Soft furnishings bring your home to life
Cushions are an essential part of interior design:
- Cushions bring out emotions. Using splashes of colour, tones that match a wall, ordered cushions or roughly placed cushions all bring out different emotions – and they can all be in the same home defining what you want where you want it.
- You can play with colour and texture to create something that’s just you. Sleek materials present an air of order and style, while fluffy and textured materials suggest cosiness.
- Knowing when to contrast colours and when to complement others is a skill. On the Costa Blanca using the light or dark blues of the houses and church domes play with the tones of the sky and the sea.
- You can also change them with the seasons – even here in Spain when the cold wind blows the use of a woollen cushion feels great.
- You can use cushions to bring together different elements of a room. If you have different styles of sofa, for example, using the same cushions can bring the room together.
- And, why stop inside? We are so lucky here to have a climate that just lends itself to outdoor life – using cushions on outdoor furniture turns a wicker chair into a place to relax.
Some basic cushion tips
First off is the colour. If you have a very neutral room with white walls using cushions you can add a touch of life with colourful cushions – you may want to use maybe 3 or 4 colours and make them the point fo focus for the room. If the room is already colourful, then you can choose some that have a strong design or illustration.
Mixing textures is very welcoming and impactful. Different types of fabrics, with different touches, mixing fabric cushions with crocheted, or even natural fibres will add to a room.
Talking of designs don’t be afraid to mix designs. You can get great effects by mixing stripes with prints or other geometric patterns. It simply adds to a room – showing originality and depth.
The fourth piece of advice is about sizes and shapes. It is not bad to use all the cushions of the same format and size but that makes the atmosphere a little more formal. If you dare to mix square and round cushions, with rectangular or others of the same shape but in different sizes, then the atmosphere will become more homely and informal.
The last tip has to do with the seasons of the year: cushions are like shoes, so you can think of having covers for use in the summer (in light fabrics and more open colours) and other covers for wear in autumn and winter (heavy fabrics and darker colours). The covers do not take up much space, they are easy to store and give a great touch to the decoration of any room.
Cushions in your bedroom
” Bed styling “, or how to dress your bed with style is something that can be easily achieved with eh use of cushions.
Clearly, the bed is the main element of any bedroom. It is the focus of attention of the entire room, it is the first thing you will see when you enter the room and where you will stay the longest!
However, it is not just a practical element in which we sleep or take a nap, it is also a decorative element that must be pampered and cared for to give it the prominence it deserves.
Perhaps you have looked at hundreds of interior design magazines or you have spent hours on Pinterest looking at photos of bedrooms with spectacular beds and you wonder … Why is mine not the same?
One of the reasons may be the bedding, the bedroom décor, or the choice and placement of the cushions. Decorating with cushions is a lot of fun, but you have to do it right. If you are not careful, the bed can become a display of cushions without rhythm or harmony.
Which cushions should you put on the bed?
Colours
When deciding which cushions you are going to put on your bed, the first thing you have to think about is the colour you have chosen to dress your bed with taking into account the sheets, mattress topper, duvet cover … In general, what shades and colours predominate throughout the room.
Soft colours such as white, grey, cream or blue often predominate in well-decorated bedrooms. These colours give a touch of tranquillity that invite you to rest and make the room a more welcoming place. The colours of your cushions should combine with all the other elements of the room to either complement or contrast.
Cushion size
What is important is that you choose wide cushions that are in proportion to the rest of the bed, that occupy the space and achieve that much-needed harmony. The more space there is from side to side of the bed, the more options to unleash our creativity with cushions and the greater the width of these should be.
How many cushions do I put on my bed?
Generally speaking, the number of cushions should be a function of the size of the bed, but without going overboard.
If your bed is a “King size” size, you can afford to place more cushions. If your bed is somewhat smaller, a couple of cushions will suffice, otherwise, your bed will look even smaller.
If you want a minimalist touch just go for 2 or 3, don’t choose more than 8 or your bed will look like an army of cushions that you will have to remove and replace every time you lie down. At the end of the day, it is about the bed inviting you to snuggle into it.
How to place the cushions on the bed?
To make your bed look like the ones you see in the magazines there are a series of steps you must follow:
- First, we must place the pillows. They can go flat on the mattress or rest on the headboard. They should be a plain neutral or white colour.
- Next, the largest square cushions so that they stand out from the rest. These are also usually chosen plain.
- In the front place smaller cushions with patterns, so that they stand out from the plain colours behind. You can place 2 or 4 depending on the size of the bed.
- You can add a final touch by placing a smaller, longer cushion in front of the rest. It can be the most striking with a pattern that gives an original touch to the whole set of cushions.
Controlled disorder
If we want to give a more casual style to the bedroom, we can place the cushions in no apparent order. Although it is clear that within that mess of cushions there is a totally controlled order, the largest cushions are still in the back and the largest in front.
It is a very trendy style, suggesting that the bed is “discarded” and the cushions have been placed, or rather displaced. It gives a much more youthful appearance to the room, the bed calls you to jump on it and hide between all the cushions and blankets.
