Rookie Mistake: Boring & Basic Pillows

Rookie Mistakes: a series of common decor mistakes made by rookies… aka us. And no we are not judging because we have made (and continue to make) these mistakes too!

Remember the Rookie Mistakes series is a NO JUDGEMENT ZONE. We’ve both made ALL of these decorating mistakes in our own homes, and simply want you to learn from us so you can make your home look amazing without having to make the mistakes we did!

Rookie Mistake – Throw Pillows
These are the throw pillows and blanket I used to go with my new sectional couch.

I consider our white sectional to be my first big “adult” purchase. While living in Wisconsin, Finn & I used an old, hand-me-down, blue, leather couch as our main seating area. But when we moved to St. Louis, I was excited to purchase a piece of furniture all my own.

My new white sectional before adding throw pillows.

Enter our white sectional (read more about it in this post).

Rookie Mistake: using white cushions to go with the white couch.My Big Rookie Mistake

I loved the couch immediately (& still do!), and loved that it came with 3 matching pillows. I was all set! No need to purchase any other pillows for my new couch.

Wrong! See, that was one of my first rookie mistakes as a new home decorator. Instead of using the white couch as a neutral base for patterned, colored, and textured pillows…I just let it be a big blob of white for a while.

Once I started reading blogs and looking at catalogs, I quickly realized that some throw pillows would look pretty dang awesome on my white couch.

How to Style Throw Pillows

I found these throw pillows at HomeGoods.

My pillow collection started to grow and our couch was boring and basic no more. All of the pillows on my couch are from HomeGoods and I’ve changed them up over the past few years. Whenever I visit the store I always browse their pillow aisles to see if there is anything I simply must scoop up and bring home (not gonna lie…a pillow usually ends up in my shopping cart!)

Here is a nice assortment of light blue throw pillows I used to add color and dimension to the living room.

Now this may seem like an obvious “no-no” to some of you, but I see this rookie mistake happen all.the.time. I’m not judging anyone, (everyone is entitled to decorate their homes the way they see fit), but things could be a lot more personalized, and a lot less “big box” if people swapped out their couch pillows. <– simple fix, BIG impact on a space.

Add throw pillows and a blanket for a warm, cozy feel!
Try using throw pillow with different patterns and shapes for a dramatic look that's easy to create!
Rookie mistake avoided with these gorgeous throw pillows in shades of blue!

Adding throw blankets and a variety of pillows is also a great idea if you aren’t in love with your couch. Take the attention away from the couch that you can’t replace just yet, and instead let guests focus on your rockin’ pillow collection.
As for the pillows that came with the couch…I still have them! In fact, I use them in other places around the home. I’ve also used the inserts and replaced the white covers with pillow covers that I love. So there’s no need to toss perfectly good (down-filled) couch pillows, instead, re-purpose them!

So there you have it…this ROOKIE MISTAKE has been corrected and we are both officially all aboard the throw pillow train <—much to the dismay of our husbands who simply don’t get what’s so remarkable about stuffing the couch with gorgeous pillows!

If you want to check out more rookie decorating mistakes…check out this page.

More Throw Pillow Posts

If you have more pillow questions (where we buy pillows? How many pillows is too many? What colors, patterns, textures should you buy?) then these posts may be of some help!

I love my white sectional couch with blue and gray throw pillows!

Casey

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The Year of Casey

Hey there!

I’m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m married to Finn & mom to Rory and Ellis. Together we’re creating our dream home in Chicago, one DIY project at a time.