I think it's a matter of taste. I believe glass tops are fine. 1/4" should be plenty, 1/2" will look funny, IMO. You do want to have an air space underneath. Otherwise, liquids will wick in via capillary action and you can destroy your table before you realize it. Avoid the clear plastic "bumpons" as spacers. These can eat through a finish via a phenomenon known as "plasticizer migration." I always recommend stick-on felt pads to people. About 30 years ago, I had a cabinet shop make a slip-on cover for my wood table. We used it for every-day use when we had 3 young children. It is similar to an island countertop, but slips right over the table and slips off for formal use or to add leaves. One of my daughters is having one made for her everyday table as we speak. Ours and hers will be covered with HPDL ("Formica") in the color and style of choice. Just for reference, her cabinet shop is quoting her just under $400 for her topper.

I had a brilliant idea this morning. (In my humble opinion.) We are adding a small screen porch on our house within the next few months. I think our LR coffee table, perhaps with the frame spray painted a color, would be just great in the screen porch! Now, when outdoor furniture has glass, is it a different type of glass than what's in indoor furniture? I feel like that's a stupid question but I really don't know. I had one outdoor end table with a glass top once, and I'm thinking it just looked like extra-thick glass, but otherwise, just regular glass. My table should be fine in a screen porch, right? This post was edited by sueb20 on Fri, Jan 18, 13 at 10:11

One idea I saw on Houzz was to use a child's table (round) as a coffee table. I thought that was a neat idea. You could get a wooden one at a good price. Not this one, as I think a darker color would be better, but as an example-- you can choose the height and diameter (18" would be good): $158 It has a laminate top, so you would not have to worry about chipping, AFAIK. Another possibility would be to look at MCM coffee tables-- they often have laminate tops as well and I think would look good with your furniture (w/o actually having seen the room).

Congrats on the new little one on the way - how exciting! So, I come from the camp of "be careful, but not too cautious". Children get bumps and bruises, scratches and boo-boos...it's part of them growing up. You want to put them in a bubble and keep anything bad from every happening to them. Alas, I'm not sure that makes them well equipped to handle the world then. So, be careful...but not too much...what a tough balancing act. But, I digress. Also, something that I'm always reminded of is people wanting to save something "for good". My grandmother did that - they were of very modest means, so when she got something new, she always put it aside to save it for "something special". Well, there are plates that are in the china cupboard to this day that were never used because they might get scratched or chipped, so they should only be used for extra special company. Who is any more special than your very own day-to-day family, really? So, enjoy that gorgeous table. Embrace the dings, scratches, and dents that will come along with having use...remember what those come from...those are the things of memories...they are the things that you will reminisce about when your little one(s) are grown and gone. You will learn to see that dent and remember the day that your little boy (or girl) decided to ride his tricycle in the house and banged into the table leg and dented it, cried because he fell off and bumped his head...and stopped crying because you kissed away the hurt (that DOES work, you know!) And you will grow to love those dents (or at least the stories that go with them) more and more and more as the years fly by.