How to Mix and Match Pillows

Hanging out in my sister’s apartment in New York City earlier this month, I had the sudden urge to redecorate — or, at least, rearrange a few things.

First, a gorgeous (and enormous!) painting by her friend, Angela Costanzo, that was hanging in the hallway replaced the gallery wall over her living room sofa. These photos seriously don’t do justice to the beautiful artwork. Then, I moved a tall standing lamp from one side of the sofa to the other in order to fill the corner.

It’s all about small changes, friends.

Excited about this mini makeover, my sister asked for my help replacing the mismatched green and purple throw pillows, which she didn’t think coordinated with the rest of her living room.

Keeping in mind all of the rules I’ve read over the years about how to mix patterns in your home — set small patterns against large ones, limit your palette, include one big solid — I began browsing Wayfair for some decorative pillows. I’ll admit it took a long time to narrow my search; there were so many options and I wasn’t sure whether to pull color from the rug or the painting.

That the shade of the hand-me-down sofa is indeterminate (I think it’s black, my sister claims it’s dark purple) only made my decision-making more challenging. I wanted something that would pop against the dark couch but wouldn’t compete with the busy pattern of the rug. Mixing and matching decorative pillows has always been hard for me, even when I try to take the “don’t over-coordinate” approach to decorating.

Eventually, I landed on the pair of embroidered Safavieh decorative pillows in the photos above. The indigo lattice motif complemented the blues in the rug, and the linen background seemed to work with the neutral shades in Angela’s painting.

What do you think?

1 / 2 / 3

Some other decorative pillows I was considering include these three options. I still like the idea of bringing in a metallic accent, like pillow #1.

I may suggest my sister add one or two of those pillows to the mix because I think they’d all work together, but I’d love a second (or third…or fourth…) opinion.

Do you prefer any of these choices? How do you mix and match pillows on a sofa?

Thank you to Wayfair for providing me with a gift card to buy these decorative pillows. As always, all opinions are my own. If you’re looking to update your own living room, take 15% off any pillow, pouf, or throw with the code WFPTP15. Offer expires November 24, 2014.