Designer Throw Pillows 101: How Custom Pillows Elevate Every Room

Designer: Kathy Simpson

Interior design involves more than color palettes, dining tables, dressers, and hardware. There’s another key ingredient in luxury design: custom pillows. Custom throw pillows elevate the interior design of every room in a home, especially when paired with thoughtfully crafted window treatments. 

At Brave Maggie Designs, we partner with interior designers and homeowners to bring craftsmanship to every project. Our expert team crafts custom pillows using high-quality fabrics and supports your project from design to installation.

Today, we’re sharing some of our expertise to guide interior design decisions for a luxury home. Designer throw pillows have the potential to transform a space and create sophisticated elegance.

Photographer: Suzy Thompson, Designer: LAH Interiors

Set the Mood for Relaxation in a Living Room

Custom throw pillows in a living room are a reminder that it is a space to wind down. Options for living room seating range from round and square pillows to bolster pillows and lumbar pillows for comfort. When choosing the pillows for your living room, consider function in addition to design. 

Lumbar pillows are ideal for chairs that are beautiful in your living room but offer little support. Custom bolster pillows promote relaxation and comfort on couches and sofas. The classic square pillows soften a space and bring tranquility in addition to refined elegance. 

As we know, color can influence our mood and experience in a space. Colors and patterns are important for creating a relaxing atmosphere in your living room. From cool blues to warm honey, custom throw pillows can be tailored to create a relaxing environment.  During our consultations, we guide clients to determine the ideal soft furnishings for your living room.

Photographer: Girls At Flourish

Mix Living Room Patterns

In addition to promoting relaxation, custom throw pillows are an opportunity to mix colors and patterns in a space without distracting from the overall design. Popular among maximalists, pattern mixing can be done with the throw pillows in a room. 

Successful pattern mixing involves selecting colors to serve as a foundation, considering scale variation, and comparing style compatibility. In this case, throw pillows will have small to medium scale patterns compared to drapery and wallpaper. 

Traditional designs like toile and damask pair well with subtle designs and textures on custom throw pillows. Contemporary designs have geometric patterns and bold florals that work well with pillows that share similar colors. They can also pair well with bold pillow patterns if the rest of the room has a balanced design.

Photographer: Girls at Flourish, Designer: Paige Williams

Add Dimension to Bedroom Decor

Bespoke window coverings bring timeless elegance to bedroom interior designs, and adding custom throw pillows helps bring dimension to your selected decor. Where Roman shades offer flexibility, custom pillows can be a stable statement of personality that creates a factor of interest in the design. 

Playing with textures extends beyond luxury window treatments. As mentioned earlier, you have a range of options when it comes to selecting custom pillows that will suit your Nashville home. An exotic print on a square pillow works well layered over another square pillow with a solid color. Another option is to use a bold botanical pattern in your custom square pillows and gentle florals on your custom bolster pillows. At our studio, our experts guide these decisions with the home’s overall interior design in mind.

Photographer: Suzy Thompson, Designer: LAH interiors

Match Custom Pillows with Accent Chairs and Benches

Accent chairs are a sophisticated way to make a statement in Nashville and Brentwood luxury interiors. Having matching pillows takes your statement a step further in a cohesive look. 

A chaise lounge can have a pair of square pillows made with fabric in the same color or have a complementary pattern to add texture. Lumbar pillows with colorful patterns provide additional support and comfort to a wingback chair. 

Skillfully crafted pillows can also elevate entryway bench decor. An entryway is a busier, high-traffic area of the home and benefits from a subdued combination of solid colored pillows. Solid colors and smaller prints are the best way to introduce an element that won't cause visual chaos.

Designer: EH Interiors

Add Refined Craftsmanship to a Sitting Room

In a Nashville sitting room, custom pillows crafted with designer fabrics support the drama that large windows have. The room’s visual interest is centered on the lighting from the windows. Custom pillows here serve to bring another element of craftsmanship that encourages relaxation, comfort, and socializing. A sitting room is perfect for a mix of subdued pillows with aspects such as neutral colors, small prints, and shape variation.

Designer: Andria Fromm

Introduce Bold Color to Neutral Interior Designs

Sophisticated interiors often have neutral color palettes for timeless beauty.  Introducing a bold color via custom pillows brings a contemporary twist to classic, subtle elegance. The rich tones of neutral drapery and wallpaper contrast beautifully with a pop of color in a dining room, living room, or bedroom. 

The inclusion of a bold color or pattern against gentle blues, greys, and browns adds versatility for the seasons without compromising your original interior design. You can use floral prints with emeralds and sunrise yellow for your spring decor. Tomato red in botanical prints for the summer months. Autumnal foliage and sunset orange for the fall. Holiday reds and bright blues for the winter season.  

Throw pillows custom-made with designer fabrics for your home are a practical way to transform and refresh a room with luxury home decor in your Nashville home.

Photographer: Girls At Flourish, Designer: Paige Williams

Pillows with Designer Fabrics Complete a Dining Room

Designer fabrics ensure that your entire dining room is top quality. From the upscale window treatments to the handcrafted dining table, every aspect of your dining room was carefully selected. Throw pillows shouldn't be any different. Using custom pillows made with designer-quality fabrics brings an extra touch of luxury to your interior design.

Using performance fabrics is an important consideration for high-traffic areas of the home and spaces with direct sunlight. Performance fabrics can also extend the aesthetic of your custom drapery to outdoor seating. With designer performance fabrics, custom pillows can be built for both durability and elegance. Sunbrella and Perennial Fabrics are two brands we love that have high-quality fabrics with style.  

At our Franklin showroom, we have a curated selection of designer fabrics to make fabric selection easier for homeowners and interior designers.

Start Curating Custom Pillows for a High-End Home

Throw pillows are more than accent pieces for a home. They contribute to a room’s atmosphere, create interest in spaces with neutral palettes, and add dimension to interiors.    

At Brave Maggie Designs, we select high-quality fabrics to craft custom soft furnishings for homes in Nashville, Franklin, and Brentwood. We partner with designers and homeowners to create custom window treatments, wallpaper, and pillows suitable for luxury interiors. Our commitment to excellence ensures that each piece reflects your vision. 

Ready to elevate your Nashville home with custom pillows and window treatments? We'll help you understand which pillows work best in your space and which fabrics work best. Schedule your consultation and let's start on bringing your project’s vision to life.