Completely Off The Topic of Books (Mostly)...

In addition to all of the book blogs I follow (and by "follow" I mean get the updates in my reader and then try to find time to scan them with the occasional comment), I also follow some home decorating blogs. Today there was a post on one of them about styling coffee tables that got me thinking.

I often look at coffee tables on these blogs and in magazines and think how much I like the look of them but then the practical me comes out. The part of me, for example, that thinks "just what I need, more stuff to dust."

Today I found myself wondering, though, exactly what is the purpose of a table that is so covered in decorative items that it can't be used? Where, for example, would you set down the book you're currently reading on this table? Or put your feet up if you wanted to stretch out?

And what is the point of a table that is so low and far away that you can't even reach it to set down a drink? If you had company over, they'd all have to be perched on the edge of the sofa so they could reach their beverage. Assuming they weren't sitting on the end where there is no room to set down a beverage.

I have tried styling our coffee table before but it never lasts long. Right now this is what our coffee table looks like. It's actually a blanket chest made by my great-grandfather and I'm kind of embarrassed to show you that I have rested my feet on it so much that the finish is coming off. All of our current reads are collected in a basket with the none-too-decorative box of Kleenex. That basket gets moved around - a laptop needs to be set up on the coffee table at one end or I'm folding laundry at the other end or it needs to be taken off entirely so I can spread out snacks for book club. Which is all to say that we live in our family room and our coffee table has to work for us.

Do you have a coffee table? Is it something you use or something you have beautifully decorated? And does anyone actually use their coffee table as a place to serve coffee any more? These are the things I think about that keep me from getting the things done that need to be done.