Sculptural Decor for Consoles, Buffets and Coffee Tables: How to Finish a Room
By Frank Chacin, Creative Director at SoBe Furniture
I see it in Boca Raton homes all the time. The sectional is right, the dining table is right, the buffet is a beautiful piece of walnut, and the room still feels like a model unit the day before the stager shows up. Clients tell me something is missing and they cannot name it. Nine times out of ten, what is missing is the last ten percent: the objects on the surfaces and the thing on the wall above them.
A bare console or an empty buffet top is not minimalism. Minimalism is a few things chosen carefully. An empty surface just reads as unfinished, and in South Florida, where so many homes are open plan with long sightlines and bright, flat light, that emptiness is visible from the front door to the pool deck. When season starts and the family flies in for the holidays, those surfaces are the first thing people notice and the last thing most owners think about.
So here is my working method for finishing a room, built around the decor pieces we have added to our collection this fall.
Why We Built a Decor Department
For years, clients would buy a full living and dining room from us, then go hunting across Palm Beach County for the finishing pieces. The result was often a room where the furniture and the accessories came from two different worlds. We decided to close that gap.
Our Decor menu now has four columns: Mirrors, Rugs, Pillows and Wall Art, with sculptural bowls and trays in the decor collection. That includes 79 pillow designs, each with a down insert, a hand-knotted and a hand-tufted rug, about 69 cowhides, hand-painted canvases and a new organic wall mirror. The point is simple: you can choose the buffet and what goes on and above it at the same time, with the same eye.
The Five Rules That Decide a Finished Surface
1. Work in odd numbers
One, three or five objects. Pairs feel formal and static; a group of three makes the eye travel. On a long buffet you might run two groups of three, but each group should still be odd.
2. Vary the height
Every grouping needs a tall point, a middle and a low point. Think of a loose triangle. If everything sits at the same height, the arrangement looks like a shelf in a store.
3. One sculptural piece, one bowl, one tray
This is my default formula, and it works on almost any surface. The sculptural piece gives the group character. The bowl adds a softer, rounded form. The tray gathers small things so the surface looks deliberate instead of cluttered.
4. Leave a third of the surface empty
Styling is as much about what you leave off. On a buffet or console, objects should cover roughly two thirds of the length at most. Breathing room is what makes each piece read as special.
5. Repeat one material from the room
If the dining table has a walnut base, pick up the walnut or the gold. If the coffee table is travertine, a ceramic or stone piece nearby ties it together. One repeated material makes a room feel designed rather than collected.
The Buffet: Sculpture on Top, Art Above
Varenna and Parker as the stage
The Varenna walnut buffet is 81 inches wide, 18 inches deep and 31 inches high, with a marble-look top and a brushed brass plinth base, from $2,799. That length is a gift for styling. Place a Titan sculptural bowl off center: two bronze-finish figures lift a hammered gold bowl above a white marble base, 12 inches high and 25 inches wide, from $799. It is only 4 inches deep, so it sits comfortably on an 18-inch top. Add a Fiamma silver and gold boat bowl, 26 inches long and only a few inches high, as the low point, and the brass on the Varenna base and the gold in both pieces start talking to each other.
The Parker dark gray buffet, from $2,899, takes a cooler palette. There I would use the Titan silver version on its black granite base.
Sizing art over a buffet
The Ramo black and white framed art is a pair of hand-painted canvases in slim matte black frames, sold as a set of two, from $499. Over the Varenna, the 36 x 25 inch size, hung side by side with a few inches between them, spans about 54 inches, roughly two thirds of the buffet. That is the classic proportion. If you have tall ceilings, the 48 x 36 inch pair fills about 76 inches and turns the wall into a statement. Hang the bottom of the frames 8 to 10 inches above the buffet top so the art and the objects read as one composition. You can see Ramo above the Parker buffet in one of the living looks on our Shop the Look page.
The Console: A Mirror and a Short Story
The mirror above
An entry console is the first thing guests see, so I almost always put a mirror over it. It bounces light into dark hallways, and in a condo it makes the entry feel wider. The Pebble black organic wall mirror is 40 inches high and 30 inches wide, outlined in a slim black iron frame, from $899. Its soft, asymmetric curve breaks up the straight lines of a console, a door frame and a tile floor. Choose a console noticeably wider than the mirror, and hang the bottom edge 6 to 10 inches above the top. You can browse more shapes in our mirrors collection.
