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THE BEST TYPES OF COFFEE TABLE BOOKS - Stylish & Conversational Coffee Table Books
Feb 25, 2025
The 4 Best Coffee Table Books That Spark Conversations! 📚✨
Want to make your living room more inviting? The right coffee table books can do more than just look pretty—they can spark great conversations with guests! In this video, I'm sharing four must-have coffee table books that are not only stylish but also guaranteed to grab attention and get people talking.
📖 Books Mentioned:
Scrabble Vintage Bookshelf Edition - https://amzn.to/4k8KQpt
Tom Ford Coffee Table Book - https://amzn.to/4k9CAFI
BSIRI Tic Tac Toe - https://amzn.to/41ruJfq
BSIRI 9 Puzzles in a Box - Wooden Brain Teaser Puzzles - https://amzn.to/3QxnWL2
100 Drives, 5,000 Ideas: Where to Go, When to Go, What to Do, What to See - https://amzn.to/4bcbwBs
100 Hikes of a Lifetime: The World's Ultimate Scenic Trails - https://amzn.to/3D5LX8C
The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - https://amzn.to/3EUaJcE
National Geographic Bucket List Family Travel - https://amzn.to/41rJKO5
The Wine Lover's Bucket List - https://amzn.to/4ibAza2
Unforgettable Journeys: Slow Down and See the World - https://amzn.to/3D5LhQQ
Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World's Most Amazing Places - https://amzn.to/4ibAHX4
The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small - https://amzn.to/4bg3rf3
Remarkable Diaries: The World's Greatest Diaries, Journals, Notebooks, & Letters - https://amzn.to/41aor2u
National Geographic The Old West - https://amzn.to/3D4LDHe
World War II: The Definitive Visual History - https://amzn.to/4ibpZ2X
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:02
hi it's Lindsay Diane from Dian
0:04
decor.com in this video we're going to
0:06
talk all about coffee table books now
0:09
coffee table books are more than just
0:11
decorative accents whether you're
0:13
entertaining guests at home or your
0:16
hosting a new acquaintance for the first
0:17
time or you're just chilling out hanging
0:19
on your sofa coffee table books have the
0:22
power to spark
0:24
curiosity discussion and really be an
0:28
amazing Icebreaker tool when you're
0:30
hosting guests at your home so let's
0:34
talk about the reason why this is and
0:37
then I'm going to dive into the four
0:39
types of coffee table books that are the
0:42
best to have out on display let's get
0:44
started coffee table books are very
0:47
versatile and this makes them an
0:49
excellent item to use as Decor you can
0:52
stack them you can lay them open they
0:55
come in different sizes and colors you
0:57
can take the jackets off of them and
1:00
color coordinate a little stack of books
1:03
as we talked about in um my video about
1:05
five simple ways to decorate your home
1:07
the stack is something that's very
1:10
popular you have a small little stack of
1:12
books and maybe you have a candle on top
1:14
or a stack of books and a little
1:15
figurine on top these are great for
1:19
elevating vignettes or items that you
1:21
want to put together on a vignette and
1:24
of course they're great to actually flip
1:26
through they're an interactive piece of
1:28
Decor that a lot of people forget about
1:31
that interactive piece of it is what
1:34
makes them excellent for entertaining
1:36
guests in your home odds are at some
1:39
point in time while you're entertaining
1:41
guests at home you may have to duck out
1:43
for a minute you may be setting up a
1:45
snack tray or you may have to go answer
1:48
the door or you check on something in
1:49
the oven maybe you're setting up uh some
1:52
beverages to bring out to everyone at
1:55
some point you usually have to step away
1:57
and while this is fine when you have
1:59
friends and family who frequent your
2:01
home they're very comfortable in that
2:03
space when you have new people it's a
2:05
little bit harder for them to feel
2:08
comfortable left alone in a space
2:10
they've never been in before this is why
2:13
people use coffee table books it's also
2:16
why you see magazines at doctor's
2:19
offices whenever you're in a waiting
2:22
situation and you're in a place where
2:23
you've never been before you tend to
2:25
feel uncomfortable and so some
2:27
familiarity of picking up that parade
2:29
magaz a or the lifetime magazine it
2:33
settles people down and it allows them
2:35
to have something to do while they're
2:37
waiting for further instruction
2:39
essentially so when you're at home and
2:42
you have those coffee table books out
2:44
and open on your coffee table or maybe
2:46
on a side table it gives your guests an
2:50
opportunity to interact with something
2:53
and busy themselves while they may be
2:54
waiting on you and it gives them an
2:58
opportunity to have some thoughts about
3:00
the things that you have in your home or
3:02
spark a memory of something they may
3:05
want to speak to you about it's a great
3:07
conversation starter and a great
3:09
Icebreaker so let's dive in to the four
3:12
conversation starting coffee table books
3:16
now these are four different types of
3:18
books and there are a lot of
3:19
subcategories to these but we're going
3:21
to talk about first books that are about
3:25
personal interest so these are books
3:28
that are of interest to you specifically
3:31
they are things that maybe go along with
3:33
your hobbies things that you love to
