My Christmas coffee table decor ideas and tips
Get ready to add some Christmas charm and personal touches to your holiday decor with my Christmas coffee table decor ideas and tips! I’ll show you how to fuse traditional Christmas elements, real evergreen greenery, nuts and fruits, and also modern touches to create a cozy and festive atmosphere.
I’ll also share my favorite Christmas coffee table decor vignettes from my own home. Over the years I have come up with numerous Christmas coffee table decor versions for our home and wanted to share them all with you. These ideas definitely show my personality and family history while using the same pieces in different ways over the years. It shows that you don’t have to go completely new every time to decorate your coffee table for the holidays. I’ve definitely changed my home decor style over the years while still owning the same large furniture pieces and favorite Christmas accessories.
Christmas decor accessory ideas to consider putting on your coffee table
- real natural greenery like wreaths or evergreen branches
- Christmas ball ornaments
- disco ball ornaments
- Christmas books
- fruits, nuts, pomegranates, cloves, and pine cones
- different Moravian stars or other star shapes
- flower arrangements, air plants, or succulents
- various heights of reindeer
- nut crackers
- candy canes
- glass cloches
- German smokers
- German Christmas pyramids
- fairy lights
- different candles such as pillar candles, taper candles and tea lights
- seashells and driftwood
- display vessels and trays
- vintage lanterns
- faux snow
- bottle brush trees at different heights or other different mini trees
- ceramic houses
My Christmas coffee table decor ideas in my own home
I have a small coffee table by our fireplace seating area and a large two-tier coffee table in the living room. Both get decorated for Christmas every year and I gathered some of my favorite looks for you.
As I mentioned already a lot of the pieces keep reappearing but I reinvented the look. I hope you can find some inspiration.
Traditional German Christmas Decor
I love using bowls with fruits and nuts, natural fresh greenery, and my German miner and angel on a tray. You could also use nutcrackers instead. We received these two special German candle holders as a wedding gift when we got married in Germany. Using fruits and nuts for Christmas decor is very common in Europe and I love it. Plus you don’t need to store it like other Christmas decor and get to eat it instead.
Here you can see the Coffee table in the entire living room.
Our German Christmas pyramid as a coffee table centerpiece. I placed it on a round wooden tray and scattered some dried oranges around the base where the candles are. I wanted it to be the focal point.
German smokers as Christmas coffee table decor.
Different natural wreath variations with candles
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Growing up in Germany every household always had a natural Advent wreath with 4 candles. I love continuing that tradition in our home and usually put a different yearly version on our small fireplace coffee table.
It is common to add fruits such as pomegranates, dried or fresh oranges, cloves, apples, nuts, and pine cones to the wreaths. I also added antlers to one version.
Here are some of my favorites.
I bought this golden wreath tray a couple of years ago at Target and it is the perfect coffee table display. You can even skip the greenery and it still looks great.
Here are some room views with the wreaths in them. And of course, Willy likes being a part of it every year. He’s always my best accessory.
Natural elements brought inside
I’ve always been a fan of bringing the beauty of nature into my home with natural elements to use as Christmas decor in general. I love using grasses, driftwood, and seashells to add a rustic and organic feel to my home.
These simple and affordable elements create a warm, cozy, and inviting atmosphere to any home. Below you can see my Christmas coffee table decor that mirrors the dried floral Christmas tree/pampas grass Christmas tree. I added some simple dried grasses to a vase, small brown paper-wrapped presents, and bowls of seashells and snail shells. Since this is all highly flammable material I opted for battery-operated fairy lights on the coffee table tray instead of real candles.
Here is a simple large piece of driftwood with different-height candle sticks.
Or how about an antique dough bowl with different evergreen branches, antlers (FYI found in the woods not hunted), pine cones, candles, and disco balls so it doesn’t get too rustic.
And the same bowl and decor but with added DIY mushroom Christmas ornaments.
Different floral arrangements
Add a touch of elegance to your Christmas coffee table decor with beautiful floral arrangements the way I did. Real flowers, evergreen stems, and succulent arrangements are perfect for adding color, texture, and a festive vibe to your coffee table.
