How to Combine Throw Pillows Using Colour & Pattern

I think I have an addiction to pillows. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

After all, pillows are one of the easiest, least expensive ways to really change the feel of a room and require very little commitment. 

Sometimes people think all of their pillows need to match - to match their carpet, their couch, or each other. I tend to prefer the look of mismatched pillows. Here's a few tips for how to choose pillows that you love. 

The easiest way to achieve a great look is to keep the pillows related to each other in terms of colour but to vary them a great deal in terms of print - both in terms of the scale of the print, and the design. Varying textures helps too. 

Here, large and small scale geometrics mix beautifully with more traditional floral prints. The colours in the floral pillows tie the rest of the fabrics together. 

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Here is another example. The variety in the scale of the print (the size of the images on the fabric, in other words) and style - swirls, ikat, and other patterns - helps keep it from feeling overly busy or boring. The repetition of the ikat in different fabrics (the pillows on either end) also help unify this assortment of pillows. 

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And a few more where pattern/scale varies but colour keeps things connected.

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And here are the pillows from our bedroom, which also use colour to feel unified.

Of course, you don't have to stick to the idea of colour coordination. In fact, sometimes the best spaces are the ones where the pillow colours don't coordinate at all. We'll talk about that another day, but here are a few examples for now:

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That's sort of the direction our living room is slowly taking. I haven't really shown it to you yet, but you got a glimpse here when I showed you our reading corner.

Jenny xo

P.S. This post is dedicated to Andrei, a great lover of pillows :)

Linking here and you should too!