3:35
look at that you could talk about for
3:37
hours and hours and hours you already
3:39
like it you have them in your home these
3:42
are subjects and topics that you're
3:45
passionate about these are the types of
3:49
books that will really Drive
3:50
conversation because you already know a
3:52
lot about these topics and if someone
3:55
comes into your home and they also share
3:57
an interest in one of these books books
4:00
you will instantly have a lot to talk
4:02
about the types of books that I think of
4:05
when I think of personal interest are
4:08
Fashion sports interior
4:11
design
4:13
architecture classic cars food I have a
4:17
lot of personal interest books in my
4:20
home like I mentioned I have the
4:23
beautifully organized book from Nikki
4:25
Boyd I also have another book called
4:27
Beautiful Boards that is is all about
4:30
these elaborate shakery board layouts I
4:34
absolutely love sharing that with people
4:36
the pictures are incredible and they
4:38
come along with recipes and how to sort
4:40
of set up each of these boards it's a
4:42
really fantastic resource in general but
4:45
the images and the Beautiful Rich color
4:49
in those photographs is just stunning
4:52
and it's a beautiful piece of work to
4:54
look at I also happen to love elephants
4:57
so I have um a whole book just on
5:01
elephants and the photographs are
5:04
spectacular um again this is a book
5:07
where the images are large and colorful
5:11
this one in particular I love because of
5:14
the layout shifts inside of the book so
5:17
you may have a single page image a
5:19
double page image and then you may have
5:21
like a 3/4 page image where the image of
5:24
the elephant runs 3/4 of the way across
5:27
the width of the book and I just think
5:29
that this is very clever because it
5:30
takes very careful binding to let that
5:33
sort of line up really well and I just
5:35
love it just as a piece of artwork I
5:38
absolutely love that book the next type
5:40
of conversation starting coffee table
5:42
book are books about water weather or
5:46
nature there are lots of books to choose
5:49
from in this category and they are
5:51
perfect because they are a common ground
5:53
that everyone
5:55
experiences it's sort of the how people
5:58
always ask folks well how's the weather
6:01
when they run out of things to say to a
6:04
new person they start talking about the
6:06
weather it's because it's a common
6:08
ground that everyone has they can
6:10
comment on oh it was stormy here or oh
6:13
it was rainy here or oh there was
6:15
traffic because of this or that and it's
6:17
just something that everyone can talk
6:19
about idly and so this is sort of a
6:22
different way to approach that
6:24
stormchaser books are really great
6:26
because they have really amazing
6:28
photographs with
6:30
tornadoes and hurricanes and floods
6:33
nature books that explore different
6:36
forests and rainforest around the world
6:39
there are um books just based on like
6:42
Tundra and cold areas a spots that where
6:46
you can see the Northern Lights and the
6:48
auroras and the sky it's just an easy
6:52
easy topic to brooch with anyone there's
6:56
it's not a controversial area you're not
6:59
um you know putting out books that are
7:02
necessarily political that people may
7:04
have strong opinions on this is weather
7:07
this is something that everyone can talk
7:09
about and be passionate about and just
7:11
have an opinion on in general next up
7:14
are this day in history books there are
7:17
a lot of different series for the this
7:20
day in history and a lot of different
7:22
spin-offs but essentially what they are
7:25
is there a book that's a collection of
7:27
365 days and they are going to go
7:30
through every single day and Spotlight
7:32
something significant that happened in
7:34
history on that day and these books are
7:37
fun to flip through because people like
7:39
to go through and look for their
7:41
birthday like hey what happened on my
7:43
birthday on this day in history what
7:44
happened on my birthday or what happened
7:46
on my anniversary or my kids' birthdays
7:49
they're just a nice little interactive
7:51
piece to flip through they don't usually
7:53
have really beautiful
7:55
illustrations um it's more of a
7:57
text-based book but it is interesting to
8:00
a lot of people because they can dive in
8:03
and look for their own personal day and
8:07
see what was going on at that time
8:09
another type of history book that may be
8:12
nice to have on display is one that deep
8:14
dives into one a particular historical
8:16
event I would just say be careful about
8:19
the subject matter that you choose to
8:21
have out on display because some things
8:22
can be triggering to people but in
8:24
general celebrations cultural events
8:28
that are interesting to learn about are
8:30
great so if you have a book about like
8:31
Carnival or you have a book about a
8:34
particular presidential inauguration
8:36
those are cool to have on display that
8:39
people can flip through um on your
8:42
coffee table and last but not least our
8:44
travel books people love to dream about
8:48
vacations and visiting different places
8:51
now you can have travel books that span
8:54
like the seven wonders of the world or
8:56
you can have more localized travel books
8:59
that are uh like 50 states and 5,000
9:02
ideas that's a really popular travel
9:05
