Hampers, suitcases and more. Check out these alternative coffee tables to update your living room

Bit bored with your traditional furniture? We've found creative alternatives to the humble coffee table - think hampers, suitcases and even trolleys which will give your living room an instant update, and become a real focal point.

Be warned though, once you've seen these ingenious uses of raw materials and stacked boxes you'll find yourself falling for cute crates, handsome hampers and sexy suitcases... and we're right behind you.

Go for a handsome hamper

Hampers are useful ports of storage and look beautiful in coastal-inspired rooms. Whether finished in lacquered, dark wicker or weathered entwined strands, these are a great alternative to a standard table.

Add some puff to your pouf

Top your tubby little pouf with a glass tabletop and transform the tired item into a creative new coffee table. With this simple project your pouf will instantly be transformed and serve an entire new purpose.

Sculpt a table from a tree

Varnished and sanded within an inch of its life, this is now a carved masterpiece standing in as a living room table.
Finish the designer look with stylish coffee table books and potted plants.

Pimp your table with some new wheels

Love upcycling? Take a rustic piece of wood and attach metal wheels to create your very own trolley service!

Transform your table with a trunk

Ultra fashionable chunky trunks may not be ideal to travel with any longer but make the perfect table. Ensure edge clamps and drawbolts are buffed and polished before packing it full of DVDs, blankets and coffee cup coasters.

Make a centrepiece out of your firewood

Pile up your hunks of firewood in something other than a basket this year. Be innovative with your display and instead stack them inside a glass cube to update country essentials with urban charm.

Stack your old suitcases

Dig out those old suitcases full of family photos that are gathering dust in the loft and stack them in the centre of your living room for a dapper, gentleman's club look that doesn't cost a thing.

Go coastal with a giant pebble

This giant pummelled pebble is posing as a coffee table amongst a scene of coastal blues and hessian hues. The high gloss sculpture is a fantastic centrepiece and has small pockets perfect for housing snacks and candles.

A table within a table

This isn't just any coffee table, this is dining-coffee table. To the untrained eye it may look like your standard mahogany bench but in fact this one hides little cosy stalls underneath for people to sit around the table over a tense game of Scrabble.

Bring out your best chest

Don't hide ancient chests away anymore. With a little TLC these aged boxes are given a new lease of life and lend a fashioned hand to a contemporary living space or add character to an already old build.

Top off a toad stool

These spindly stools look like flat-topped lingzhi and add to this room's simple Scandi furniture. Adopt multiple small tables as an alternative to a hulking coffee table that can be dispersed around the room when guests are over.

Line up a few logs

These white barrel tables can be created by sanding and coating a few lumps of wood that you've found in the shed or the back of the garden. Equally they are available in high gloss materials that add an eclectic touch to a traditional living room.

Repurpose your old boxes

Authentic boxes like these with stripped stickers from previous explorations add a charm to a vintage living room but are easily modernised with a few colourful trays and bright cushions.