How to Know When You've Reached Your Throw Pillow Limit

Who can resist a good decorative indoor throw pillow or twenty? You know how it is. You get a few pillows as gifts, pick up a few you liked on sale, then before you know it, the beds and couches are camouflaged in clashing colors and an avalanche of pillows you have to figure out where to put before you sit down. You can't always control what people get you, but you can find ways to manage the overflow. How many throw pillows, are too many? Spoiler alert: there isn't an exact count, but if your guests can't find a place to sit, that may be your first clue. 

The ideal number of pillows for each piece of furniture can vary depending on the size of the bed, sofa, loveseat, sectional, or bench size, size and shape of the pillows, and layout or arrangement. 

Considering the pieces of furniture you have, how can you strike a pleasing balance between keeping your house from being overrun by pillows but still adding texture and complementing other colors in the room? Well, we're here to get you on your way to living in a blissful partnership with pillows.

To start, identify the dominant color in your space, then mix and match complementary colors and patterns to highlight furniture and other decors. Don't be afraid to pair contrasting colors or patterns if they go well together. Without getting too deep into patterns and colors, we recommend not mixing too many overwhelming colors in one location. 

Some of the standard pillow shapes on the market are square, round, lumbar, and bolster in various sizes. We'll mostly reference square or lumbar pillows when describing our favorite ways to organize and style pillows on furniture. 

Beds

When organizing a pillow collection, let's stick to the designer's size rule. You're not going to position pillows on a king-sized bed like a queen or full-sized, and vice versa. The volume of pillows you wish to have on your bed is determined by how many pillows you want to deal with when making your bed every day. Here are our best practices to help keep it simple.

King-sized beds are around 76 inches in width. That gives you a lot of room to work with. Begin by placing three Euro pillows, or a square pillow covered in a decorative sham, at 26"x26" over the top. Next, add two 24"x24" square pillows over the row of three and finish off the look with a lumbar pillow as the cherry on top. It's a simple concept that will give your bed a polished look.

A queen-sized bed is usually 60 inches wide. You can use a layout similar to the king for our queen bed, placing a row of three Euro pillows and two smaller pillows layered between a single 12'x16' breakfast pillow. 

The 54" full-sized bed option follows the same pyramid display with different-sized pillows. Take two 28"x28" Euro pillows and add two 20"x20" layered on top and a 17"x17" to finish the pyramid. For all three beds sleeping pillows are hidden behind the first row of decorative pillows. 

Bedrooms generally don't get as much foot traffic as the living room, so you can be more daring to use bright colors when incorporating pillows into a bedroom than maybe a sofa. 

Loveseat and Sofa

Is your sofa or loveseat for a formal living room for guests or spending time relaxing with family? Pillows adorning family room couches are not always used primarily for decoration. Sometimes people utilize them to enjoy a nap with pets. So over time, they get flattened and never end up in the same place. Try a few of these easy pillows arranging tips for sofas regardless of how they are used.

Loveseats are about 71 inches in width, give or take a few inches. For styling a loveseat, grab four pillows from your collection. Two 22"x22" and two 20"x20" then place one 22"x22" in either corner of the love seat. And two 20"x20" on either side of the loveseat neatly layered on top of the other pillows creating symmetry and constructively using your decorative pillows.

A typical 3-seater sofa is 86" in width. Follow the same formula for the sofa as the loveseat, but only this time add a 13"x20" lumbar pillow in the center spot between the four larger pillows. When choosing colors, patterns, and texture, remember that the 22"x22" inch should be the same, the 20"x20" inch should be the same, with the lumbar pillow a different color or pattern. 

Sectionals

Sectionals are big couches with a lot of space to cover. An angled sectional that is approximately 93" will need some planning. What you'll need: 

• Three 24"x24" Euro pillows in the same color, pattern, or texture
• Three 22"x22" Euro pillows in the same color, pattern, or texture
• One 15'x24" lumbar pillow in an alternative color, pattern, or texture

Now take the 24"x24" inch pillows and put one pillow in the middle and at either end of the sectional. Then layer the 22"x22" pillows on the first row. Place the lumbar pillow in the middle to accent the arrangement in a unique color. 

Beds and sofas are highly purposeful pieces of furniture that are usually focal points that we try to keep attractive for as long as we can by accenting them with throws and pillows. We'll now explore storing our excess pillows in plain sight on an entryway or hallway bench. 

Benches

Image - thegracehouseinteriors.com

Hallway or entryway benches are often used for storing shoes (underneath), books, and excess decor. Your one-off or unmatched throw pillows for the entryway bench will liven up the space with colors and texture. Periodically swapping or changing accent decor around the bench to pair with the pillows can make things even more cohesive. Rather than a specific layered scheme, you can line up smaller to medium-sized pillows on whatever size bench you have. 

Decorative indoor throw pillows are an easy and wallet-friendly design tool for enhancing and elevating the look of a room. However, too many pillows can make our beautiful high-end space look disorderly. There are many ways to organize and style a plethora of pillows. Choose the ones that go best with your furniture tastes and color dynamic.