Updating the Family Room with a French Country Coffee Table

In this post: Sometimes all it takes is one piece of furniture to change the character of a room. This French Country coffee table did exactly that for our family room.⇒

How long have you been hearing me talk about changing our coffee table?

If you’ve been reading a while, you’ve heard it many times!

I’m not sure why this took me so long. Perhaps it was just that other projects got in the way. Perhaps it was indecision, although I really think I knew exactly which one I would end up with since writing my post about 12 Affordable Stylish Coffee Tables.

Let’s look at where we started when we first moved in:

The rustic pine table was left over from our family room in our old home, which was much darker and quite a bit fussier:

Looking back, it really didn’t work in that room either. Nonetheless, it served us well, but was now dragging down the feel of our new lighter and more open family room.

Our style is now what I would call modern French country, still rooted in the basic essence of French design with lots of antiques and classic French details, but updated in lighter colors and mixing comfortably with some modern pieces.

So while I considered going with a glass and brass piece, I ultimately knew what I really loved was this French Country coffee table with oodles of charm. (See resource list below.)

At first I was concerned it might be too much white against our cream sectional, and that’s why I was leaning heavily towards a brass table. But in the end I decided that the sofa is already on the modern side and that the table should provide some old world character for the room.

Instead I styled the top of the table to bring in the gilding that I love so much to play off the white. I also selected the table in the oyster color to better highlight the painted patina and not appear so stark white. (It does come in an antique white which is a bit lighter.)

With neutral cream tones I can easily bring in color with pillows and other accessories, one day using blush pinks, but the next day it could quickly be changed to blues or greens.

I even feel my florals show up better against this lighter and brighter table.

The table itself is really Swedish Gustavian more than French, I believe, but I love both styles and feel they work great together.

I’m crazy about the wood detailing and painted finish and I also wanted to have a bottom shelf for extra storage.

The table’s top is beveled glass on top of lovely cane, which is reflected again on the bottom shelf.

I went fairly simple in styling the top, but will likely play with it over and over. Expect to see many vignettes as the seasons change!

I’m delighted to have finally made my coffee table selection and thrilled that it works so well with the space. A family room is a tricky room to decorate because it truly needs to function as the key space you live in. I now think our room is comfortable to serve us, yet reflects my taste at the same time.

French Country Coffee Table Source List – Click on the items below for direct links to the products. Where actual items were no longer available, I’ve provided similar options. (This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.)

• Cane and glass coffee table
• Gold lacquer tray
• Bamboo candle
• Glen plaid crystal vase
• Large silver bowl
• Sectional sofa
• Mongolian lamb rose pillow
• Blush luster velvet pillow
• Blush ruffled throw
• French Bergère chair
• Flemish side table
• Leopard rug

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like these French furniture posts:

French Country Home Office | French Country Chairs | French Breakfast Room

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