Create a coffee table book that beautifully showcases your memories
Have you ever thought about creating a coffee table book? It’s more than just a modern way of keeping memories, it’s also a decorative piece that elevates your home, sparks conversation with friends and family, and transforms your favorite photos into a meaningful keepsake. It’s also such a fun project to dive into. A true labor of love that lets you relive your best moments through your own personalized photo book.
At MILK Books, our Photo Albums, Photo Books and Magazines double as timeless coffee table books. Each is crafted with premium materials, ensuring your memories, photos, and stories are preserved beautifully for years to come. From classic hardcovers to contemporary magazine-style editions, to bold oversized albums that make a true statement, we’ll guide you through our most loved coffee table book styles to inspire your own creation.
1. Classic hardcover coffee table books
Photo Credit: Annika and Dominik & Erika Doyle
When you picture a coffee table book, chances are you’re imagining a hardcover photo book. Timeless and elegant, it’s the classic format for showcasing your photos whether that’d be filled with family photos, travel adventures, or your wedding photos.
MILK offers two primary hardcover books as described below.
Photo Album: Designed with thick, board-like pages that open to lie perfectly flat. This luxurious construction gives the album a weight and substance that instantly sets it apart from a traditional photo book. The thickness of the pages adds texture and dimension, giving it that unmistakable coffee table book presence. Perfect for curated selections like wedding highlights to milestone moments as every page gives your favorite photos the attention they deserve.
Photo Book: Designed with flexible art paper and finished with section-sewn binding, allowing the pages to turn effortlessly. With the ability to hold up to 240 pages (compared to 80 in our Photo Albums), Photo Books are ideal for larger collections like family yearbooks, celebrations or travel adventures. While the pages are lighter, they still carry the elegance of a classic coffee table book, giving you both volume and beauty in one timeless design.
Where Photo Books and Photo Albums truly meet, is in their covers. Both offer the same refined hardcover options, with one key difference: Photo Albums can be crafted in genuine leather, while Photo Books feature a vegan leather alternative with a buttery-soft, pigmented finish. Beyond leather, you can choose from premium fabrics including Linen or Coated Cloth (Buckram), each available in a range of timeless colors.
Personalization is where your book really comes to life. Include a hero image to the cover or perhaps include a title with your preferred fonts on the front and spine of your photo book to add both depth and a tactile element to the design. At MILK, we use ultra-violet printing for text, which subtly raises the lettering from the surface to create a refined, luxurious finish.
With so many options, your cover sets the tone for your coffee table book. It transforms your photo book into an expression of your style and a piece of art you can proudly display!
2. Magazine-style photo books for a modern twist
Photo Credit: Daria Fedyniak
For something a little lighter and more contemporary, our Magazine-style photo books are the perfect choice. With soft covers and flexible pages, they bring an editorial edge to your storytelling inspired by the look and feel of high-end coffee table publications.
Available in both large and mini formats, they’re ideal for travel photos, creative projects or casual keepsakes you want to flip through often. Each one feels effortless yet beautifully made, with matt white paper that showcase your photos in crisp detail. They’re also popular wedding keepsakes chosen by couples who are after a chic and “cool” modern look. After all, how often do you see a wedding magazine that’s entirely personalized and completely yours? It’s unique, stylish, and the kind of piece that makes you want to create more.
Mini Magazines are a fantastic way to do just that. Compact yet packed with the same features as the large format, they’re perfect for building a collection. With a lower starting price, they make it easy to create a series, think a travel collection from your favorite countries, seasonal highlights or a keepsake for you and your loved one to cherish each anniversary. They also make thoughtful, affordable gifts that are as meaningful as they are stylish. Small but big on impact, they’re made for collecting and displaying whether stacked neatly on your coffee table or scattered around the house to add character and charm.
3. Make a statement with size and scale
If you’re aiming for something bold and unforgettable, the Extra Large Premium Photo Album is your perfect match. As our most luxurious and largest format, it’s designed to be a true showstopper.
Sized at 12.1 x 16.2” (30.7cm x 41.2cm), this expansive album showcases every detail of your photos, highlighting the print quality and craftsmanship in a way that smaller formats simply can’t. The impressive thickness, paired with beautiful Designer Covers, makes it a true centerpiece for your coffee table. With lay-flat binding, your images can flow seamlessly across the spread, perfect for full-bleed photographs that deserve the spotlight. Despite its scale, the sturdy binding ensures it’s still comfortable to flip through, page after page.
The Extra Large format is designed to showcase life’s most special memories from weddings and once-in-a-lifetime travels to family stories preserved as heirlooms for generations. With pages you can truly immerse yourself in, this album becomes a striking centerpiece on your coffee table. For a closer look at the Extra Large Premium Photo Album, you can read our full blog dedicated to this format.
4. How to display your coffee table book
Photo Credit: Demi Mauricio & Bianca Cachia
Styling your coffee table book is all about balance and personality. Pair it with fresh flowers, sculptural objects, or ceramics to add height and texture, or place it alongside a tray to keep everything organized while allowing the photo book to shine as the focal point.
Many of our customers love layering different sizes or stacking multiple photo books together to create that curated look. For an effortless way to achieve this, you can opt for one of the MILK Gift Sets such as a three-piece set to beautifully combine and elevate your coffee table display.
Of course, photo books aren’t limited to the coffee table. They can be displayed on a cabinet, styled into a bookshelf, or left open on a favorite spread to catch the eye. Whether stacked, propped, or standing alone, your photo book becomes part of your décor, inviting curiosity and encouraging moments of connection as it’s opened and enjoyed.
For an extra layer of luxury and protection, add a Presentation Box. Designed to complement your photo book, these boxes can be finished in matching fabrics, making them feel like an extension of your keepsake rather than an afterthought. Lined with textured Italian paper and finished with a wide satin lift-out ribbon, each box brings both ease and elegance to your display.
A coffee table book is more than just a way to hold photos, it’s a reflection of your style, a centerpiece for your home, and a keepsake to be cherished for years to come. Whether you’re drawn to the timeless elegance of a hardcover, the modern edge of a magazine, or the bold scale of an Extra Large Premium Album, each format offers a unique way to celebrate life’s stories. With MILK’s premium materials, customizable finishes, and thoughtful Design Studio, creating your own coffee table book has never been easier. Start designing yours today!
Explore the Design Studio to begin crafting your custom book.
