Having Christmas coffee table decor is a beautiful way to bring the holidays into your living room. It is the place where your family gathers, kids play and everyone enjoys their favorite show. So, why not bring in a great festive centerpiece and sweet table decor?
Decorating isn’t about perfection or finding the best possible pieces. It’s about creating a beautiful, joyful, cozy feeling. You know the one – where childhood wonder meets magical warmth.
Whether you are into a simple design or modern decor, your coffee table is a great space to express your personality and holiday style. Elegant or eccentric, it doesn’t matter as long as it screams authentically you!
Of course, you can venture away and try new styles too like rustic or vintage. The holidays are the best time to play around and get creative. Bring in the Christmas spirit and all of its beauty. Before hopping off, be sure to check out my fall table decor ideas.
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Considerations for your Christmas coffee table decor
Okay, we’re not getting into all the ideas, just yet. It’s important to take a couple things into consideration first.
Budget
How fancy do you want to go for your coffee table? Would you rather forage for pinecones, spray paint them gold and reuse ceramic bowls, ornaments and tinsel? Or do you prefer getting a few elegant candlesticks and statement pieces that are a tad pricier, but worth it!
Whichever way you lean, budget-friendly or the opposite, you are sure to find creative choices here that can fit your pocket.
Size and scale
If you plan on getting a Christmas coffee table decor tray, it’s important to make sure it doesn’t overpower the space. A good rule of thumb is to maintain about 50% to 60% of empty space (called negative space).
This also applies to your centerpiece and other smaller items for the table. You wouldn’t want it to feel overly cluttered and messy.
The shape of the table is another consideration. Do you want to do contrasting shapes like a circular tray on a rectangular table? How about a mix of shapes? Or would you prefer to be uniform with a round wooden tray on a round table?
Shop this image: golden reindeer.
Kiddies and pets
With kids and pets having fun around your coffee table, it’ll be better to go with durable pieces and decor. Skip the fragile glass ornaments and avoid tall candlesticks that could topple with a little bump or wagging tail.
LEDs, shatterproof ornaments, and durable wooden elements would prevent any minor mishaps. You can also anchor some of the more delicate items with a bit of tape or museum putty to keep them secure.
Shop for the wooden triangular Christmas trees and these cute gnomes here.
Style inspo
What is the Christmas vibe you want? Do you prefer simple and modern or gracefully elegant? How about vintage or rustic? Do you want a lot of bright, bold primary colors or is an all-white Christmas the style you want?
While you may not have a fully conceptualized look, you do know what you like and don’t like. Would you prefer a mini nativity scene or reindeer, penguin and snowmen figurines? Are you all in on a Santa aesthetic? Or are glam sparkly fun with golds and metallics your jam? How about plaids and pinecones?
What about characters and fandom? You can do a Grinch themed table that’ll make everyone laugh! Or go all in on Harry Potter with a Gryffindor scarf table runner, wand candles and more. Star Wars, Marvel, DC and Disney movies are all great places to draw inspo!
Shop for the Grinch trees and ornaments here.
Go with your heart when designing! There is no wrong answer. Whatever you come up with that makes your heart happy is the perfect choice! You don’t have to jump on the latest trend or choose decor that follows someone else’s aesthetic.
Do you boo!
Christmas coffee table styling tips
Color scheme fun
Pulling from your style inspo, decide on a color palette for your Christmas coffee table . Three to four colors that work well together are ideal.
Here are a couple color combos you might like:
- the classic: red, green, gold, and brown
- bold: bright red, green, white and yellow
- modern: black, green, shades of brown, white
- elegant: gold, white, silver
- rustic: shades of brown from light to dark, green, red
- vintage: silvers to greys, brown to copper, green
- neutral: light shades of beige and grey, green, white
- white: bright white, silver, gold, transparent items
- bubblegum: light pink, white, silver
- opposites: shades of blue or teal, white, silver
Shop for the circular tray and gold Christmas trees on Amazon.
Layers
Coffee tables look intentionally styled when you start creating depth and dimension by adding layers. The base layer can look like a table runner, decorative tray, wood slab, or even large books (even if they’re faux books).
