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Picture this: A sleek living room that welcomes both the connoisseur and the casual fan, the art maven and the art newbie. (Not to be confused with art nouveau, which is an international style of art, architecture, and design.)
Your coffee table holds the good stuff: oversized coffee table books bursting with color, jaw-dropping photographs, and artful covers that beg to be leafed through on a quiet afternoon. Across from you, a Samsung Frame TV, elegantly bordered by the Deco TV Frame of your choice, that masquerades as high art — maybe even some of the art in your coffee table books — commands the room.
You don’t just have a look, you have a statement of loving both substance and style, one page, one pixel at a time.
Beautiful coffee table books are the secret weapon of design-lovers for a reason. They’re décor, they’re conversation starters, and they’re inspiration that you can flip through during commercial breaks. Or when your favorite series lags in Season Three.
Several years ago, I had a chance to visit the home of P. Allen Smith, gardener and lifestyle expert with not one, but three TV shows, and he had a library’s worth of coffee table books scattered throughout his home in Little Rock, on all three floors and in nearly every room. The books were stacked evenly and carefully as a way to accentuate the decor throughout Allen’s gorgeous home.
Modern tastemakers handpick heavy books with stunning spines and engaging subjects: architecture, fashion, photography, and visual arts are safe bets. Mix new titles like Interiors: The Greatest Rooms of the Century or Assouline’s latest city anthology (Miami Beach is our favorite) with The Secret Language of Birthdays.
Placing coffee table books by your Frame TV isn’t just practical; it creates a rhythm to your décor. Stack them neatly on the console, or group them with a sculptural bowl, a low plant, or a ceramic dish. (But don’t stack them on the books! Inconceivable!)
Some design pros — who are no friends of ours — recommend stacking two or three large books with bold covers "as a platform for a candle or objet d’art." You can just as easily stack them next to the books so as not to damage the covers. You can also use horizontal stacks to fill low shelves below the TV. It’s all about mixing height, color, and texture for that "collection, not clutter" look.
You want your Frame TV to look like it’s supposed to be there, not an afterthought, or worse, something you crowbarred into your living room because you had nowhere else to put it. This is where Deco TV Frames can make a big difference: Museum Maple, Antique White, Burlwood, or Pale Gold frames can bring a museum-like presence to your living room, whether you want something crisp and modern or something quietly luxe.
For a minimalist, yet warm, look, Modern Tuxedo Black from our Slime Line collection makes your TV recede as a gallery anchor, surrounding a digital representation of a modern art piece hanging on your wall. Pale Gold adds just the right sparkle for a contemporary twist, and some of the brighter golds can make that classic painting look like you borrowed it from the museum for a long weekend.
And the magic can truly happen when your printed art books and digital art paintings talk to each other. Showcase a Van Gogh painting on your Frame TV, and complete the ensemble with a copy of Van Gogh. The Complete Paintings or Assouline’s Art House on the credenza below. Or put The Harvesters (1565) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder on your TV with a copy of Bruegel. The Complete Works, published by Taschen nearby.
Styling isn’t about matching everything, but about creating flow. Use stacks of books to balance the visual weight of the TV. Try layering a smaller book stack under a floating shelf holding the remote or accent décor. Add a plant or small tray to soften the look and to echo the organic shapes you might display in the TV’s Art Mode, such as Monet’s water lilies or a soothing desert landscape.
Enhance the ambiance with warm lighting, like a small table lamp on the console, or LED strips behind the TV. Instead of pointing all your wall sconces at different art on the wall, shine one on the stack of your favorite coffee table books as if to say, "Did you see this, too? It’s on the walland on our shelves." This helps the art on your screen feel more like part of a curated gallery than just a screensaver on your TV.
Let your books and screen coordinate seasonally, too. Botanicals and floral themes for spring, coastal escapes for summer, moody abstracts for fall, and then sneak in splashes of color during the monochromatic winter. (Or maybe bring the coastal escapes back.)
When friends visit, queue up a gallery of travel photography to complement a stack of wanderlust-inducing coffee table books, or the books from the places you visited in the past. These combinations turn your living room into a visual story that flexes with your taste, mood, and the people who gather there.
In the end, styling for the design-conscious isn’t about perfection; it’s about the soft thrill of a well-placed book, the surprise of a digital masterpiece, and a living room arrangement that always feels like coming home, even if it’s for the first time.
With authentic Deco TV Frames and a stack of gorgeous coffee table books, your space will never lack inspiration. Just be sure to use a coaster to set your drink on.
