Most homes have more cushions than the sofa can hold, but they are often spread out one or two to a room and never seen together. Moving them around costs nothing and can change how a room feels in an afternoon. A bedroom cushion on the sitting room sofa or a sofa cushion on a reading chair gives each room something it did not have before. It is the simplest kind of redecorating.
Gather them all in one place
Start by collecting every cushion in the house and piling them on the bed or the floor. Look at them together. Some will clearly belong to a family: they share a colour, a fabric or a pattern. Others stand out on their own. Sort them into groups and decide which room could use each group. You may be surprised how well cushions from different rooms sit together.
Mixing patterns is easier than it sounds. Pick a colour that appears in most of the cushions and let that hold the group together. Combine one bold pattern with a plain one and something textured, such as wool or linen. Vary the sizes, with larger cushions at the back and smaller ones in front. An uneven number tends to look more relaxed than a perfect pair.
Use them where they are needed
Cushions are not only decoration. A firm one behind the back makes a hard chair more comfortable, and a soft one on the floor gives a guest an extra seat. Put a couple by the window seat, a couple in the reading corner and a few on the bed. If a room feels cold or bare, a change of cushions can make it warmer straight away.
Do not overfill the sofa. Keep the truly comfortable cushions in easy reach and store the rest in a basket or a cupboard.
Wash the covers before you swap them, so that everything looks fresh, and plump the cushions once they are back on the sofa. When you fancy a change, you can simply carry them to another room again. Doing this once every season is enough to make a home feel newly arranged without spending a penny.
