Some Quick Do and Don’ts On How To Layer Your Cushions Like A PRO

Cushion covers may, hands down, be one of the easiest and most effective ways of adding personality to your space. Let’s go through a quick checklist of why.

• Immediately add a pop of colour? Sure.
• Requires a lot of commitment? No.
  Cushions are not like painting a wall or even buying a couch. You don’t need to be in a toxic long-term relationship with them if you don’t like them.
• Have a plethora of options? Indeed. 

Cushions are to home what shoes are to Carrie Bradshaw - you change them up and voila, new day, new me. 

We’ve witnessed some gorgeous sofas becoming ruined by subpar cushions and uninspiring cushions arrangement. Well, not now. Not on my watch. 

It is important to learn how to style and layer your cushions properly. We’re in the process of designing a course on the same, which will be out in a few days. However, till the time that happens, here is a handy mini-guide on how to take your cushion game to the next level.

1. DON'T: Buy six cushions of the same exact type and colour and place them as an equidistance on a couch. 

Now that is one way of going about home decor. It is not the “wrong” way - there is no wrong way of doing up your space. Do what makes you happy. It’s your space after all.

With that said, if you’d like to add some zing to your space, it is not the most ideal thing to do. 

We came up with a handy little breakdown to help you. 

Think of your cushions like actors. You have your background actors and then you have the stars of the film. Can you picture a film with only background actors? Yeah, no. What are we going to do with all those stereotypical best friend tropes? Whose beck and call are they at? That’s right - the stars. 

And what, pray, tell, must we do with 50 Jennifer Anistons? That would never work. Who are they supposed to run to when their heart has been broken into a million pieces? 

The long and short of it is this: we need them both - the stars and the background actors. Some people overdo it with the stars - they want every cushion to be a shining piece. That’s an overkill. That’s too much detailing all over the place. Where must the eye rest? 

Then there are those who like to keep everything muted and matched. Those who love to buy all plain cushions? That makes the cushion setting bland and boring. 

What we need is a delicate balance of the two. Which is why when you look at our curated sets, you’ll see that we always have a blend of the two.

Sure, we have the embroidered shining stars. The ones that make for great conversation pieces. But we mix and match these with the background cushions that complement them. 

DO: Mix and Match Your Cushions

This brings us to the next question: how do you pick what works with what?

2. DO: Match the cushions while being mindful of the fabric and size used. 

Let’s first start with the size, shall we? 

Accents are usually smaller than the background cushions because the background cushions are necessary for support. Most of our accent cushions are 16” or 18” and background cushions start from 20” to 24” (sometimes more). We are not the biggest fan of cushions that are smaller than 16 inches. We have gotten inquiries for 12, even 8, inch cushions and sorry, not happening. Cushions that small don’t serve any purpose. 

As for the fabric, go for fabrics types that complement one another. Oftentimes one can determine the vibe of a place by simply looking at the fabric used. For instance, we often end up using cottons and linens (natural fabrics) when creating our more easy, breezy, and casual ranges. We use art silks, polyesters, chenilles, velvets, and jacquards, when going for the more opulent look. Now see this is not the case a 100% of the time. However, if you’re just hopping on the “home decor like a pro” bandwagon, matching similar fabric types to create a cohesive vibe may be a good place to begin. 

DON'T: Ignore the size and fabric of fellow cushions.

3. DON'T: Overdo it with the cushions and pillows. 

DO: Be practical.

While clicking photos, we usually fill up the entire couch or bench with cushions. We have to, after all - the purpose of the photo is to display the cushions. However, this does not serve a functional purpose. You’d have to remove a few of the cushions in order to sit on the sofa or bench. 

A good rule of thumb is that if you have to remove cushions just to sit on a couch, you probably have too many of them. 

Usually taking into account the length and depth of your couch is a good place to begin. Intuition is your best guide. Have enough that your space feels comfy. Too many aren’t practical and too little make your sofa look bare. 

4. DO: Buy the right size fillers. 

One cannot overstate this enough. When you’ve decided to invest in quality cushion covers, why skimp on great quality fillers too? A cushion filler (or insert or simply “cushion” as some like to call it) can make or break the cover.

The filler adds body to your cushion. If the filler is too frail and thin, it will make your cover look limp and uninspiring. Perhaps some of the details of the cover may also go unnoticed due to the creases. Have the filler too bulky, and it lends the appearance of a tight cushion that become uncomfortable and unfunctional. 

DON'T: Neglect the fillers after indulging in lovely cushion covers.

As a general rule of thumb, we like to size up by an inch when purchasing our fillers. 

And yes, we do know we need to start keeping fillers. We haven’t yet because we’re still looking for sustainable alternatives to plastic using which we can vacuum pack the fillers and send them over. If you have any information regarding this or know of any companies creating eco-friendly and vacuum pack-conducive bags, please let us know in the comments below. 

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