Sofa Revival – Home Staging Tip of the Week.

For simple restyling – scatter cushions rule!

I was asked to upgrade the Kensington rental flat featured here. The property had good quality but tired furniture, especially the sofa which was looking so out of shape the owner felt they would have to replace it, but I love a challenge and I knew that with some TLC the sofa could be salvaged.   I managed to revive the existing piece with just a good plumping of seat pads, plus new scatter cushions and throws from mix of Ikea, TK Maxx and Primark. Sorted on a very small budget. The geometric patterns and mix of textures added a complete new look and brought the sofa from sad sack to elegant addition.

The theory of working with 3’s applies to many styling tricks, but especially when it comes to mixing it up and creating an interesting, colourful or textural arrangement.  Here i’ve used a mix of velvet, wool and chenille for texture, one pattern, one dark and one light grey, plus there are three slightly different sizes of cushion.  Although this may seem like there is a lot going on it works to make the sofa looked thoughtfully yet casually styled,  all the tones merge together and are balanced.   I don’t recommend using too many patterns as this will end up looking just too busy.

When sourcing on a budget look for good quality textures, such as a heavy weave or a more matt finish to the fabric.  Shinier fabrics such as silk, unless good quality tend to look less expensive.  Also stick to selecting fabrics within the same tonal range for a least two of your colour choices, with maybe one pop of colour or bold texture to add interest.

Alex Evans

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