My post before this one detailed my experience of buying a new sectional sofa and how the sales guy balked at the pattern choices I made for the four throw pillows that were included in the price.
You can read more about that HERE, but in this post I want to make a case for mixing up throw pillow patterns by showing professionally designed rooms where it’s done to perfection.
This first series of photos are all of designer Sophie Robinson’s own living room. Robinson cohosted The Great Interior Design Challenge for three of its four seasons and just finished up season one of a new show, Dream Home Makeovers with Sophie Robinson. She is an avowed color-enthusiast and maximalist, as her own home attests.
What’s interesting to me is she mixes up patterned pillows on patterned upholstery, and it still works! The settee on the upper left has been reupholstered in a myriad of vintage needlepoints Robinson collected, then patterned throw pillows have been placed on top, to say nothing of the mix of patterns and solid pillows adorning the floral sofa.
And depending on what photos you view, she moves the pillows around. For instance, the geometric Moroccan design pillow with the white background shows up on the solid blue sofa in this photo but is on the floral sofa in the previous photo but nowhere to be found in the first two photos.
So not only does she like mixing up her patterns, she enjoys mixing up their arrangement.
Here’s another shot of the solid-blue sofa with totally different throw pillows! The reality is, by her own admission, she owns far too many pillows. More power to her, I say (as long as she has the storage space!) because changing them out or moving them around can be fun.
Let’s agree that each of these photos shows us gorgeous sofa vignettes, but you need to look at them in the context of the larger room to understand why such smashups work.
The throw pillows repeat the shapes and colors in the artwork and in the other textiles.
There’s an amazing energy to the mix, don’t you think?
And the energy the room exudes is Sophie herself. (Notice a change-out of patterned rug in this shot as well.) Which is why this may not be the type of room for everybody. But it should, at the very least, give others the courage to step out of any self-imposed neutral box and mix it up a bit.
Let’s move beyond Sophie’s digs…
…And look at some of the makeovers she created for clients.
Robinson did this makeover for a family featured on the British TV show DIY SOS. Again, the energy of the pillow mix connects with the energy of the room’s artwork and other elements.
Look a little closer and you see there is more repetition going on here than found on Sophie’s own sofa (or mine!) because this was designed with someone else in mind.
The three blue print pillows left, center and right appear to be cut from the same cloth, though they look a bit different because they incorporate different portions of a print with a large repeat. Then the two purple cushions match, as do the two gold ones with the fringe.
The arrangement is also symmetrical, all of which makes the one lumbar cushion that’s front and center stand out even more. Follow the link to see/read more about this Bromsgrove project.
This all-black living room was created for Robinson’s new TV show, and the black walls work so well because the room is HUGE (at least half is not seen in this photo) and gets amazing light.
A closer look at the sectional sofa vignette reveals most of the pillows are different. There are two burgundy ones, but they’re different-sized. The only other solid is the gray plush lumbar one.
Which reminds me of the part TEXTURE plays in mixing patterns. Lots of texture going on here! Follow the link to see/read more about this loft dream makeover.
Lots of pattern going on here, from draperies to sofa to rug, and yet it all coexists so well, even though not one pattern is repeated.
Take a closer look and see for yourself. Follow the link to see/read more about this open-plan dream makeover.
There’s some repetition of pillow patterns here but also quite a bit of variety, especially when you include the throw pillows on the window seat.
This living room has two matching sofas, and while the tiger-skin pillows on each match, the other two pillows do not. And yet it all works with the patterns in the wallpaper, draperies, vintage coffee table, rug and brick.
Follow the link to see/read more about this whimsical dream makeover.
Not so many pillow here, but then, again, it’s a loveseat rather than a full-sized sofa. The two round solid pillows are identical and pick up the gold of the adjacent chair.
But the two others on the loveseat and the one on the chair are all different prints, all of which mix beautifully with the wallpaper and patterned oriental rug.
Sophie has also broken the “rule” of using odd numbers of items in vignettes–four pillows on the loveseat instead of three or five–which tells me that rules are seldom hard and fast. This works as is.
What a lovely, cozy room! Follow the link to see/read more about this colors of India dream makeover.
Now let’s move beyond Sophie’s designs…
…To a home featured on one of Robinson’s Great Indoors podcasts. Non-matching, multipatterned cushions mix seamlessly with a patterned rug and throw.
Don’t miss the closeup. You’ll want to see all the texture and all the different florals working together, just like they do in the garden.
I’m particularly partial to the fuchsia velvet sofa myself!
And take a look at how the window seat is outfitted. Robinson’s comment when she saw it was, “And I thought I had a thing for pillows!”
Indeed.
These are definitely a feast for the eyes, though some would certainly have to move to actually curl up on this windowseat.
Still, the mix of patterns, textures, colors and shapes are a good lesson in creating your own pillow smashup. Follow the link to see/read more about the home of Sophie Ellis Bextor and Richard Jones.
Conclusions?
Well, first off, I’m left feeling my own home–as is and as planned–is rather tame in comparison…
, even though I had furniture sales guy Darius reeling with just these two pillow fabric picks.
Sophie is a terrific confidence booster. I tuned into a free web seminar she offered this week, and got the courage I needed. I KNOW I can pull of the whole plan. I’m sure I wil make some adjustments as I implement…
But the REAL question is, how will I stand for waiting four to six months for the new sectional to arrive?
Good thing I have you guys to listen to me dish in the interim!
Happy weekend,
