Besides dust, a placemat and an empty bowl. Not sure why. Sad really.

Nobody uses the coffee table in our house.

Mine is pretty much just a place to put packages that come in on the porch. It has a glass top. I have a nice faux orchid in the middle and a ceramic piece that a close friend made. I got it at Snooty Fox and I do like it. By sheer coincidence, the legs match the legs on a settee I found when a consignment shop was closing. The profits went to help animal shelters and I got a good deal on it.

I don't use my living room for entertaining very often. I have a platform rocker and an old pink "recliner" that I got for free and is very comfortable and then I have a sofa that has been in my family for over 100 years. My uncles worked in a furniture factory and they made this sofa and a side chair (which a cousin has) for my grandmother. My mom and dad got it when grandma came to live with them, long before I came along. My mom gave it to me when I lived in Baltimore. It had been in the basement. Our dog, Charlie, slept on it but it was in pretty good condition. When I moved back home, I found a guy to reupholster it. I had him keep a bit of the old fabric and make two pillows for it. To get that quality of fabric would have been $40/yard. I couldn't afford that but the pillows at least let me keep a piece of what it was like when I was growing up and it was in our living room. I guess that is a lot more information than you were looking for. :)

I do like to sit in the living room in the morning when the sun is coming up and I sit on that sofa to play Wordle (and all the Wordle games) with my friend every morning.

I use mine for puzzles and put glass over when done for awhile. Otherwise it’s a perfect footstool. It even has drawers in the front for dead remotes and such.

DH’s chair is a low Danish chair, so the coffee table (we think of it as a cocktail table) is just the right height for his dessert, wine, and the remotes. We also keep a bowl with the cat’s brush in it there. Used to keep coffee table books on it, but they are now on a bookshelf.

I'm addicted to notebooks and pens, so multiples of those. We had an extra flatware holder, and I used it to house all the remotes. It also holds the pens and pencils I use for the notebooks. In addition to that I have a cute little candle holder that has pewter birds, four coasters, and some ceramic dish my mother gave me, that we use for decoration. So I guess I'm half and half? Half utilitarian, half decorative

We sit on the floor and eat dinner using the coffee table except for when we have guests. we started this many years ago before we had a dinner table and just kept the habit. A decorative tray resides on the coffee table.

In my living room, where no one ever goes, is a splayed-legged antique tavern table with various antiques on it. In the keeping room, there is a green-painted mortised bench with pantry boxes and books. My daughter recently bought a spectacular coffee table from Crate and Barrel. We obviously have different styles. She loves mid-century minimalism because she grew up with 19th-century clutter.

My coffee table is my primary work zone so it is used daily and is very much more than decorative. It is my office and my dining room. It is quite large (40" x 40") and was intended to be an outdoor table (part of a furniture set) that I was able to get at a huge discount as it was being discontinued. I keep a lot of stuff on it - my laptop, always a vase of flowers, several candles, box of kleenex and a collection of small baskets that hold assorted necessary odds and ends. Mail also tends to accumulate there till filed or tossed and any books I may be currently reading or referring to.

My only complaint is that it is large enough and low enough that my silly little dog pushes his adored ball underneath, can't manage to get it out himself and fusses me to do it for him. This happens umpteen times a day!! A smaller coffee table would solve this proble but not work for various other reasons 😊

gardengal, I love that about the dog.💕

Our coffee tables are very different. The living room’s more traditional with some special items from my MIL. We don’t use that room much. The family room’s table is much more casual with some books, hurricane with candle and a vase with curly willow stems from our previous home’s trees.

No coffee table so nothing on it.

Mine is one DH made for his mom. She ordered it to fit as a side table filling the space between her couch and love seat which were arranged like an L in her family room. We did not have one at all until hers returned to us upon her death. When the kids were little we needed to space for play and who needed an item that seeks to take a kids eye out anyway!! Now the most use it has is holding snacks at holiday time when the 'kids' return.

No coffee tables in either of our homes.

No coffee table.

I have two in the living room. The one has a pictoral top so usually not much on it. The other long one gets used a lot but we don't leave things on it except a couple current magazines--we don't have TV or electronics in the LR so don't need anything like that.

I have 2 coffee tables. The one in the living room is 40" square, made of wood, and normally holds a fabulous large oval burl wood "box" with a lid (full of saved Christmas ribbons and other detritus). a pile of large books at each corner(mainly garden related or British stately homes of the past&present), some coasters and whatever my son has deposited there.

