Leather sofas are low maintenance and a favorite of those with young children, pets, and singles who enjoy eating pizza and whatnot in front of the television every night. Many of my clients have dark leather sofas in their homes but express frustration at the boring and bachelor-pad look of such a sofa.

 

The right pillows can make a drastic improvement to ANY sofa, and that’s certainly true for a dark leather sofa. But you have to know a few secrets about the RIGHT kind of pillows to look for. Here’s the ‘before” state of my client’s very comfortable Pottery Barn sofa:

 

 

Comfortable, yes. But not very sophisticated. We went on a shopping trip with a heavy focus on finding just the right pillows for this leather sofa, among other things.

 

After deciding on chairs for the same room with blue and green upholstery, we decided on sofa pillows in variations of blue.

 

So here’s what I look for when choosing pillows for a leather sofa:

1) pillows that are in light neutrals or COLOR (to contrast the dark leather),

2) pillows that are down-filled, and

3) pillows featuring textured and interesting fabric.

 

 

Stay away from any kind of slick fabric (like silk), because it will slide right off of leather onto the floor, and that’s all kinds of irritating. Same is true of poly-filled pillows. You need a heavier pillow that will hold it shape and not slide off the leather. And to brighten the darkness of a dark leather sofa, lighter neutrals or any bold COLOR is certainly the way to go for pillows.

Since there was also a leather rocker in the room, we chose a coordinating throw to lighten up and add interest:

 

The variation of blues and texture work beautifully on the warm leather, don’t you think?

 

I’ll show you more of this fabulous make-over of my client’s den soon, but sometimes it’s important to teach a few specific lessons, like this pillows-on-leather-sofa one – so it’s not just about pretty pictures around here.

Speaking of lessons, my next Expert Psychological Stager™ course is this Thursday through Saturday, and I can’t wait! If you couldn’t get in on this course, stay tuned for the dates for our next course in September. In the meantime, you may be interested in my workshop videos on choosing paint color, arranging furniture and art, or staging living rooms. Or maybe you’d like to read one of the most popular professional home staging books currently on Amazon.com, Psychological Staging – Home Staging Secrets of The Decorologist, or perhaps the Homeseller Version. Keep learning and growing, my friends!