Our Designer's Tip Will Plump Up Your Depressing Throw Pillows (Without Deflating Your Budget)

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Designer-Coded is where real interior designers detail their tricks of the trade to style their homes for less. If you're looking to craft a high-end aesthetic on a real-world budget, you've come to the right place.

Are your throw pillows looking sad and flimsy? Squashed, underfilled pillows do very little to enhance the look of your room. Instead, they give off a thoughtless, sloppy vibe. In my many years as an interior designer, I have yet to meet someone going for that vibe. Thankfully, I have a quick, inexpensive solution for breathing new life into your existing throw pillows: Purchase the next size up, rather than matching the dimensions listed on the pillow cover. This surefire trick will make your pillows look beautifully filled and high-end. It's as easy as understanding proper insert sizing and making a simple swap.

By choosing a down or down-alternative insert that's an inch or two larger than the cover, it avoids that flat, deflated look that makes pillows look cheap. Instead, this designer-approved living room idea (or any space for that matter!) makes pillows look wonderfully structured and takes your room's aesthetic to the next level for only a few bucks. Pro tip: Hang onto those spare inserts for upgrading smaller pillows in the same way! 

This tip is simple, yet extremely effective. Throw pillows and covers should have their overall dimensions clearly labeled or indicated. This is partially because they want shoppers to be able to judge the scale of the pillow and ensure it works in their space. But for pillow covers, it's also so you can properly shop for an insert. While there is a wide range of sizes on the market, you'll often see square toss pillows with measurements like 16-by-16, 18-by-18, 20-by-20, and 26-by-26 inches (a standard Euro pillow size). Rectangular lumbar pillows are all over the board size-wise, but 12-by-16, 12-by-20, and 14-by-24 inches are common. Once you know the size of your cover, you can shop for a properly-sized insert.

The trick is to go about 2 inches bigger with your insert in each direction than the listed description of the cover. For example, if you have an 18-by-18 inch cover, look for a 20-by-20 inch insert to give it a fuller, more substantial look. On the other hand, a 12-by-20 inch lumbar cover needs a 14-by-22 inch insert to avoid looking flimsy and deflated. An insert in the matching size may look okay at first. But keep in mind that as you use and lean against the pillows, the filling will squish down and look lackluster over time. 

The reason this sized-up insert hack works so well is because it gives them the added plushness and structural integrity found in expensive pillows. When you buy a cheap throw pillow, it's usually filled to the bare minimum. It may look fluffy on the shelf, but it likely won't stay that way for long. Many brands use an inexpensive polyfill that easily clumps and squishes down over time. Conversely, when you invest a bit more in a luxury down pillow (or down alternative), you get a plush, generously-stuffed insert filled with a resilient premium material. These luxe fillings can sometimes require fluffing to return the pillow to its original shape. However, they don't permanently deflate like the bargain-basket alternatives.

Sizing up your insert mimics the same idea as the luxury investment, creating a plusher throw pillow that better holds its shape over the long haul. The extra filling minimizes the impact of wear and tear, which helps maintain the coziness and fluffiness. Similarly, the extra density of filling spreads through every corner and allows the pillow to maintain its form, so it rarely looks slouchy or dented. Take it one step further, and invest in an upgraded sized-up insert that is both affordable (roughly $10-15 each) yet stuffed with premium filling. For example, Oubonum's Throw Pillow Inserts are well-reviewed, come in several sizes, and are about $30 for a pair.

Now the only question becomes: karate chop the pillow or leave it be? People have lots of big feelings here, so I'll leave this as a rhetorical question. Don't come for me or my editor, please and thank you!