How to Decorate for Coffeehouse-Themed Parties

Hold your party in a room with wooden floors and exposed brick and a fireplace if possible. Many coffeehouses are dark and filled with wooden accents to complement the dark, rich color of coffee. If you can’t hold your party in a room with these qualities, lay down an area rug filled with warm colors, such as red, orange, brown and yellow. Place heavy, dark drapes on the windows.

Set up the kind of furniture you’d find in a genuine coffeehouse, such as deep, comfy, velvety couches, love seats and chairs; round cafe tables and chair sets; and a bar with high-backed bar chairs or stools. Cover cafe tables with dark, soft cloths. Group furniture so guests sit in small, intimate clusters instead of large groups. Flank sofas, love seats and oversized chairs with coffee and/or end tables.

Decorate the walls with framed prints and photographs. Pictures can be in black and white or color, as long as the hues match or complement the decor in the rest of the room. Choose from a wide variety of coffeehouse themed subject matter, such as coffee cups and beans, waitresses pouring coffee at old fashioned diners, construction workers sipping coffee on break or vintage signs of coffee prices from decades past. You can also decorate the walls with abstract artwork.

Keep lighting low and intimate by burning tea candles on each table and lighting the fireplace. Put small lamps on a few of the end tables and place tall lamps in the corners of the room. If you must use overhead lighting, use a dimmer switch or the lowest watt bulbs you have.

Set out coffee mugs and saucers on each table for guests, as well as coffeehouse themed treats such as bagels, pastries, cookies, pies and sandwiches.