How To: Refresh Your Space with a Small Budget

Hint: It’s something fluffy and usually (preferably) rectangular.

You guessed it! Throw pillows. You can easily refresh your living room or bedroom, even if you’re on a budget when you update your pillows. It’s one of the easiest ways to completely change the look of your room or just give it a refresh. I usually recommend keeping the large pieces in your living room (sofa, chairs, maybe an ottoman) neutral or solid so that updates are almost too easy and super affordable. You can easily update these rooms every few years by switching out the pillow covers, a few accessories, and maybe even your drapery. Same concept for your bedroom. If your casegoods, headboard and base bedding are fairly neutral, you can routinely switch out your pillows, duvet cover, and accessories to completely change the look.

Pillow Tips:

Always check to see if the pillow cover you’re ordering includes an insert or not. If you think you’re ordering both a cover and an insert, you’ll be disappointed when the package at your door is tiny and flat instead of big and fluffy.

When selecting an insert, I recommend sizing up 2″. If the pillow cover you are ordering is 12″ x 24″, your insert should be 14″ x 26″. When you size up, your pillows will look fuller and clean instead of baggy or wrinkly.

Try your hand at mixing patterns! You’ll get a more sophisticated result. I’ve included some combinations below that you can shop. For starters: remember the three elements of scale, color and pattern type. For example: start with a large scale, floral pattern. Your next move would be to add in a smaller scale, geometric pattern. You can finish off your trio with a solid or textured pillow. Once you’re comfortable with the basics, you can move on to riskier combinations.

Some may tell you to keep the arrangement symmetrical, however, I would challenge that advice. I believe a more interesting arrangement is visually balanced, but not matchy-matchy. Meaning, Instead of having a 24″ and a 22″ on each side of your sofa, I would add more variation. Perhaps a 24″ and a 14″x24″ on one side and a 24″ and 22″ on the other side. You can even vary it more than that example.