The other one is rectangular 36" x 18". wood with fretwork on the apron. It is in another room and holds my huge Tudor dollshouse, that I purchased from Etsy decades ago, which was shipped from England.

Neither is used for coffee. Lol.

I'm another one who doesn't have a coffee table.

Not much. A couple of decor items and coasters. One of my grandsons loves to kneel there and draw pictures cause there’s plenty of room.

3 pieces of Wedgewood, only because I had no place else for them and hated to get rid of them. There was a place in the house, but not in the condo.

It's interesting that some do not have a coffee table. I grew up with everyone having a coffee table. Mine in the living room is not used for coffee and I don't have one in the family room where I have lots of things piled on a side table. The family room is also my dining room so if I did have a coffee table, there wouldn't be much room.

This is a fun topic.

I treat ours as a seasonal space where things change but always leaving space for a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres.

No coffee table here. DH for some reason hates coffee tables. Not a hill I’m willing to die on, lol. We have end tables for drinks etc and a couple smaller upholstered ottomans which move around as needed. Usually used as footstools, but add trays on top if we need extra space for snacks etc

Our house is rather small. No coffee table.

Ours is an old cedar chest with a few plants on it.

Don’t have one and haven’t had one since 2001. We use side tables . Current ones are vintage MCM stackables.

When we had one it was This End Up furniture which originated in Chapel

Hill NC and it was 1977 or so. The boys used it for all play and jumping off . We gave it to second son in 2001 when we moved to our 1890 home. He loved it til he moved about 2015. It still looked the same. He gave all the furniture away .

They are nothing but foot rests or collectors of stuff IMHO. c

We have a table between two facing couches in the living room. A stack of nice coasters and a few decorative objects and books. We only use that room when we have company. In the family room that gets more use, end tables but no coffee tables. An ottoman my wife uses to put her feet up on. I don't find it comfortable to put my feet up. No reclining chairs in either.

We don't eat or munch in either room and only have beverages in the living room when we have company.

My coffee table is a focal point...I really like it...I think it's a work-of-art. The "Hekman Loire". It has 3 orchids on it...in full bloom....then 2 pillows for the cats to lay on....with space left over for tea or soda...I'm loving it!

Very interesting answers; I too am surprised that some people don't have a coffee table. It makes me happy to see variety in such things.

I have a large square travertine coffee table that has a driftwood box most of the year and then fall or Christmas decorations come out briefly. It basically holds remotes, books, etc.

Here is an unedited picture from today. My kitten just turned 3 months old so cat toys are everywhere in this house right now.

We have a large ottoman and then i have a clear acrylic tray that i put stuff i like in - we use side tables for drinks & snacks so just need ottoman for feet — snacks must be well guarded bc of the dog :)

Love the dog, la_la Girl. I well remember my sister’s two golden retrievers’ swishing tails were always a concern with food and drinks.

When I have guests, I often serve appetizers and drinks on the coffee table. The rest of the time, it holds decorative objects that I change out periodically. I think my next living room will have an ottoman instead of a table because I could always use a tray when serving and leave it clear the rest of the time.

Our coffee table is occasionally used for food and drink, mostly when we have visitors. Otherwise, it has a place mat holding a succulent in a low pot, and a decorative box that contained a Beatrix Potter collection.

A placemat that holds a folded kitchen towel for when I have a meal there while watching TV, the Roku remote control, the Sony remote control for the A/V receiver, and the ceiling fan remote control. A remote control caddy thingie that can hold four remotes, which has the DVD remote control in one slot, tennis balls atop two of the slots, and the fourth slot empty. A sprinkling of cat hair is also on the coffee table.

i don't have a coffee table because i have 2 great danes. i declared their tails as lethal weapons.

Ooh lucky you @Ninapearl - those are the most fantastic dogs 😍

@la_la Girl they really are so sweet and the reason i can't have pretty things sitting on a coffe table! 😂

Living room has no tv, mostly used for reading and visiting. And my socked feet do go up on the table.

Nina, you have pretty things sitting on the sofa. I love your dogs.

@lily316 you're so sweet, thank you!

No coffee table here either, they just tend to get in the way. But in our previous home we had 2 square ones in the family one and they were great - you could easily walk around them or in between or slide them off to the side.

@la_la Girl, shame on you for accusing that sweet innocent looking pup of theft!

;-)

No coffee table here either. I had one, a mahogany butlers table, that I gave away 30 years ago. (Never kept anything on it.) 7 years later my daughter bought her own house and was happy to get the rest of my formal LR furniture - I haven't wanted one since.

We have a globe, a smallish handgun and my bong. Purely utilitarian.