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The world of accent tables is massive and it seems to be constantly expanding. Part of the reason is real estate trends.

Since there are a lot of homes on the market that are not moving, there are fewer people getting new homes. That equates to fewer people making large furniture purchases to decorate those homes. The furniture retailers have watched the trend grow over the past few years and realized the only way they would be able to survive was to change their focus. No longer was just selling big-ticket items, such as beds and dining room tables, going to pay the bills. They had to look at the smaller items, like accent tables.

Accent tables and other decorative accents to the home are still popular. While people are not moving, they do regularly decide they want to have portions of their home look different. Unless your current dining room table or other large ticket item is breaking down and falling apart, they will likely make do with that piece and add other pieces of furniture that dress up the room and make it fit their new theme. Accent tables are some of those furniture pieces.

So, what do you need to know when purchasing accent tables?

Do you have a theme? If you are going to change the look of your current home to fit a certain theme, you really need to flesh out just how you want the space to look to portray that theme. If you only have a general look in mind, and start shopping for accent tables, you may start falling for all sorts of accent tables that are not perfect for the theme, but catch your eye. Once you get them home, they may not produce the effect you had hoped for. Know what final look you want in the room and then select specific items, one by one, to create the look.

If you are keeping some of your current furniture pieces in the house, make sure any new accent tables you are bringing in will go with them. A blonde wood is going to really clash against a lot of dark wood pieces. Likewise a classical accent table and modern furniture aren't going to work together.

Size is an issue in accent tables. Since they are supposed to be accents, they should not be bigger than other pieces that are considered the main furniture items. If you created your initial look with small, functional pieces of furniture, the accent tables you choose need to follow that trend.

Depending on who will be in your home, stability may be a big issue. If you have children, you should shy away from pedestal accent tables. This is especially true if they are very small children. Small children like to pull on the edges of things, and a pedestal table could topple over on them. Instead, with a number of little ones in the house, you should look for a table that will let them pull themselves up on it, such as a three of our legged variety.