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My very sturdy, large enough to dance on coffee table with large drawer now makes for an excellent duplo table. It is stored largely out of the way and holds our extensive duplo collection in it's drawer. I now no longer care who marks it, and it's a great height for Holly to sit at by herself.
I felt the same about a beautiful rug. That's why we moved ours. I hated the coffee table leg marks.
Nay for now - we had one but once we had kids, it was just in the way and eventually a hazard (sharp corners etc). I do miss it, especially when we have a pizza/movie night and we want to plonk everything down in the middle of the lounge. Currently we have two little tables by the sides of the couches for drinks etc
Once the kids are older, I plan to go back to having one
We have one, but it is not central to the room - the lounges are in an L shape tucked into the corner of the room and it fits nicely into the open space in front of them, but still leaves plenty of room for schools, dancing, floor puzzles or whatever may be happening in the rest of the room.
It does get used as a dumping ground, but there is nothing that 'lives' on the table - ie when the house is tidy it is empty. There are big drawers underneath, but they open towards the lounge and honestly I frequently forget they are there so stuff doesn't get put in it.
There are some minor marks on the edges but the table has rounded edges (so we haven't had many accidents) and it is a large granite centre with 100mm wide of wood on the edges (granite was from the section they cut out for the kitchen sink - so pretty solid and no marks).
The formal lounge has one, would look too open without, but it just holds the chess set. I've got a few special ornaments that were packed away when DD started crawling - now she's at school I should probably track them down and put them back on the side tables.
My parents have a massive one and it is usually covered in stuff that mum gets cranky at us making a mess when we visit (although 75% of the crap is theirs).
No and haven't in years. We have a set of 3 smallish nested side tables which I can put out when we have guests or a cuppa. We have so much more space without it and a big rug for playing board games etc. we also lie a mattress out for story time, rumbles, and chill out with still space to spare.
We don't have one, never have. They do take up an awful lot of space and often attack family members and visitors alike :rofl: We currently use our firm, square foot stools (funky but cheap red vinyl ones) as drink and foot rests and we also have a nice set of glass nesting tables (from Freedom) in the corner of the living room if we need extras.
We've just ordered a new circular lounge for our 'adults' living room in our new place and it comes with a big round matching ottoman. I'm going to get a modern serving tray to put on top of it for drinks and snacks when we need it.
We made the mistake of purchasing furniture before we moved in when we were building our house. We bought a tv unit, large coffee table and lamp table. At the moment we have the tv on the coffee table in the family room and then have the tv unit and lamp table in the formal lounge. It is too big to have it all in the one room.
Although we have just sold our house and the house we have bought only has one big lounge room so I'm sure it will all go well in that room :)
We bought new furniture when I was pg and decided with such a small living room and pending mess making child to go with 2 largish lamp tables instead so that if we need a coffee table for an occasion then we could just put the 2 lamp tables together. This way normally we can have a lamp table between our recliners and i next to the couch and rocking chair
I have an ottoman instead of a coffee table. The kids can do whatever they want to it and I can move it if we need extra seating, plus it opens up so I can store stuff in it.
If you have a lot of room or walking space in your living area, with a good 2 ft space to accommodate a coffee table, then a big one would be awesome. What's your seating furniture like? If you have individual pieces then a square one would be nice, if you've a sectional, I would personally consider rectangular or circular coffee tables!
I have 2 two seat lounges with a cane draw thing between them. That's where my coffee sits. I don't have a coffee table for a few reasons.
1, DD climbs on everything (like... the roof of the car. Apparently great for dancing on!)
2, DD jumps from everything.
3, I moved here with nothing, & its not been high on my list of priority things to buy.
I'm getting a new lounge later in the year & rather than a coffee table I'm getting a ottoman with storage under. Great for dancing, climbing AND jumping! Coffee can possibly sit on it with no kids around, but I'll still have my cane drawers for the many kid filled coffee moments in my life!
We used to have a big one that DH had sanded back and revarnished years ago but we got rid of it when DS1 was a baby as had knob bits on top that could come off and he liked pulling off, as well as any other kids who came.
We also used to have a series of 3 small tables 1 was right height and size for laptop while i was BF.
We now have a $10 ikea coffee table which is really used for my lap top and drinks, small enough can be pushed away.
We don't have enough space to have a bigger one and would be a jumping platform for kids!.