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I agree about coffee tables being on the way out, except for formal living rooms.
Coffee tables take up valuable space, interfere with the use of ottomans, and limit the ways furniture can be arranged in a room.
A designer used to tell me that no matter the space (how minimal or roomy)... in the hands of a great designer, it all make sense.
My take on it...
The limit is not that of the furniture or even the space... but the designer who can or cannot work with whatever needs to work with.
Tool comes first or the person using that tool?
Humans are the ones to invent that tool... lesson from my Art teacher a long time ago.
P.S. It is just like an interior designer looking for a position say at Crate & Barrel, WE, DWR or the like and saying I cannot work with the coffee table you have and decorate because it limits the ways furniture can be arranged in your space....
People will be dashing to the grocery in 2012 to get garbage stickers for their Baker, Century, Lee, Hernden, Stanley and other swank furnishings. They will replace them with throw pillows and low profile occasional tables.
Also making a come back, wood paneling. Yes, that fabulous particle board oak-veneer will be returning to many homes. No need to bother with the muss and fuss of painting ever again.
And with such a bad economy, and knowledge of impending doom in which we will need to sell all of our worldly possessions just to purchase a loaf of bread, we will be re purposing Grandma's old furniture.
A designer used to tell me that no matter the space (how minimal or roomy)... in the hands of a great designer, it all make sense.
My take on it...
The limit is not that of the furniture or even the space... but the designer who can or cannot work with whatever needs to work with.
Tool comes first or the person using that tool?
Humans are the ones to invent that tool... lesson from my Art teacher a long time ago.
P.S. It is just like an interior designer looking for a position say at Crate & Barrel, WE, DWR or the like and saying I cannot work with the coffee table you have and decorate because it limits the ways furniture can be arranged in your space....
If you notice, the part of my post you bolded was part of an entire sentence.
Quote:
Coffee tables take up valuable space, interfere with the use of ottomans, and limit the ways furniture can be arranged in a room.
I was thinking more about small houses with limited living areas. Contrary to what many people think, the majority of Americans live in small houses with very small rooms. If a room is small, you simply do not have room for a coffee table and an ottoman. Even the most talented designer can't do that. Many people prefer the ottoman for relaxing and TV viewing in a small informal space. And some people want neither because they don't liked cramped small rooms with a piece of furniture in the middle to walk around.
Interesting. I'm wondering how the 1960s mediterranean look is different. Can you post a picture?
I just did a quick google search, but didnt come up with what I was looking for.......the look I am speaking of involved red or gold crushed velvet, cut pile damask, flocked wallpaper, lots and lots of fake wrought iron, lots of horrifically detailed dark wood furniture, usually had amber hanging lamps.
It was really awful.
No wonder I couldnt find pics.
I know it was big in the Midwest, dont know about anyplace else.
BTW, I havent had a cocktail table in 10 years, I use nesting tables.
I just did a quick google search, but didnt come up with what I was looking for.......the look I am speaking of involved red or gold crushed velvet, cut pile damask, flocked wallpaper, lots and lots of fake wrought iron, lots of horrifically detailed dark wood furniture, usually had amber hanging lamps.
It was really awful.
No wonder I couldnt find pics.
I know it was big in the Midwest, dont know about anyplace else.
OMGoodness! Since I live in a region that's a decade behind trends and the trends stay here for decades after arriving, some of my friend's parents had their houses decorated like that when I was growing up. I actually know some people who decorated their houses that way within the past 10 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kshe95girl
BTW, I havent had a cocktail table in 10 years, I use nesting tables.
OMGoodness! Since I live in a region that's a decade behind trends and the trends stay here for decades after arriving, some of my friend's parents had their houses decorated like that when I was growing up. I actually know some people who decorated their houses that way within the past 10 years.
Nesting tables are the perfect solution!
ROFL, everyone seems to be locked into the country/oak thing that happened over 20 years ago where I am from.
Wow, I cant believe there are still people doing the Mediterranean thing.....God only knows where they got the furniture and accessories!
I just did a quick google search, but didnt come up with what I was looking for.......the look I am speaking of involved red or gold crushed velvet, cut pile damask, flocked wallpaper, lots and lots of fake wrought iron, lots of horrifically detailed dark wood furniture, usually had amber hanging lamps.
It was really awful.
No wonder I couldnt find pics.
I know it was big in the Midwest, dont know about anyplace else.
BTW, I havent had a cocktail table in 10 years, I use nesting tables.
you my dear, are killing me....you just described my Aunt's house (red) and my Mother house (Avacado), both were medeteranean and Spanish....and we lived next door to each other, we lived in a duplex..........but the funny thing, we thought it was so pretty back then, somehow now the flocked red and gold wallpaper seems God awful......and don't forget the Austrian curtains, my Mom was guilty of that......
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Maybe "the most talented" designers can't, but I can. 