While most people like using reds and whites, I decided to use some different color combinations for my Christmas decor. The biggest reason for that is mostly that classic Christmas flowers such as amaryllis or poinsettias are poisonous to cats and we can’t have that in our house. Evergreen stems like pine, cedar, or holly are also a great option and not poisonous.
If you’re looking for a low-maintenance option, succulent arrangements or air plants in holiday-themed pots or with added ornaments are a great option too.
For many years my Jonathan Adler inspired horse planter (pictured below) was a favorite and I added many different arrangements to it.
Here you can see that horse planter filled with succulents and Christmas ball ornaments on a tray filled with more ball ornaments and candles.
And here is the same succulent horse planter arrangement but this time with blue accents such as denim-wrapped presents, blue ornaments, and pom poms.
And here is the planter two more times with different colors and decorative elements for different years. You can truly see how I changed my decor style over the year while keeping the same furniture and a lot of the main accessories but the look and feel is completely different. It even goes from colorful and modern to more traditional and organic.
Instead of the horse planter I used a real pineapple with ball ornaments for a quirky touch.
One year I added an elaborate Floral arrangement with evergreen branches and shiny Christmas ball ornaments for a festive touch.
Here is a close-up of the Christmas table centerpiece.
If you don’t feel like making an elaborate floral arrangement, then how about just sticking some evergreen branches in a vase on a tray with some candles?
Mercury glass and Amber glass vignette on a tray
This vignette is from when I just started blogging in 2012. So long ago which is crazy. The photos aren’t the best but you get the idea and the look is still current today. I love the mixed metallics of the amber glass and the mercury glass gathered on the silver tray with disco balls and the Moravian star.
My Christmas coffee table decor tips
When decorating your coffee table for Christmas, it’s important to strike a balance between small and large items. A large collection of small Christmas trinkets can quickly clutter the coffee table surface because your eye doesn’t get drawn anywhere while displaying only large pieces can look heavy and awkward. Try varying the scale of your displayed accessories in a group to create interest.
For example, you can place a few Christmas books on top of each other, a vase, or something else that is taller like nutcrackers next to the books. Then place some Christmas ball ornaments around your group and on top of the books. This creates an interesting visual contrast while keeping the overall look balanced and cohesive.
- Choose a color story or theme (although take the theme part with a grain of salt because I don’t like taking things too seriously and going with a full-blown theme, can be a bit much). Picking a color scheme is easier.
- Preferably use a tray, large plate, or other display vessel for your coffee table decor
- Keep the rule of 3 in mind (which I mention often) when styling your Christmas coffee table. Divide the tabletop into three sections to create a balanced display. This is especially helpful for long, rectangular-shaped tables like mine.
This also shouldn’t be taken too seriously and doesn’t always work out. Just look at my advent wreath coffee table decor. There have to be 4 candles and not 3 but it looks great regardless. - Arrange a grouping with varying heights to create a more eye-catching Christmas vignette because if all accessories are at the same eye level, it can be difficult for anything to stand out.
- Always make sure you use items you absolutely love and not because you think it’s in style or because a family member wants you to use something (I’ve been there ). Let the objects tell a story about you and the things you love.
With all the above said, don’t overthink your coffee table, and don’t take it too seriously! The most important thing is that you have fun with your Christmas coffee table decor or decorating anything else for that matter.
More Christmas decor ideas
- My favorite German wooden Christmas ornaments
- My favorite German Christmas Decorations
- Affordable Boho Christmas Decor In Our Living Room
- Holiday magic with plug-in Christmas tree fairy lights
- How to make macrame Christmas ornaments (5 free patterns)
So that’s it for today. I hope you found some inspiration for your own Christmas coffee table decor. Have fun decorating for the Christmas season! It’s always best to not take interior design too seriously.
I wish you all a Happy Holiday Season!
it looks beautiful! i love all the shiny things! 🙂 i’m like a raccoon.
Lol, thanks! Me too!
Such a beautiful setting! Looks like you are ready for Christmas. Happy Thanksgiving! LOL 😉
Right, happy Thanksgiving and thanks 😉