From there, build the table scene with short and tall items. A bowl with pinecones or ornaments, a candle that’s a bit taller and a vase with a Christmas bouquet. The varying heights draw the eyes to the objects and the story you’re telling.
You can also achieve layering with textures too. Choose rough wooden trays over smooth glass, furs under smooth, shiny ceramics and glass ornaments. You get the point!
Minimalism or maximalism
Are you into minimalistic Christmas coffee table decor? Or do you want a busy, filled in scene? Both can really be fun and Christmas is a great time to be on team “more is more,” especially if you enjoy simplicity throughout the year.
Ornaments, candles, garlands, tinsel, figurines and fabrics can all be used to fill in the space. But, you don’t want to overwhelm it. Edit as you go!
Shop the nativity scene and all the mini sisal Christmas trees here.
Empty space and odds are good!
For any table, you want to maintain empty space. It’s both aesthetically pleasing to the eye, won’t leave you feeling overwhelmed, and gives you space to actually put your coffee. Aim for about half of the table having some free space.
Also, pay attention to the rule of odds. Everything is more pleasing when you use odd numbers.
Hello whimsy!
There really is no right or wrong way to decorate for Christmas. Make your inner child’s whimsical heart happy. Mix in your favorite items and voila you’ll have a winning space that will make your heart happy.
Pop in a cute snow globe, add a couple figurines from your favorite movie, Legos, and small mementos from your travels. They’re sure to make you smile every time you sit down on the sofa.
Christmas coffee table decor ideas
Simple Christmas coffee table decor
You don’t need much to make a simple and beautiful holiday coffee table. Christmas centerpieces are enough as is. For instance, you can go for this tray of mason jars with artificial flowers and fairy lights. Pop it down on a placemat you already have and you just created a simple table design.
Take it a step further with this mini artificial arrangement that’s all about the silver. The base resembles wood bark, which adds visual texture here. Pair with this Merry Christmas sign, stack of silver books and a simple candle in a frosted glass.
Modern holiday coffee table
Modern decor is all about geometric shapes, neutral colors with intentional pops of color and natural materials like wood, metal, glass and stone. It’s all about being sleek!
Here is an idea for a modern table. These black aluminum reindeer contrast with the paper honeycomb Christmas trees and the wooden Christmas sign. You can choose any wooden sign that’ll match your color scheme. Add in fabric for the base to anchor everything together.
You can also find geometric shapes in Christmas village sets, wooden knots, lanterns, hexagonal candle holders, rounded vases, and more.
Vintage table decor
Vintage decor is all about embracing nostalgia, intricate designs and giving older items a new life. This can look like unpolished metal trays, mirrors, ornate candlesticks and glasses, old school lanterns, weathered wooden bowls and trays and retro everything.
Aluminum, silver, copper, brass, glass and wood are the typical materials. Thrifting is a great way to find unique pieces. Otherwise, here are a couple ideas for your table.
Elegant Christmas coffee table decor
If you enjoy elegant and sophisticated decor, then use some metallic textures and colors along with glass and fuzzy materials. There are lots of unique options to get including unique candlesticks, mirror or marble trays, crystal glasses and bowls, designer books, sophisticated sculptures and more.
Shop this image: tall hurricane candle holders, glass Christmas tree and pre-lit garland.
Add cozy fun elements
I love soft textures on my table. They are sensory, fun and can be great kid-friendly and pet-friendly designs. How good do these gnomes look with the basket of knitted red ball and green ball ornaments? They’re simple but fun!
Rustic Christmas coffee table
If you love a cozy mountain lodge aesthetic, go for rustic coffee table decor. Browns, greens and reds are the star of the show and can be accented with a little gold.
Natural materials like wood, leaves, pinecones, acorns, spices like cinnamon and orange slices, and cotton plaid fabrics work so well here.
Those are just some of my Christmas coffee table decor ideas for you to start curating and designing your beautiful table. Hope you enjoyed them.
Happy holidays!
