Can Glass End Tables Work in a Modern Living Room Scheme?

Remove Dated Details

• Details such as ornate and antiqued hardware date your tables to a particular period and make them less likely to coordinate in a modern style scheme. Look for modern styles to replace the current hardware, or change the color with a rub-on metallic finish available in hobby stores. Caning accents, sometimes found on drawer fronts, aprons and shelves, do not fit the streamlined modern style. Shelves can often be removed and other caning accents unglued or covered with veneer available at home improvement centers.

Adjust Height

• End tables were built to work with sofa and chair styles made during the same period, so the height of your old tables could need to be adjusted to work in your modern living room. Ideally, the height of an end table should reach the arm height of the chair or sofa or extend inches above it. Attach short, unfinished wood table legs or fencepost finials, available at home improvement stores, to the ends of the existing legs to lengthen them.

Paint or Refinish

• Change multitonal or antiqued finishes to achieve a single tone in a color or finish suitable for your room. Wood tables look more modern in a dark chocolate brown or light blond stain or painted solid black. If the support structure of your tables is metal, a silver or black paint finish will work better in your modern living room than a brass or antiqued metal finish. Coordinate the end table finish with that of your coffee table, or refinish all at the same time.

Other Considerations

• If the glass on your tables is smoky gray or brown rather than clear, a dark stain or paint finish will work better than a lighter one. Also consider the size and scale of your tables and of the sofa and chairs next to which they will reside. For example, do not place an oversize or visually heavy table next to a piece of upholstery that is small or delicate-looking.