When company is coming over: It's a collection of Bitossi and a couple of stacked art books (a few are on the shelf below the surface - Remotes, etc are in a drawer)

When company isn't expected? Add to the above various magazines, an iPod cable, the remote, a used teacup, dust...

I like a clean surface.
My boyfriend likes everything & anything on it for me to pick up because I like a clean surface.

I have a tray with magazines, a smaller tray for the remotes and a deck of cards. It is easy to move for if we need to get inside (our coffee table is a trunk) for board games or extra blankets.

Remotes, mail, newspapers, magazines, dinner, dog treats...pretty much anything. We have a really large coffee table and we spend most of our time in the living room, so it's basically just a catch all. When company is coming over we clear it off, put down a tablecloth and serve hors d'ouerves.

Let's see - a stack of Met. Home mags, concrete bowl for remotes, a couple of design books, a candle in a glass cube and my laptop.

It's funny that you say "When we were young, we would pore over every issue of our mother's subscription to Metropolitan Home. " I was getting Met. Home when it was called Apartment Living (or was that Life?). I'm ancient.

Just a large Martha Sturdy resin bowl.

My "coffee table" is a leather storage ottoman. I keep a large rectangular wood tray on it. It holds a set of coasters, small red leather box for remotes and a Phoney Shoe (red shoe-shaped tchotchke-like thing that holds the phone -- its crazy and sparkley and its not Dorothy's but it could be).

A clear acrylic tray from IKEA which houses a random stack of magazines, a couple tea lights and a remote control.

Framed picture of my two baby cousins, remote, a book, and a bud vase with a sprig of azalea from the back yard. The book is hiding a huge scratch.

I usually have a vase of fresh flowers, a silly, wooden 50s candy dish that's in the shape of a dacshund called "Snack Hound," and sometimes a coffee table book or two that I rotate.

nice dish of fruit, or a small plant, or a vase with a couple flowers.
i sense that once summer kicks in, i'll be putting a little jar with wildflowers on it. pretty!!

I don't have a coffee table yet, but my end table has a book and a box of Kleenex on it. Magazines are underneath.

I just sold my coffee table yesterday : ( -- but I used to just put a small vase (with cheap fresh flowers) on it-- the coffee table, R.I.P, was lucite and I was too stressed about scratching it to ever really use it.

my coffee table is an old wooden trunk that was passed down to my boyfriend from his grandpa. It's pretty dilapidated, but we're going to fix it up and hopefully it will give some nice character to the room.

All sorts of stuff- usually all of it mine (work documents, twist ties, varies notes and pieces of scrap paper, notebooks, pens, empty water glass, stuff i should really clean up but I don't) and remote when it's not in its charging holster. I think I'm going to go clean it up now.

Anne, I'm ancient, too! I remember Apartment Living fondly. I grew up in a home without coffee tables, so I'm CT-challenged. Don't have one yet, but I'll be searching for the perfect one at flea markets this summer.

A huge hand painted platter.
That is it!

When people are over there is nothing on it.

When we are alone there's usually a large pillow on it since we use it as an ottoman. One day well get one of those large square ottomans to use instead.

Do you folks know where this coffee table comes from?
Thanks.

Hi Colormehappy. The table is from Ikea and I believe it was part of the Lack line -- but unfortunately, it has been discontinued for sometime now.

my feet.

and a water gun to fend off the cats.

i hate my coffee table :(

We don't have a dining table so ours is (theoretically) kept clear for ease of use. In all actuality it has water glasses, dirty dishes (sometimes - yuck!), random paper, the remote, anything I decided to dump out of my backpack at the last minute in the morning rather than haul it around all day. You know, everything but the kitchen sink.

um, lets see...a cream runner, my laptop and stand, two ashtrays, two coasters and the tv remote, a pencil case, two pens I think that's it.

magazines, magazines, and more magazines underneath in a magazine holder. plus a random lip balm.

hi colormehappy,

the coffee table is ikea, and was discontinued in '02. it was part of the kaffatorp series, not lack.