When choosing the best cheap coffee table for your home, it's a good idea to compare prices and think about how well it will hold up to daily use in your household. While it's not realistic to expect a long-lasting piece of furniture if you buy it cheap, the inexpensive coffee table you choose should still look attractive as well as work well in your home. A good cheap coffee table can usually be found at discount furniture stores and secondhand shops.
With a little refinishing or a few coats of paint, a secondhand coffee table can be transformed into a useful and decorative furniture piece you'd be proud to have in your living room. Look beyond surface imperfections when buying a previously owned cheap coffee table to refinish, but avoid anything that needs extensive repairs or has a broken structure unless you're prepared to adequately fix these damages. When looking at secondhand coffee tables for refinishing, decide whether paint or stain would work best. Secondhand shops as well as flea markets can be budget-friendly locations in which to find a student coffee table or other cheap furniture piece.
If you'd rather buy a new coffee table, the types of furniture stores that sell their items flat packed for home assembly usually offer a selection of cheap coffee tables as well as expensive ones. You're likely to find mostly minimalistic, modern styles in particleboard or other inexpensive material in these tables. If you have a more traditional decor in your home, a secondhand cheap coffee table in solid wood that you can fix up may work better.
When choosing a modern cheap coffee table consisting of a base with a glass top, you should consider the safety aspects. Unless the top is made of safety glass, it could shatter into sharp shards if it's accidentally broken. Some of these tabletops may slide easily off the base and shatter, which makes them an especially poor choice for homes with children or pets. The type of inexpensive coffee table with a particleboard, metal or wood frame and a glass insert top can be slightly safer, but safety, or tempered, glass is still the best choice.
A prefab coffee table is usually going to be cheaper than a custom furniture piece. Since you may not find exactly what you hope to when searching secondhand or discount stores for a cheap coffee table, it's a good idea to have different shapes, sizes and finishes in mind that would work in your living room. By being open-minded and creative while looking for a budget coffee table that you love, you should be able to find the best one for your space.