail jointed drawers and two large cupboards with shelving inside. The sweeping bowed top provides enough space to serve food or even use as a cocktail bar, and in solid oak, it will endure for generations!

Louis Philippe Mahogany Corner Unit

5. Corner Cabinets

We sell beautiful corner cabinets in all shapes and sizes, ideal for making the most of an often-overlooked area – the corners of a room. Corners are a tricky area to furnish well, so a bespoke corner cabinet is ideal for most rooms. These corner cabinets come in varieties that combine display storage with hidden storage, similar to our glazed dressers. This provides versatile storage options and plenty of room for tidying away clutter or displaying your prized possessions.

Louis Philippe Solid Mahogany Corner Unit – (to the left)

Our Louis Philippe collection includes a wide range of items in luxurious mahogany. The Louis Philippe Solid Mahogany Corner Unit boasts a vast repertoire of possible uses – whether you require a TV stand, somewhere to store your best china, cutlery and linen, or just something to brighten up an empty corner, this piece won’t let you down. The carefully crafted door panels, brushed metal antiqued handles, and wonderfully flared cornices are all marques of this sophisticated collection. Made by skilled craftsmen using only 100% A-grade Solid Mahogany throughout, we think it’s a work of art.

Storage Furniture

Investing in some new storage furniture is a great way to get your spring clean off to a flying start. Once the clutter is cleared away into your new storage cabinet, you can really get down to the scrubbing and dusting! Best of luck!

View Storage Solutions: Part One

Tokyo Oak CD Storage Unit

Spring Cleaning: Storage Solutions

It’s that time of the year again; as winter is slowly drawing to a close, the first hints of spring are in the air. Over the coming weeks, lots of you will be getting ready for a long-awaited spring clean…

For some, the spring clean heralds a big donation of unearthed and unwanted bits and pieces to the local charity shop, but there are always bits and bobs to hold on to; still in need of a home within the home.

What better way to reward your hard work than to splash out on some new storage furniture to hide away some of that clutter which is always unearthed in a thorough spring clean.

In the next two blog posts we will look at the Top 5 Storage Solutions:

1. CD and DVD Storage Furniture

For the avid CD or DVD collector, the question of where to store your prized items is often a tricky one. It’s amazing how quickly they stack up, until you resort to making several multi-coloured towers in the corner of the room because you’ve run out of drawers or shelf space.

Alto Solid Oak Media Cabinet

Investing in CD and DVD storage furniture can help you keep your collection neat and tidy. If you like to see your entire collection at all times, perhaps the best option would be to buy a bookcase. We stock traditional bookcases in many different heights and widths to suit any space. If you only collect your favourites, you could opt for something like the Rustic Solid Oak Wide Bookcase; or if you’re a dedicated collector, perhaps the Tokyo Solid Oak Tall Bookcase would be more practical.

If you’d prefer the multi-coloured spines to be hidden, then a dedicated piece of CD and DVD storage furniture would be ideal. Take a look at the Alto Solid Oak Media Cabinet – handcrafted from premium grade solid oak throughout it features a large cupboard space with eight compartments for 120 standard CD cases, and a storage area for your Hi-Fi or more CDs!

2. Display Storage Units

Some items in the home may not serve a specific purpose, but deserve to be stored and displayed properly to make the most of their beauty. We all have knickknacks, vases, ornaments, family heirlooms and various curios. If your collection is cluttering up a mantelpiece or windowsill, why not have a look at a safer and more suitable storage solution. Our glazed dressers give you the opportunity to save your display items from dust and damage by putting them behind glass. Many of our dressers and cabinets also incorporate solid oak cupboard spaces and shelves, to store away items that don’t necessarily need displaying.

For items which don’t need the protection of glass doors, discover our selection of E display units. These striking and sturdy units provide shelving with a stylish twist; ideal for displaying eye-catching ornaments in a room with characteristically smart and contemporary decor.

Baku Cream Mango Storage Trunk Box

3. Blanket Boxes and Storage Trunks

Some clutter simply needs to be hidden away! In these cases, a storage trunk or chest can be ideal. In most of our ranges, we stock a storage trunk or blanket box type storage unit to complement the style and finish of the collection.

These blanket boxes can be used for pretty much anything. We’ve seen them in use as shoe storage or various sports equipment in the hallway, for blankets and bedding at the foot of the bed, for toys and musical instruments in the kids’ room, or even as a sturdy, multipurpose coffee table in the sitting room. As a simple hidden storage solution, it’s hard to beat!

To be continued…

View Storage Solutions: Part Two for more storage furniture ideas.