I think I have an obsession with throw pillows. Just the other day, I was telling my team here at Daakor, I wanted to open up a throw pillow shop. If I did, I would consistently be browsing and touching and rearranging displays.
Long, long time ago, I used to make my own throw pillows and even created them for friends and family. Maybe that’s where my obsession started.
My go to way for styling a sofa is to mix up throw pillows. That’s really all you need to do. You can of course add a throw blanket but sometimes I just want to keep things simple and easy.
Here’s how you create just the right mix of throw pillows for your sofa at home.
First, you have to decide on a sofa pillow arrangement that’s appropriate for your sofa based on the style you’re going for and the size and shape of your sofa. For example, if you have a love seat, you’ll be using less pillows compared to a sofa or a sectional.
The depth of your sofa also plays a role. I like to style deep sofas with lots of pillows. But alas, many of us live in small spaces and don’t have the luxury of having a deep sofa.
If you opted for a narrow condo size sofa, you’ll want to do less pillows to make way for seating space. Last thing you want is to be moving your throw pillows on and off, every time you want to sit on your sofa!
Do you like pillows on each end or spread through the back of the sofa? I prefer pillows on either end unless it’s a deep sofa. I love throw pillows, so every chance I get, I’ll go for piling on as many throw pillows as I can on a deep sofa.
If you are going with pillows on either end, do you like a combo of 2 pillows or 3 pillows on either end? I tend to opt for 3 on one end and 2 on the other end, just to keep things interesting. When it comes to styling your sofa, it’s all about personal preference.
Rules for mixing and matching throw pillows
Ok, so there are no rules and rules in design are meant to be broken! But that wouldn’t really help you get that designer curated look for your sofa, right? So, here are our tips on how to create the perfect combination of pillows for your sofa. Oh yeah, these rules also apply anywhere else you want to use a combination of pillows, like when you style your bed.
- Choose various sizes of pillows. You can buy throw pillows from 16”x16” to 26”x26”, maybe even bigger! And, that doesn’t include the size of lumbar pillows. I usually use at least 2-3 sizes of pillows when I’m styling a sofa. My go to sizes are a 20”x20” and 18”x18” when I layer throw pillows. I also like to throw in a lumbar pillow as well, so maybe that means I go for 3 sizes.
- Keep your colour palette consistent. That doesn’t mean you have to have all the pillows of on your sofa the same colour. I like to pull colours from the room’s overall colour palette to use on the sofa cushions. I find that it’s a great way to tie everything in the space together. I’ll look for a pattern that has all or most of the colours in my palette, if at all possible to make it easier to coordinate everything and then pair it up with a solid from the same colour palette. In fact, my go to styling for a sofa is to mix one throw pillow that has a pattern and one that is a solid.
- Mix in a neutral or two, to the combo. Try to bring in a neutral cushion or two when you can to the combination. This will add interest and give that designer touch to your combination of pillows.
- Bring in textures and patterns. They say variety is the spice of life. Bring some spice to your sofa pillows and add different textures and patterns into the mix. Make sure they are consistent with the colour palette of the room. This is even more important if your colour palette is monochromatic or you’re relying heavily on neutrals. You can easily introduce texture by adding pillows made of different fabrics or why not have some fun and add something that has pom poms or tassels.
Here are some examples that show you how these tips work.
Look 1: Colourful Modern Glam
Why it works: For this look, we are sticking to a very colourful but consistent colour palette. We picked up the blues, greys and pink from the art work and worked it into the pillows.
The pillows are also 3 different sizes and we are mixing textures and patterns here. You could even say that the large pillows with the paneling in the back kinda are acting almost as a solid.
We have no neutrals in this mix but it still works because the sofa is the big neutral in this space.
Look 2: Mid-Century Glory
Why it works: Ah…this look makes my heart sing even though my go to style isn’t mid-century.
You can see we are using bold orange as the solids but even in the solid, we’re introducing texture. For this look we’re not keeping the left and right symmetrical but the colours and patterns are nicely balanced on either end.
For this one, we are using two different sizes of pillows, keeping the colours consistent and balanced and we’ve brought in pattern and texture.
Again, we are using the same sofa as before, so we’ve opted not to use a neutral pillow in this mix.
Look 3: Coastal Oasis
Why it works: Did I say the previous one made my heart sing? No, I think it’s this one. This makes me want a house by the sea!
We are mixing up patterns and textures again in this look as well as using a variety of sizes pillow. For this one, we’ve even introduced a different shape.
We kept the overall colour palette consistent and mostly monochromatic.
Now, go fix your throw pillows. Next up, we’ll tell you how to mix in a throw blanket to your sofa styling mix.
