If you’re browsing the web on your laptop right now, lounging lazily on the couch with a cup of tea or coffee while you read web pages and check emails, you’re probably resting your feet on the coffee table. Some call it a cocktail table but no matter the name a coffee table is that cute little piece of furniture that sits comfortably in front of the sofa and sometimes below the television.

The coffee table is the greatest way to maximize the functionality of a room.  You can store things in them, put your drinks and plates of food on top of them, and always have easy access to them from an upright sitting position on your most comfortable of chairs. These tables are more than mere coffee holders, hell, I wouldn’t be surprised it there’s a coffee table out there today that actually dispenses coffee! Coasters, small plants, magazines, napkin holders, and works of literature all find their way to the coffee table in one form or another.

Coffee tables can be put anywhere in the house too. They aren’t just restricted to the living room. You can put them in a sitting area for quiet reading and contemplation or you can put them in the kid’s playroom. These are versatile pieces of furniture that can meet any need. The coffee table has withstood the test of time as far as furniture trends go, these babies are here to stay. They can be some fantastic antiques and collectibles.

The concept of the coffee table is simple: a low lying table that sits close to the ground and nearby a seat with the purpose of holding hot or cold beverages. The basic idea existed well before the rise of the actual term “coffee table.” You can find similar designs in the Victorian era in Europe and there are some tripod tables in early India. The Ancient cultures to the East have always been known to use square tea tables.
The function of the coffee table remains just as useful today as it was back then. However, the coining of the phrase “coffee table” is more of a modern development. It is widely believed that the very first reference may have occurred in the later years of the Victorian era.

E.W. Godwin created a table which he describes as a coffee table. You can find reference to Godwin’s coffee table in reputable furniture literature like R.W Symonds. The only difference between Godwin’s coffee table and the common coffee table we see today was the height. His was a little bit taller than most modern coffee tables.

When revivalism hit the furniture industry in the late 19th century the history of the coffee table became cemented in time. No longer was it going to be called a “cocktail table” that name didn’t even make sense. Joseph Aronson in 1938 wrote a brief description of the coffee table that sticks even today. He wrote that the coffee table was a “low wide table now used before a sofa or couch.”

That about says it all. The coffee table is not some mystical piece of furniture with a shadowy past. It is a common everyday table that has been used for centuries to entertain a wide variety of cultures.

Everyone loves to sit around and chat with family and friends while they drink and be merry and the coffee table is the answer to that. Rather than sit uncomfortably around a huge dinner table just to have tea and crumpets, you can sit around the living room in comfortable chairs and rest your dishes and books on top of a coffee table.

Last Modified : November 13th, 2009 Filed under : Coffee Table Info Navigate : Previous post / Next post