book it goes through every single state
9:07
and shows you some of the highlights
9:08
that you should visit in each state or
9:11
you can go even more localized than that
9:13
and just pick something for your state
9:15
all of the places to see in your state
9:18
you could do um a national parks guide
9:21
that will show you around all of the
9:23
different national parks in addition to
9:26
National Parks you can always uh do a
9:29
dive into a particular City so you can
9:31
do a travel book just for Dallas or
9:33
Houston or Las Vegas and it really dive
9:37
deep into that City and highlight all
9:39
the things that there are to do there I
9:42
think that these are just really fun to
9:44
look at and Spark interest in a lot of
9:47
different people you'll also see these
9:49
books in the um bucket list category
9:53
right so I put them under travel but
9:55
really bucket list tends to Encompass
9:58
things that you should do and you should
10:00
see so the thousand things to see before
10:03
you die is a very popular series again
10:06
this is not a book that is going to have
10:09
really beautiful illustrations to look
10:11
through instead it's going to be a
10:13
little bit more text based but it's
10:15
something that somebody can really sit
10:16
down and flip through and go to topics
10:19
that interest them and so before I go
10:21
what I would say is that in addition to
10:24
the coffee table books having little
10:27
wooden games like Tic Tac te toe boards
10:30
or little wooden puzzles on your coffee
10:32
table is another great ice breaker and a
10:36
way to engage guests because uh you know
10:39
depending upon the age of your guest you
10:41
may have someone that comes with kids
10:43
and they may not be interested in the
10:45
thousand places to see before you die
10:47
book they may not be interested in this
10:49
day in history book but they will be
10:51
interested in a little tic tac toe game
10:53
or a little puzzle game so just consider
10:56
the age ranges that you may have in your
10:58
home and try to have something of course
11:01
you find something stylish find
11:03
something that goes with your Decor I'm
11:06
saying wooden because that usually just
11:07
works with everyone to have a nice
11:09
wooden tic TCT toe board but they have
11:11
metallic ones they have ones that are
11:13
made out of marble depending upon your
11:15
style you can find something that works
11:17
for you the only thing that I would say
11:19
to stay away from is going to trendy
11:24
with your coffee table styling now we
11:27
all know that that Tom Ford coffee table
11:30
book was like the only thing for a long
11:33
time people were very excited about that
11:35
book I don't know why but it was very
11:39
popular and you see it everywhere it's
11:41
all over Instagram and Pinterest but the
11:44
fact of the matter is that's an
11:45
outrageously expensive book and most
11:47
people don't even have the real one they
11:49
have either fake boxes that look like
11:52
that book or they've covered it they've
11:54
printed it and covered some other book
11:56
and it's like having a fake book book or
11:59
a fake coffee table book just for um
12:04
just to be
12:05
trendy is a missed opportunity in my
12:07
opinion because when people come to your
12:10
home one they're either going to get
12:11
excited about the book and want to flip
12:13
through it and realize it's not what
12:14
they think it is which is a let down or
12:17
you know they could have had something
12:19
like a beautiful book about penguins or
12:23
about Antarctica or about you know
12:27
classic cars or food or sh boards there
12:30
are so many other things of interest to
12:32
people that they can actually interact
12:35
with that are affordable again don't
12:38
forget that you don't have to buy all of
12:40
these books coffee table books can be
12:43
expensive especially when you get into
12:44
the large like photography books they
12:47
can be a little bit pricey but what you
12:49
can always do is go to your library and
12:52
check them out and keep them for a few
12:54
weeks or keep them for a season renew
12:56
them they're not in high demand so you
12:59
can have them displayed out let's say
13:01
for the better part of the spring and
13:03
then when the summer rolls around you
13:05
can exchange them and get something else
13:07
and have something new out there for
13:09
people to flip through you don't have to
13:11
spend a lot of money decorating your
13:13
home and investing in coffee table books
13:15
there are other ways to go about it of
13:16
course you can Thrift them as well but
13:19
just consider the topics that you choose
13:22
to share with people and let it be a
13:24
tool that actually helps you when it
13:26
comes to entertaining guests in your
13:28
home because otherwise it's a missed
13:30
opportunity and it's something that can
13:32
be so great for building relationships
13:35
and making people feel comfortable and
13:37
at ease in your home that's it for this
13:40
video I hope you found it helpful don't
13:42
forget to visit me at diand decore.com I
13:45
post all about home decorating ideas and
13:48
inspiration over there if you like this
13:51
video please give it a like and consider
13:53
subscribing to my channel and I'll see
13:55
you in the next one bye
13:58
[Music]
14:07
oh
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