Using soft furnishings to complete a room
With the variety of furniture available on the market and the time it takes to save for each individual piece its not surprising that there is often a mis-match of furniture styles around the home. This either calls for a cull of all things unfitting with a quick call to the local charity or Freecycle, or the use of soft furnishings to disguise, blend or soften what is already in place.
The simplest way to disguise the style of a piece of furniture and blend in a differing colour scheme with the surrounding furniture is to use a quality throw over the top of the piece. A throw allows you to expose areas that might still work with the rest of the room while covering the areas that don’t work. The downside to a throw is that it will need to be adjusted each time someone has sat on it.
Another option is using cushions to blend the colour scheme in with the rest of the room. Try cushions that have colour elements of the sofa and surrounding colours - this makes the contrast between each piece less defined.
Another option is to have pieces re-upholstered so that you can use new fabrics to tie all of the colours of a room together. I would recommend using a soft furnishings mood board to work out your colours and look at swatches of material against paint colours to get a feel of how well all elements will work together. When you look at a room take into account the floor colour, wall colour, style of furniture and what the main use of the room is.
If none of the elements of a room are working I would recommend that you empty the room and then bring in favourite pieces one at a time. If a piece doesn’t seem to work then remove it and try another piece. At the end of this process you will know if you need to invest in a new piece of furniture or whether less (as often as not) is more.
