Quick Tip Tuesday – Redecorating With Your Existing Pillows

They say an easy way to change a room’s color scheme is by changing your pillows.  As most pillows are $15+ each, that can get expensive awfully fast, and you’re also left with your unwanted pillows that had cost you a pretty penny at one point.  This is why slipcovers are your best friend for changing your room’s decor on a dime.  It’s especially nice if you like to change your decor according to seasons or moods.  Rather than spending umpteen $$$ for a new color scheme, you can get or make slipcovers for your existing pillows.

Since adding all of the blue with the settee in the living room, I’ve been wanting to bring a bit of warmth back into our color scheme and have been on the look-out for a nice rusty-red “terracotta” color fabric.

Here’s what our living room was looking like before:

Nice, but kind of bland – needs a pop of color!

As luck would have it, recently I went to a fabric outlet and found the EXACT color, so of course I jumped on it!  But that’s not the best part!  I got 2 yards of the fabric for $1.78 total!!  Eeeeeeee!

I made these slipcovers for the two neutral-colored pillows that originally came with our couch.  It took me about 2 hours, but that was because I was figuring out the process as I went….aaaand was distracted by the good ‘ol Robin Hood: Men in Tights playing as I worked.  So y’all could probably knock these off in no time!

I used this tute from Six Sisters Stuff as a guide to make my slipcovers.  My pillows measured 20×20, so the fabric measured 44×21 for me (I wanted some extra seam allowance for the sides).

*Note: If you wish to make a slipcover that has different fabric on each side of the pillow, you’ll want to use this tute by the Wonder Forest.

So go ahead, experiment with colors and patterns with your pillows and liven up your room!  :)

In case you’re one of the astute who noticed it, there is also a brown throw on the settee now.  Adding this throw (it was marked down from $40 to $6!) with brown and orange-red woven through it perfectly continues the room’s colors and adds some warm coloring as well to the settee – throws are another great and versatile piece to play with!

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2 Comments

  1. looove that pillow with the suitcases on it! and i'm pretty much loving your whole color combo in here, it's similar to mine that i am incessantly tweaking. i got a big 'ol brown couch that i am trying to make less big and brown with throw pillows and a blue jewel toned ottoman, and a lighter graphic rug. so i'm just loving your changes.

    1. Thanks! I got that suitcase pillow from the store Tuesday Morning for $10 this past winter. Maybe you could still find some there? I like the sound of the colors in your room too – what did you do for wall art? Have fun experimenting! :)