I have a pillow problem — and apparently John might too, since he came back from HomeGoods holding these two boldly striped 26″ x 26″ euro pillows that we snagged for just $9 each. In my defense: 100% cotton, giant euros for under ten bucks? Hard to pass up. Pillows in our house are nomads, so these could end up in the guest room, the playroom, the sunroom, or the living room. Right now they’re on our bed, where they pair nicely with the similarly toned flower & berry prints from Alaska that we hung a few weeks ago:
They’re like a temporary, bold striped headboard without any commitment — $18 and a toss onto the bed, no fuss. We love how they tie in with our garage-sale botanical art, the greeny-gold curtains, the potted plant across the room, and even Sir Ram above the bed. Seriously — what pairs better with a giant ram head than stripes? The smaller greeny-gold pillow will likely migrate around the house too, but right now it helps link the curtains and the stripes. Here’s a wide shot of the still-unfinished side of our bedroom:
Yes, that picture looks a little chaotic, so I doodled a few changes we’re planning:
In short:
- We hung the twig & berries art on the same center line as the ram so it wouldn’t look too high. Once we replace the low living-room side tables with taller nightstands that have concealed storage, we’ll likely raise the art a bit to suit the new scale.
- The ottoman helps Burger hop in and out of bed (we indulge him, but won’t buy doggy steps). It’s short, chunky, and dark, so we might replace it with something longer and lighter in fabric with darker legs to keep cohesion with the mirror and chair.
- The wheat-colored lampshades sometimes read a bit dingy against all the white bedding and trim, so an upgrade or refresh might be in order.
- We’d like a large, chunky cabinet to the left of the bed for balance and function, which should make better use of that awkward nook.
New additions inspire change. When we added the matching framed botanicals and the striped pillows, the horse art above the dresser started to feel overly mirrored — there were now too many paired elements. To break that symmetry without spending anything, we shuffled items we already had:
- The horse prints came down and moved to the playroom for now.
- Two differently sized Ikea frames that had been waiting to be hung went up, creating a less symmetrical arrangement.
The mismatched frame colors — one reddish-brown and one white — didn’t feel right, so I popped the glass and art out and gave both frames a few thin coats of leftover oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to better integrate them with the rest of the room. Out in my “sexy spray painting socks” they became bronzed and cohesive:
With the frames painted, I needed artwork. I found a simple green dandelion print from Ikea that used to hang near our front door, and I made paint-chip art using old Ralph Lauren swatches I’d saved. Home Depot doesn’t even carry that line anymore, so repurposing those swatches felt right. I chose tones that echo the room — browns, grays, blue-grays, greeny-yellows, soft sands, creams, and whites — and arranged them in a gradient from darkest to lightest.
I taped the chips onto four pieces of cardstock taped together to make a 16 x 20″ background, secured with small loops of Scotch tape on the back of each chip. The result reads a little like a pixelated photo and layers nicely with the botanicals and the remaining horse photograph without competing for attention.
We like the new arrangement — it’s less perfectly mirrored but still balanced enough to let the chair and dresser relate visually. It’ll improve further with a few tweaks (more doodling to come). The white mirror in the nook connects with the glossy window trim, and the darker art pieces on either side of it provide weight without being identical.
We’re big fans of trial and error — we rarely nail everything on the first try. For now, this corner view is a favorite: the mirror catches loads of window light, a chandelier drifts overhead, and the neutral-but-not-white curtains, dark leather chair, and horse art create a cozy, layered vignette.
It’s satisfying that two inexpensive pillows and some quick, free art swaps can break up overpowering symmetry and add visual interest. Have you picked up cheap pillows lately or rearranged art as you add other pieces to a room? Any go-to pillow sources? Has anyone ever gotten a room perfect on the first try? That must be lucky — we’re definitely more of the gradual, learn-as-you-go type. At least nothing broke this time.