A coffee table is a central piece to the living room, den, or common area where you choose to set them.
They are usually built at a low, waist height, to make them convenient for use for people sitting on couches and sofas to use them while reclining and lounging.
This makes them instant draws as the circular backbone of a seating arrangement, and many living room designs consist of the basic, coffee table surrounded by chairs style.
The size of the coffee table should be determined by the space available around it.
One of the most important elements of a living room social area is flow, that is, the ability to move easily into, out of, and through a space.
Flow is essential for giving the room a sense of freedom fresh air that is so important to keeping things active in the space.
If you have a coffee table that is far too large for the room that it is in, then you are going to choke out the flow of the room, giving it a tight, cramped feeling.
One trick that you can use is the shape of the coffee table.
A round table will inherently take up less space than a square one, simply because it doesn't have any corners.
A round table will also help with the flow in tight spaces allowing people to slide around them easily as they shuffle from one area to another.
The place where a square table comes in handy however, is when you want to focus the room on a corner or have the piece as a corner coffee table.
This allows you to slide the right angle of the piece into the abutting walls, placing it effectively out of the flow of the room's center.