Pillows: The Life of the Party!

Pillows are not only functional; they can also be decorative. While we use them at our interior design firm in Palm Desert for accents, we use them at our home in Rancho Mirage for relaxing on the sofa while watching movies or reading. There are so many shapes and sizes that pillows are available ready made in stores and with a creative eye, interior designers can create endless combinations of shapes, sizes and designs to add accent through use of decorative pillows for bedding accents and companions for sofas, chairs and even built- in seating in commercial spaces. Above, we see some of the fantastic offerings from Smith and Noble, one of our favorite picks for commerically-made pillows that would compliment not only desert interiors, but just about anywhere.

With the huge variety of trims and embellishments available to the interior designer today, decorative pillows take on a whole new life of their own! Bolsters, down-filled Euro shams, ball pillows, cording, braid, fringe trim, bullion fringe, hand tied silk fringe- the options are as limitless for trims as are the options for fabrics.

In retail stores there are so many choices available. Among some of the limitless styles are: old-world elegance with pillows that are hand-done in wool on needlepoint canvas;

tapestry reproductions in jacquard with a backing made of cotton-velvet; embroidered arabesques with sequined mirrors; pillows crafted with paisley chenille; with tassel fringes. You can get pillows with a faux suede covering. Or you can get them in luxurious silk and satin.
More modern versions include pillows in retro patterned fabrics with fabulous fringes and trims. Whatever happened to the plain, old rectangular solid color accent pillows of 1950 and 1960’s?

Those days of pillows being in the background are gone! Today’s pillows are the life of the party, especially when the party is here in Palm Desert! Just as a sidenote: the pillow above is NOT from one of our parties, we're just checking to see if you're really reading the text as well as looking at the pretty photos!