ITS AUTUMN ALREADY, QUICK TIME TO CHANGE TO CUSHIONS
I have a weird little obsession …. I have cupboards full of cushions. When I have time I love wondering around Pillowtalk, Trade Secret home and pretty much all homeware shops (oh and don’t get me started on Kmart) I can’t help but head to the cushion section. I just love real estate, but I love all things property and homes in general. If I was not a Real Estate agent that loves her job, I think I would love to be a stylist or interior designer… maybe in another life.
I’ve been so busy building my website and launching the business I have let my home décor slip…… For goodness sakes, its March and I still have my summer on.
I think just as we change our wardrobes from season to season, it’s so great to update our homes with the seasons. Just like fashion cushions invoke a mood. It needn’t be complicated, and it needn’t cost you too much money. Kmart and Target get some great cushions in each season and are really good value. I’m a cushion addict but a cushion addict on a budget so I don’t buy new ones each season I just rotate them around. The summer ones go in the cushion cupboard at the end of February, and the Autumn comes out, and then they go in the cushion cupboard in June, and the winter ones come out and so on and so on. It’s a cushion season merry go round. I have to fess up I also have a few seasonal home wears that are also part of the rotation.
My husband & boys don’t share my appreciation of “the cushion” and seem to think they are just a hindrance to comfort that must be disregarded before sitting down. They are either sat on or hurled on the floor. Also, my beloved fur babies quite often try and dig a hole to China in them before they take a nap – I have no idea why dogs do that! I must google it.
In my Cushion world, I believe
1. Cushions are the finishing touch every room needs. It’s like icing on the cake. I think the trick is choosing a colour that highlights something else in the room (this is where my little seasonal homeware thingies come in), by matching some key colours your will create harmony and flow in the room.
2. Combining colours, being matchy-matchy in colour and just change the pattern can work which is what I do for my Autumn look or a harmony of colours looks great too as long as they are from the same palette. Take a look at Pinterest for some great ideas and inspiration. Make yourself a Cushion board if you are really into it. Or check out #cushions on Instagram.
3. Feature cushions, another option for selecting your cushion collection is to start with one cushion that you love and build around it. You could have an Alpha cushion with a strong pattern or textured and support it with others that are plain but in the same hue.
4. Don’t forget Inserts, the best inserts I have found are from Ikea, they are so affordable and are like feather so you can do the interior design karate chop in the middle like you see in the home magazines. You can just change the covers season to season and use the same inserts, of course, you just have to have the right sizes to be able to transfer over. I’m still building my insert library some are still the old nylon type ones. I’ll get there one day – it’s good to have goals in life.
Big Question…So this seems to be a battle between the sexes but what constitutes too many?
This is the big question pondered since the beginning of cushion styling is: what’s the right amount without being too much? The answer, that’s completely up to you. A good rule of thumb maybe save some room to actually sit on the lounge or lay on the bed. Speak to the boys in my family and one is too many but for me, I love a good scattering. I think it’s all about scale and the size of the lounge/bed/chair you have. We have a fairly large corner lounge with a chase, so I like five at each end corner and three in the middle. I think odd numbers look better. For the bed, I like three two bigger ones each side and one feature in the middle. I only have one in the middle which means I can make it a bit of a luxe purchase and spend a little more.
My other little harmless obsessions are Orchards and a seasonal throw blanket – but that’s a topic for another blog another time. Happy scattering.