Don't Throw Out Those Throw Pillows

by Heather (New House New Home)

If you're like me you love the decorator look of mix & match throw pillows, but don't know where to start in creating your own look. What colours, what patterns, what sizes do I choose to make it all work together. I've gathered together some tips on how to decorate with pillows to get that designer look.

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I guess the biggest thing is not to spend too much money on pillows. That way you can mix & match without breaking the bank. And if you don't like something, you can easily replace it. The large rust pillow above is made using the envelope pillow technique with a piece of remnant fabric I had from another project from 8 years ago and the "give thanks" pillow is actually made from a placemat. Very inexpensive options for big impact.

Choose two or three colours from your room and build upon those in a 50/30/20 ratio. In this case, rust is my main accent colour and you can find it in both the geometric and floral prints, next is cream and then green. All three of these colours are found in my area rug.

Using odd numbers versus even gives it a more natural look. Here I've used two pairs of pillows and added another smaller accent pillow. You can use even numbers of course, just be sure to that it's on a clean lined more modern looking sofa.

Use different shapes to add interest. Squares seem to be the most common shape. But adding a bolster or rectangular pillow will extra interest. Just be sure to keep the proportions. The square pillows above are 18" and the rectangular pillow is about the same width. Proportion is key. Mixing super big and super small pillows together of any shape just doesn't work as well.

This is probably the hardest choice once you figured out your colours. Don't be shy to mix up geometrics and florals. If you choose a large floral print, your geometric pattern should be a smaller design without a lot of contract. Adding something like a simple check or dot will also work well.

Don't be afraid to change things up. Just don't spend a lot of money on seasonal items. Look for seasonal fabrics at the sewing centre, seasonal placements like the one above or create something with a downloaded graphic on a plain pillow cover. Adding seasonal items gives the vignette a fresh look.