Pillows are one of the easiest updates you can make in your home! A little investment goes a long way in bringing in fresh colors, patterns, and styles. To give it an elevated, designer look, you’ll want to mix and match, but I know it can be a little intimidating to know how to do it.

Fear not - I’ve got some “formulas” and tips to give you a head start, and I’ve also put together five fresh combos that you can just copy and paste for your room!

Here are some of my best tips for creating pretty pillow combos:

My Go-To Formulas For A Designer-Look

Sometimes you just need a guide to narrow your search, right? Three of my “base formulas” are:

Large scale pattern + small scale pattern + solid
Organic pattern + structured pattern + solid
Floral + stripe + textured solid

You can certainly riff off of these - consider them starting points! You’ll start to recognized these formulas repeated in the combos I put together for today if you study them closely. These work beautifully for a variety of decorating styles, but work particularly well for traditional, transitional, and coastal.

Pillow Sizing & Inserts

The other keys to creating that designer look with your pillows are choosing the right sizes and inserts.

On a sofa, I like to start with a larger foundational pillow in the back like a 22” (or 24” if you have a big sofa or sectional) and then move down a size or so for each pillow that follows. So for example, a solid combo is 22” + 20” + 14x20” lumbar or 24” + 22” + 20” on a larger sofa or sectional.

On a standard size sofa, I like to have 4-5 pillows total. For an “L” shaped sectional it works well to have two pairs on the ends and three in the corner.

For a bed, there are lots of combinations out there, but my go-to right now for a queen is a pair of shams + two 22”-24” + 14”x22” lumbar. If you have a king, add a third square pillow and a longer lumbar like a 16”x36”. I like to keep it pretty simple!

Looking for more bed pillow inspiration? Head over here!

Good inserts are also going to be your friend. If you can, go for feather-down. They fluff up better and hold their shape way better than polyester. If not feather-down, down alternative is ok too. Pottery Barn has inserts in a wide variety of sizes and I’ve been impressed with these from Amazon.

Fresh pillow combinations for spring

Now let’s jump into the combos I’ve curated for you! Many of these come in several size options (especially the ones from Etsy, which can often be any size you need), so be sure to click through to see what’s available. A lot of these pillows play well together too, so you can even mix and match within these groups!