An Overview of Beverage Coasters
Coasters are tiny pieces of home decor that serve a very functional purpose. They are designed to stand between a sweaty glass, or any moist item, and the surface of your tables, counters, and shelves. This is because moisture can damage most materials over time, especially hardwoods, leaving rings or stains that are impossible to remove. Scratches are also a problem, with many items scraping along the face of the table and causing deep grooves in the material which can be both seen and felt.
Beverage coasters also serve another purpose. They are decorative items that can be used to splash color throughout a space. This is particularly true due to their transient nature. They are not permanent fixtures in a room. Instead they are usually stacked quietly somewhere off to the side, often in an attractive holder, waiting for when someone wants a glass of water, or a cold beverage on a warm day, or any occasion when they will be useful to have around. Then they are unfurled and the stack is spread out throughout a space.
Once the coasters have spread out, suddenly the colors imprinted on the surface become vitally important, because those colors are everywhere, casting a subtle but potent web over the environment. This allows these pieces to actually become quite prominent, dominating to some extent the visual landscape of the room, and spreading their own unique charm to every inch of the space. That is why it is important to choose these pieces with such care.
There are a variety of materials that beverage coasters can be manufactured from. Some of these are absorbent, such as sandstone, and cork, allowing the coaster to literally soak up the moisture from a glass. Others are non absorbent, but are instead equipped with a lip, which rings the piece, holding both the glass and the moisture in place on top of the coaster. It is important to choose a coaster set which will flow naturally with the environment, and wont clash with existing pieces in the space. While they may not always be prominent, beverage coasters can sneak up on you, and if a few friends come over you may find yourself agitated by the color or style of the coasters, when spread out and matched up with your various furnishings
This article was written by Jim Slate on behalf of http://PebbleZ.com’s line of naturally absorbent sandstone beverage coasters. These attractive pieces are crafted from real pieces of stone, and are available in a wide variety of colors, images, shapes, and sizes.