Living Room Inspiration: Accent Cushions Galore

Living Room Inspiration: Accent Cushions Galore

If we were to give you three guesses what our favourite accents were for interior design, it’s quite likely that accent cushions would be one of the most trending. Why? Because as lovers of textile, colour, print and, of course, beautiful comfort (or comfortable beauty?) we’re no stranger to the power a collection of decorative cushions can bring to any room of the house.

We can – and do – talk about them at length, and pride ourselves on being able to find a space for a soft accent just about anywhere in the home. The most obvious place is, of course, the living room – specifically the sofa and armchairs.

But, beyond the furniture, inspiration can be found in much more obscure places…

Turn a decommissioned fireplace into a comfortable snug

You can’t deny the delicious Britishness of a cottage warmed by a roaring fire through the winter but, as with most daydreams and fancies, it’s not always the most practical of solutions. As a result, plenty of homeowners are doing away with the log burner and, instead, discovering a few alternate uses for the empty hearth it leaves behind.

What you can do with your decommissioned fireplace depends entirely on its size. We have seen particularly large fireplaces furnished with bistro-style table and chairs, with just enough headroom to minimise the risk of concussion.

We have also seen smaller fireplaces repurposed just as effectively using nothing more than a pile of accent cushions, which create the perfect retreat from the rest of the room.

You’ll need a relatively healthy-sized fireplace for this to work, or risk a constant avalanche of cushions spilling out onto the floor. For smaller fireplaces, you can create a warm glow with decorative lighting placed inside the hearth – just be prepared for some tricky cable management.

Convert a feature window into a feature window seat

One of our favourite things about bay windows – besides how they look from the outside – is the fact that they will always offer the opportunity to embrace one of the most popular and most Pinterest-worthy features a home can offer.

The window seat is a great little project. For a more casual look, a couple of decorative cushions on either end will ‘get the point across’ without too much effort. For something more put-together, create a plush ‘base’ by commissioning a seat cushion or French mattress from a hard-wearing upholstery fabric, like our weaves.

You can then build a more sumptuous seat using a variety of accent cushions – creating depth and dimension with contrasting colours and prints – and a more impactful focal point for the room.

You can read our full guide to window seat inspiration for my ideas.

Add bulk to your throw basket

Aside from the favourite blanket – which tends to take up residence on the corner of the sofa, within easy reach on cooler nights – it’s handy to keep most throws and extra layers in a storage basket just off to the side of the main seating area. It’s an interior design favourite, simply because it helps to achieve that cosy vibe without making the living room feel like its sole purpose is for winding down.

In other words, a basket piled high with throws says, ‘prepped for relaxation’ – not ‘ready to pull every passer-by into a doze, even if it’s 11 in the morning’.

The way to take it to the next level? Use it to store a few extra cushions – ‘spill over’ from the sofas and armchairs. In a practical sense, doing so will add bulk to your basket (which always looks better than flopping or sagging) but, in a wholly decorative sense, your decorative cushions will bring the same beauty and texture to the room than they would if they were actually on the sofa.

Cushions don’t have to be exclusively practical, which means they don’t have to be on the furniture to bring something to a room. They are a ready-made excuse to introduce a wider variety of patterns, colours, and textures, even if they’re stacked in a jaunty pile on the floor.

We like to think of the average home’s ability to take on more and more accent cushions as just about limitless. For us, they’re one of the most effective ‘finishing touches’, particularly if your main goal is to create a welcoming and relaxing, rich and detailed home with no shortage of places to take a breather and enjoy the passing of time.

You can see our full range of decorative cushions here.