What goes on the console
Consoles are narrower than buffets, so think shallow. On a Lucerne travertine console, from $2,099, I would set the Titan silver on one side, a Perla ivory inlay tray on the other for keys and mail, and a single small object or a stack of two books in the tray. The Perla trays come as a nesting pair, 20 x 15 and 18 x 13 inches, from $399, with a shimmering mosaic-look inlay and cut-out handles. Three elements, three heights, and the mirror ties it together.
The Coffee Table: Low, Touchable and Practical
Style for the way you live
A coffee table gets used. Remotes, drinks and feet all land there, so it needs fewer, flatter objects. The Amalfi travertine coffee table, from $1,399, sets an L-shaped top of genuine travertine on two pill-shaped bases. I would put a Perla tray on the longer section to corral the everyday things, and a single wide bowl on the shorter one.
Bowls that do double duty
The Laguna ceramic bowls, in brown or teal glaze, are 15 inches wide and 3 inches high, from $299. The brown repeats the warmth of travertine; the teal brings in a little of the ocean. The ceramic is rated outdoor safe, so the same bowl can move to a covered patio table when you entertain outside. For more drama, look at the Fiamma bowls, cast in aluminum and starting from $499 for the boat-shaped pair. The black and gold nesting pair has matte black interiors and molten gold rims, like metal caught mid-pour, and each torn-looking rim is slightly different. Use them empty as sculpture, fill one with fruit, or split the pair between the coffee table and a side table so the gold repeats across the seating group.
Condo, New Construction or Established Home
In a Highland Beach or Fort Lauderdale condo, surfaces are fewer and every one counts. Keep groupings tight, lean on a mirror to stretch the space, and avoid tall pieces that block a water view.
New construction in Boca Bridges, Lotus or Parkland usually means long walls and tall ceilings. This is where the larger Ramo pair, a full 81-inch buffet and two groupings of three can carry the scale. Undersized decor is the most common mistake in these homes.
Established homes around Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club or in older Delray Beach neighborhoods often have defined rooms with more architectural detail. Here, one strong sculptural piece and a mirror do more than a crowd of smaller objects.
One South Florida note: strong sun through big glass is hard on any finish. Keep art and lacquered pieces out of direct afternoon light where you can, and dust metal finishes with a soft dry cloth.
Finish the Room With Us in Boca Raton
The fastest way to get this right is to build the whole wall at once. Visit SoBe Furniture at 6599 N Federal Highway in Boca Raton, just north of Mizner Park, or call (561) 221-6111. We are open seven days a week. Much of our furniture collection is on the floor, so you can judge the walnut on a buffet or the travertine on a coffee table under real light; call ahead to check a specific piece. Our decor pieces are not guaranteed to be on display, so bring photos and measurements of the wall, the console or the buffet, or send them ahead through our contact page, and our design team will help you choose the art, mirror and objects alongside the furniture you are testing. Financing is available, and you can schedule white-glove delivery at the desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I decorate a console table?
Start with a mirror or art above, then add an odd-numbered group below: one sculptural piece, one bowl or tall object, and one tray. Vary the heights and leave about a third of the surface empty.
What size art goes over a buffet?
Aim for art about two thirds the width of the buffet, hung 8 to 10 inches above the top. Over an 81-inch buffet, that means roughly 54 inches of art, such as a pair of 25-inch-wide canvases side by side.
What should I put on a coffee table?
Keep it low and practical: a tray to gather remotes and coasters, plus one wide bowl or sculptural object. A coffee table gets used daily, so fewer, flatter pieces work best.
Why does my living room look unfinished?
Usually the furniture is in place but the surfaces and walls are bare. Adding a mirror or art above a console, a styled grouping on the buffet and a tray on the coffee table is often all a room needs.
Where can I buy sculptural decor and wall mirrors in Boca Raton?
SoBe Furniture at 6599 N Federal Highway in Boca Raton offers sculptural bowls, trays, wall art and mirrors in our decor and mirrors collections. Our design team can help you choose them alongside a buffet, console or coffee table.
Can I see decor pieces in person before buying?
Decor is not guaranteed to be on display at our Boca Raton showroom, so call (561) 221-6111 before visiting if you want to see a particular piece. Much of our furniture is on the floor, and our team can help you plan the decor around it.