How to style your throw pillows for the living room + entryway?

By raissa August 2, 2021 English

Throw pillows are a great way to add color and personality to your living room. They’re the finishing touches that takes your space from strictly utilitarian to more lived in and perhaps, relaxed. But you can’t just buy some throw pillows and move on. Once you have them, it’s necessary to thoughtfully arrange them on your sofa. You might be thinking, “How hard can pillow decorating be?? It’s just a couple of pillows!” However, the proper arrangement for throw pillows on a sofa is actually one of the design dilemmas most frequently brought up by customers. Many of our customers feel uncertain about how to combine colors and patterns, not to mention how to arrange them on their sofa! Well, today we’re breaking it down for you. We’ll walk you through everything you ever wanted to know about how to arrange throw pillows on a sofa, armchair to the bench in your living room and entryway. Let’s start with the basics first!

Color palette
Sizes
Patterns + Textures

Choose a Cohesive Color Palette

When choosing a color palette for your sofa’s throw pillows, you can really choose any color family that goes with the rest of your living room’s decor. Just make sure you keep all of the throw pillows in a similar color tone, whichever color you choose. When choosing throw pillows, start by grounding the color palette with a dark hue, and work toward lighter shades in the color palette while mixing in patterns that echo similar colors. We love the idea of using blues as an “active” neutral. While blues add nice pops of color to your space, they’re flexible enough to be a neutral on the color spectrum while also allowing you to mix different shades of blues together in one arrangement.’ Here’s our sample of our sample color palette using a grey fabric sofa:

Arrange Pillows By Size

This leads us to the next step: actually arranging the throw pillows. While the scale of patterns should be considered in the arrangement, so should the size of the pillows themselves. This may seem obvious, but as you arrange pillows, put larger pillows in the back and smaller or lumbar pillows in the front. The largest pillows should always be on the outside, but you can play around with medium and small interchangeably on the inside for a more personalized look. However, the smallest throw pillows generally fit best on the very inside of the arrangement. You can also explore using lumbar pillows to help create a solid “middle” in your sofa’s composition.

The variety of sizes pillows include:

1. 60 x 60 cm

2. 50 x 50 cm

3. 45 x 45 cm

4. 40 x 40 cm

5. 30 x 50 cm

Finally, consider working with an odd number of pillows, which will help with visual balance. For example, putting two throw pillows on each side of the sofa, and then layering three in the middle will help the composition feel effectively balanced.

Vary the Scale of the Patterns and Textures

Once you’ve landed on a color palette and sizes, make sure you don’t just go with a bunch of solid-colored throw pillows. Rather, add some patterns to the mix. And not just one! You can mix multiple patterns within the same throw pillow arrangement. Just make sure you vary the scale so that they aren’t competing with each other. Large patterns mixed with smaller scale patterns create a balance within the composition.

You can also explore mixing organic patterns—like shibori, ikat, and tie-dye—with more geometric patterns for an interesting and eclectic mix. But, in all this, remember to use color to help ground your scene. That’s why it’s so important to first land on your color palette, as this will help guide what patterns you consider! Color helps enhance the patterns—so choose darker, deeper patterns for the throw pillows on the outside of the arrangement and lighter, more decorative patterns for the inward pillows.