Guide
Velvet Cushions
Six velvet cushions in havana, petrol green, dark brown, green, terracotta and caramel, from €12.99 to €49.99. The quickest way to put some depth into a sofa.
Velvet cushions are the smallest version of the velvet armchair and the easiest place to start. The pile turns a flat colour into something with light and shadow in it, and a sofa with two or three of them stops looking like it just came off the lorry.
Colour, and not too much of it
I keep to colours that already live in a warm, dark room: greens that go almost black in the evening, terracotta, caramel, havana, dark brown. They sit against linen, wood and leather without fighting. Pick two or three of them, not the whole set.
Mix the textures
All velvet looks heavy. One velvet, one check, one plain linen or wool is the arrangement I come back to. Within the velvets, vary the surface: the Albon’s chenille, the fine lines of the Fiona and the plain pile of the Alette all catch the light differently, even in similar colours.
Cotton velvet has a softer, more matt sheen than polyester and marks where you lean on it, which I think is part of the charm. Most of these are cotton for that reason. Vary the shape as well: one round cushion among the squares does more than another square in a different colour. There is more on how velvet sits with other materials in mixing natural materials, and a chair to put them on in velvet armchairs.
Common questions
- Do these come with a filling?
- The two round ones from Dille & Kamille are whole cushions. The other four are covers only. La Redoute sells inners separately, and the Westwing cover says plainly that it comes without filling. Buy inners a size up from the cover, so a 45cm cover gets a 50cm inner, and the cushion looks full instead of flat.
- How many cushions does a sofa need?
- Fewer than the photographs suggest. Three to five on a three-seater, in at least two sizes, and you can still sit on it. Mix one or two velvets with a linen or a check so the velvet has something to stand against.
- Will these ship to me?
- Three come from La Redoute's Dutch shop, the Fiona from Westwing's Dutch shop and the two round ones from Dille & Kamille, which also delivers in Belgium. Each piece says where it ships before you click.