Raylene recently contacted The Design Tabloid to ask our resident Décor Diva some advice…

Raylene asks:

“I have two 2-seater neutral sofa’s and 2 wing-back chairs in my living room. I have bought new scatter cushions: a few striped, a few coordinating florals and a few plain.

My question is should the cushion arrangement be exactly the same on both the sofa’s or can I simply mix-and-match?“

Décor Diva says:

I would say go the mix-and-match route.  You don’t want your décor to look like ‘paint-by-numbers‘.

Were I to be present there with you, I would probably play around a bit and have fun doing it. I would fiddle with the cushions as I mixed them up, until I hit a combination that I felt satisfied with. Then in all probability, in about a fortnight’s time I would fiddle again. That is the total beauty of scatter cushions. Just adopt a playful attitude and you will find a combination that will sit well with you. Even if in the end it does pan out that you landed up with the same arrangement on all the seats. At least you know that you went through the process of elimination.

Enjoy the process.

Love, Rose  x x x

Design Titbit:

If you have a neutral or plain sofa like Raylene it is a good idea to have a complementing and well-balanced selection of plain, striped and patterned cushions. It adds interest and dimension to an otherwise boring space. Just a fair warning to not over do it – cushion are supposed to aid comfort and a sofa swimming in scatters are more of an irritant then anything else. 

Image – Linen House SA: here