5 Tips On Styling Photo Cushions

Printed photo cushions have been trending in a big way in recent years, and now they’re taking the interiors world by storm. Their charm lies in their versatility; they can look fantastic in any space.

With cushions, bold is best. When your couches, bed, and walls are neutral, your cushions should be almost like miniature artworks; an explosion of patterns, colours and images that makes a strong statement.

In this article, we’ll give you cushion styling tips and show you how best to use photo cushions in your home. We’ll tell you how to style your photo cushions so they take centre stage in your space, whether that’s your living room, bedroom, window seat, or just a lone armchair that needs some extra pizzazz.

What are photo cushions?

With photo cushions, you can create whichever kind of photo cushion you like; whether that’s a unique print or a photo collage of your loved ones. But how do you style them, and what do you style them with?

Photo cushions are the perfect way to embrace the printed cushion trend and, best of all; they will always be unique to you! They also make great personalised gift ideas.

Style Tip 1: More is more with photo cushions

How many photo cushions are too many? No such thing, we say! You want your cushions to look abundant, but not so much that they’re spilling off the sofa and ending up on the floor.

When styling cushions, depending on how busy your photo cushion designs are, you can aim to have one to two more plain-coloured cushions to every one of your photo cushions. After all, you don’t want your photo cushions to get lost amongst a sea of detail!

Our tip: Aim for at least two cushions per “seat” on your sofa to make it look nicely full, but not overflowing.

These multi-coloured cushions are popping out behind plain coloured cushions so their prints don’t become overwhelming.

Style Tip 2: Pick a colour palette for your interiors (and stick to it!)

The tones from the floral cushion mirror the colour of the this red armchair.

The easiest way to match cushions together is by tying everything together by colour scheme. This is when you utilise your existing interior design colours and use personalised photo cushions which use some of these colours. We recommend picking photos which were shot in the same location, in the same place or even on the same day such, as your wedding photos, or a series of photos shot on a family holiday.

This natural colour palette is tied together with green printed cushions and a green throw.

If your interior colour theme is warm and beachy, with blue and white, or blue and yellow colours, you could use warm photos from the beach. On the other hand, if the colour theme for your interiors is greener and more natural, use photos taken around the bush, park or backyard. If your colour scheme is made up of deep reds or oranges, use sunset pictures.

Once you have created your own custom photo cushions, you can match your other cushions with the colours used in your photo cushions but again, it does help to stick to a theme or use images that were taken with a similar backdrop.

Our tip: When matching colours, match colours that are opposite or next to each other on the colour wheel.

Style Tip 3: Arranging your cushions

There are no set rules when it comes to arranging your cushions. In fact, you don’t want your cushion arrangement to look too contrived, as this can often look overly stuffy and formal. However, how you style your cushions will also depend on the existing style of your room.

Here’s how to place cushions on a couch. If your room is more traditional and classic, you may want to use a 1:1 arrangement on your couch. Starting at the edges of the couch, use paired cushions and build from the outside in. You can leave the cushions at either end of the sofa, or, if you have a lone cushion, you can add this in the middle of the couch as a centrepiece. This could be a more elaborate, or could include a busier photo cushion with a collage. Place busier photo cushions next to cushions in one colour only, alternating pattern or picture with one-colour, plain cotton or linen cushions.

If you have a more modern or eclectic-style home, you have more freedom to experiment. Try clustering cushions in the corners of the couch in a 3:3 or 3:2 arrangement, or if you have multiple cushion styles and shapes, use bigger cushions in the middle with smaller cushions on the outside. Your cushions with a print or photo cushions should take precedence at the forefront of your arrangement.

Mirroring works well, while a scattered approach looks more effortless.

On a queen or king bed, have your two or four pillows to start, and build from there, either using paired cushions in a mirroring format or a cluster of one to five smaller cushions in front of the larger pillows at the back. Again, place any photo cushions towards the front so they are clearly visible.

Our tip: Aim for odd numbers of cushions, unless you’re mirroring them. Start with larger pillows or cushions at the back and layer towards the front.

Style Tip 4: Mix patterns

To achieve a bold, eclectic look, vary your cushion types and textures. Mixing simple cushions made up of just one colour with more textured cushions with fringing or embroidery as well as patterned and photo cushions creates an intriguing, varied look. Aim to have a cohesive idea behind your look; is it retro, bohemian or monochrome? Again, if you aren’t matching by style, match by colour.

In the same way, you can mix different personalised photo cushions together to achieve a multi-dimensional look.  To do this, use photo cushions with a similar colour scheme or feel.

Our tip: If you’re unsure about your choices, print out colour images of your photos and place them on the couch together to see how they look cohesively.

More textural cushions are mixed with printed and plain to achieve an interesting look in this Scandi-style home.

Style Tip 5: Choose the right size mix

Vary your cushion styles and shapes to create a look that feels put together without feeling too contrived; this will give your sofa personality.

A variety of sizes and shapes can look great in both more classic interiors set-ups as well as more eclectic homes. If you have a more classic interiors theme, mirroring cushions is a great way to make your home feel like it has a more cohesive style.

Our personalised photo cushions come in a range of sizes and designs. For a single chair, you can use one large cushion to make a bold statement with either a single image or photo collage.

The greens in the image of the photo cushion can be matched with greenery in the home.

For beds and sofas, we recommend layering larger cushions or pillows behind smaller photo cushions up the front.

Our tip: Don’t be afraid of using brightly coloured or uniquely-shaped cushions. These can sit at the centre of your arrangement, or as a stand-out piece on a lone chair.

Honour your prized pooch with a photo cushion.

We hope these cushion styling tips have helped you understand how to transform your home. Canvas Factory photo cushions come in a range of styles, such as single image photo cushions, themed photo cushions or photo collages. They also come in a variety of sizes. They are one of the best personalised gift ideas around, and are an endlessly useful gift. Like we said before, you can never have too many cushions!

Check out our range here to start creating your beautiful photo cushion design with the click of a button.