Sectionals have become a staple for the modern home living room. Sectionals are spacious enough for everyone to sit on together and pieced together in a way that makes placement seem natural in a typical living room setting. While sectionals are very practical for large spaces and spending family time together, decorating a sectional using throw pillows can be tricky. We've researched how many throw pillows are recommended for your sectional to help you toss some style onto your seating area.
Typically, between seven and nine throw pillows is the average recommended for most living room sectional sofas. However, not all throw pillows are created equally. You'll want to choose the right size, generally between 12" to 20", and mix and match pillow colors and patterns to accentuate the room's decor.
Aside from how many pillows is too many, there are other details that you will want to consider to pick throw pillows for your sectional. How should I arrange my pillows? What size of throw pillows should I use? Please keep reading, as we will answer all these questions and provide tips on how to mix and match throw pillows of various sizes and styles to keep your sectional fashionable and comfortable.
Coordinating Throw Pillows - Patterns & Colors
Picking just the right seven to nine pillows seems easy enough until you start to look through all of the choices. Narrowing down your choices can sometimes become a problem. Some experts recommend starting with the patterned pillows that you want first. The pattern that you start with will likely be a focal point on your couch. To get started, find two pillows in the pattern that you wish to coordinate with the others.
The Patterned Throw Pillow
Pick a pattern for your throw pillows that complements the color or colors in your sectional couch, along with the mood for the room. Popular patterns for throw pillows are geometric prints, animal prints, plaids, and floral prints. Deciding on the size that you want your patterned pillow can help narrow the search.
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Throw pillows can also be customized with wording or names for personalizing your living room couch. Other more outside of the box choices can include wildlife such as birds or fish, famous portrait prints, or even seasonal prints that you can change out throughout the year. Pictures can be printed on fabric pillow covers to cover existing throw pillows, for a spin on the typical family picture album.
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Color & Texture Combos
After finding your perfect patterned throw pillows, you will want to pick a color or colors for the remaining pillows. A method for picking the remaining color or colors for the rest of your throw pillows is to find the colors in your patterned pillow that you want to draw attention to and match your remaining pillow to that color or colors.
While solid-colored pillows may seem to be the most likely candidate for your remaining throw pillows, don't exclude other options. Different materials such as leather or faux fur are very popular alternatives to plain solid-colored pillows. Using different materials can be an interesting twist on the standard solid-colored square pillow.
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Different material textures combined on one pillow have also emerged recently as a popular throw pillow option that can replace the standard solid-colored throw pillow. Mixing cloth, leather, velvet, or a combination of these is not an uncommon method used in modern throw pillow design.
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How do you arrange pillows on a sectional?
There are a few ways to arrange pillows on your sectional. Going from the biggest pillows in the back to smaller lumbar or round decorative pillows in the front and using the regular or medium-sized pillows in between is a popular pillow placement option. The layering effect highlights the similar or complimenting colors of several pillows at a time.
You can place the pillows side-by-side or overlapping one another instead of layering them one in front of the other. This method is especially popular when using the same size pillows. For a fun twist, square pillows can be turned on their side for a diamond-shaped look. If your sectional has a chaise lounge, throw pillows can be spaced out evenly down the sofa portion's entire body, such as in the example below.
Throw pillows can also be grouped in several ways, depending on the look that you prefer. To emphasize the sectional length, gather four or five of the pillows on each end of the sectional. Another choice for pillow grouping on your sectional is a few pillows in the middle of the sectional and two or three at each end.
What is a good size throw pillow for a sectional?
There are several sizes and even shapes of throw pillows that are perfect for a sectional sofa. Any combination of these sizes of pillows can be incorporated into the seven to nine pillows of your choice:
- Regular square throw pillows: 16" x 16" to 20" x 20"
- Large square throw pillows: 20" x 20" to 24" x 24"
- Lumbar throw pillows: 12" x 20"
- Round throw pillows 13" to 20"
However, depending on your sectional size and design, you may want to take the size of your throw pillows further into consideration. If your sectional is large, using large square pillows as the main throw pillows is a good option.
Uniform size
If uniform pillow size is the look you prefer, you will probably want to stick to all medium or large square throw pillows. To change the look a bit, consider square pillows of all the same size but different textures and materials. An example of this look is two animal print, two faux fur, two leather, and two solid colored square pillows all the same size lined up with random placement down the sofa section of your chaise lounge sectional.
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Mixing sizes
When using several different sizes of throw pillows on your sectional, use two or three of the biggest size pillows, two or three of your medium-sized pillows, and two or three of the smaller lumbar or decorative pillows. The number of each size of pillows isn't an exact rule. Try out a couple of different combinations to find your perfect look.
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Can you have too many pillows on a couch?
While seven to nine throw pillows is the suggested amount, more can be added if an abundance of pillows is your preference. Pillows can be taken away if space is needed, or if an abundance of pillows isn't practical for the occasion, built-in storage is available for sectionals, as shown below.
Some people prefer the minimalist look with only a few scattered throw pillows or even none at all.
How do you mix and match throw pillows?
Same color scheme
Mixing patterns with the same color scheme is a great way to mix and match throw pillows. This method includes mixing different patterns but keeping the overall color scheme the same, as seen above. You can use the same method with throw pillows and decorative pillows of any size. Try different textured pillows to mix up the look even more.
Pillow sets
Sets of pillows can be purchased that all have the same theme and usually the same colors. Additional decorative smaller pillows or larger pillows can be combined with sets to accessorize further. Pillow sets can be an efficient and budget-friendly way to find complimentary pillows.
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Final words
While there are suggestions for how many and what kinds of pillows to use when decorating your sectional, it all boils down to personal preference and what purpose your space serves. If a comfy, fluffy space is what you want, go throw pillow crazy! Throw pillows come in every color, texture, material and personalized and customizable, making it easy to bring your own personality to your living room sofa using throw pillows.
Has this discussion sparked your interest in throw pillows? Don't leave before reading these related articles:
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