What a difference throw pillows can make to a sofa and living room as a whole (as well as beds in bedrooms – see our 50 decorative bed pillow arrangements gallery).
This gallery is testament to that. Imagine the sofas below without pillows.
Talk about an easy and inexpensive way to spruce up your living room décor.
When planning your sofa pillow arrangement(s), keep the following tips and ideas in mind:
Throw Pillow Colors
You can go for a matched color scheme, similar color scheme, or totally different. Each can look great. If you like big and bold, go for the contrasting color approach. If you like subdued, go for similar. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of pillows that match sofa material, but it’s an option.
Function vs. Aesthetic
A lot of pillows can look great, but they aren’t practical. Every time you sit down, you need to rearrange the pillows. If your living room is a showpiece, go for lots of pillows forsaking function for appearance.
However, if it’s a room you use often, consider getting enough pillows that make the sofa more comfortable and that’s it.
Related: How Many Pillows Should You Put On a Couch
Sofa Throw Pillow Arrangements
There are 4 main sofa pillow arrangements. They are:
1. Corners only: This is primarily for function. You place one or two pillows in the corners and leave it at that. I think any sofa can benefit from this.
2. The domino line: This is a line of overlapping pillows creating a domino look. This is striking but does end up with a lot of pillows on your sofa.
3. Layers: You can layer pillows laying them flush against the sofa back. This creates a textured look but more importantly enhances the patterned look of the sofa.
4. The pyramid: This is layering pillows from the sofa back so that they narrow like a pyramid as the pillow layers get closer to the sofa edge. You can also use the pyramid arrangement with great effect in the sofa corners.
Sofa Pillow Shapes
Another consideration is the shape of the pillows you use. The most common are square pillows, but you can use round, rectangle or even triangle pillows.
Throw Pillow Patterns
These days there are thousands of pillow patterns and designs to choose from. It’s dizzying. The main patterns are:
- Solid
- Floral
- Polka Dot
- Striped
- Geometric
- Mandala
- Text (i.e. quote):
- Artwork
Our sofa pillow arrangement gallery below showcases many different colors, sizes, shapes and patterns. We hope you gain inspiration for your sofa pillow selection.
Sofa pillow arrangements for a cool look. Blue and grey pillows on a blue sofa in small pyramid formations.
Symmetric throw pillow design with throw blanket. Shop this look.
Example of sofa pillows matching the sofa material. Light grey on light grey.
Striking orange pillows on charcoal grey sofa. Sparse pillow use with one pillow in the corner of the sofa.
Example of floral pillows on traditional sofa.
Brushed dark green and light grey sofa pattern with similar pillows in tone. This pillow arrangement is spiced up with a couple glossy pillow fabrics to offset the flat brushed sofa fabric.
White sofa with black and white pillows. Striking effect. Pillows include solid and geometric patterns.
White sofa with a white pillow and black pillow with white crooked lines. The black/white pillows make this sofa pillow arrangement pop.
Cool elegance with this interesting sofa that has different cushions topped off with a fleet of overlapping throw pillows.
One can’t help but love the white sofa with black, grey and white pillows. It’s a great look for for any living. Looks fantastic in living rooms with white or grey walls.
Light grey sofa with overlapping (domino effect) brightly colored throw pillows – brown, orange, red and yellow.
Messy elegance denotes this sofa / throw pillow configuration. White sofa with brown and white throw pillows along with a white throw blanket.
Light blue loveseat with green and yellow pillows in an inverted facing formation.
Example of solid throw pillows matching the couch fabric. Looks very comfy.
Grey sofa with grey, white and green throw pillows in an overlapping domino formation.
Example of dark blue sectional sofa lined with many bright, solid throw pillows – orange, red and white – in a repeating pattern.
Light grey couch with a diverse mix of throw pillows – solid and geometric patterns along with a mix of colors – white, red, yellow, green and grey.
Grey sofa loaded with light blue, white and grey pillows – a mix of solid and geometric striped pillows.
White couch with one floral pillow, 5 solid white pillows and one solid green pillow.
Sofa with throw pillows lined along the back with 2 brown pillows on top for a symmetric throw pillow design.
Example of throw pillows integrating with the striped wall colors (blue, white, peach and brown). Very interesting.
Living room filled with throw pillows. They’re on the sofa, coffee table, chair and floor. Nice mix of blue, white, green and black.
White sofa with charcoal grey and white throw pillows in a variety of patterns including geometric, patterned and solid.
Bright red sofa with heavily patterned throw pillows in matching color, white, light brown and blue.
Light grey sofa with a mix of bright orange and matching solid grey throw pillows.
Yellow sofa with brightly colored polka dot throw pillows. Perhaps not for everyone, but I’m a sucker for yellow.
Example of built-in sofa where the purple throw pillows form the cushioned back. I think more pillows are needed here and I’m not so sure the purple works with the green. Room for improvement for sure.
Interesting brushed sofa fabric with matching throw pillow and one purple pillow. A little busy for my liking.
Fussy sofa design reminiscent of a French palace in blue with 2 purple pillows and 1 deep orange throw pillow.
White sofa with white and blue throw pillows. Shop this look.
Now that’s a lot of throw pillows. Shop this look.
Tan sectional sofa with patterned earth tone throw pillows. Shop this look.
