How to Arrange Pillows on a Bed

The bedroom is one of the most important parts of a home. It’s a place where you can relax, unwind, and sleep at the end of a stressful day. If your bedroom isn’t set up properly, it will most likely affect your sleep quality and could possibly even affect your mood.

Besides the paint, furniture, lighting, and decor, one thing that makes or breaks a bedroom is what’s on the bed. After arranging your bed sheets, if your pillows aren’t organized properly, your room’s aesthetic will fall apart. Since your bedroom is your sanctuary, it’s important to know how to decorate your bed with pillows so your sleeping space is a lovely place to rest and relax.

Pillows on a Bed: The Basics

Before we discuss decorating pillows on a bed, remember that the headboard is your bed’s central area. How big is your headboard? If it’s over two feet high, you will need a lot of pillows to stack up for a fuller bed pillow arrangement. If it’s a smaller headboard, or if you don’t have one at all, you can rest comfortably by creating a very simple and minimalistic setup.

The design of the headboard is the next important factor to consider. A more solid and minimalistic headboard allows for more freedom when it comes to shopping for pillows, as a bed with lots of pillows in different designs and textures will complement the headboard. On the other hand, if you have a tufted, heavily embellished headboard, it’s best to use pillows that match its color and design.

Pay attention to other areas of your house for proper pillow placement that will enhance its overall interior. For example, ask any interior designer, and they’ll tell you that living room decor with throw pillows will add a homey feel to your house.

Types of Pillows

Just like anything else on the market, pillows come in all shapes, designs, textures, materials, and sizes. The most important type of pillow you can use is sleeping pillows, which are the basic, simple pillows you sleep on. These pillows don't have to be very fancy. Instead, they’re much more basic and functional pillows.

So, what are the best sheets to keep you cool that boasts all of these properties? Here are a few examples of some of the best material for hot sleepers.

If you have a king bed, you should buy king-sized pillows; otherwise, they won’t take up enough space and make the bed look weirdly barren. And if you buy king-size sleeping pillows for a twin bed pillow arrangement, they will take over a large part of your bed, leaving little space for you to sleep.

Then come decorative pillows, which are created to add aesthetic appeal, color, and texture to your bed. Decorative pillows help bring the whole bed together and provide that extra bit of visual comfort, warmth, and coziness. The types of pillows that are decorative come in a variety of sizes, textures, styles, and designs.

Arranging Decorative Pillows on a Bed

Decorating with pillows is an excellent way to make your bedroom look aesthetically attractive. Pillows can be arranged on a bed in different styles, depending on the pillow type, bed size and design, and the aesthetic goals you want to achieve.

Here are some ideas on how to style a bed with pillows:

Traditional Bed Pillow Arrangement

The traditional pillow arrangement is the one most of us are familiar with. How many pillows are on a bed in a traditional arrangement? Start by placing two sleeping pillows next to each other and stack them in the “standing up” position on the bed. The pillows should ideally lean on the headboard, with two more pillows stacked right behind them.

This arrangement is the easiest one to start with. Since most basic bedding sets come with two to four sleeping pillowcases, you probably won’t need to buy more matching pillowcases. Feel free to start with the bedding you already have. You can then add some personalized ideas and do some experimenting to achieve the best design. For example, try to finish things off by adding a boudoir cushion right in front of the pillows to enhance the arrangement.

Minimalistic Bed Pillow Arrangement

Decorating with pillows on your bed doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Arranging your pillow on a bed in a minimalist style will add a little something to your bed without being too much. To implement this arrangement, start by laying your regular sleeping pillows face-up. Stack two sets on top of each other to create a “headboard” of pillows.

Second, add some euro shams. These pillowcases turn the standard sleeping pillows into something “showier” since they feature different textures and designs. They often have a large slit at the back that lets you easily slip the pillows in and out, making it easy to transform your spare pillows into decorative pillows.

You can stack the sham pillows facing the front, emphasizing them as the main feature of your bedding. The sleeping pillows will provide enough support and supplement your standard shams to make your overall bed design stand out.

Knowing how to place pillows on the bed affects the overall appeal of your bedroom. With the minimalist arrangement, you won’t have too many pillows all over your bed, and you can sleep on every pillow! Simply pull the pillow out of the sham cover that might be a little bulky, and you’ll have a regular additional sleeping pillow to sleep on.

Romantic Bed Pillow Arrangement

If you want soft, romantic, and stylish bed pillow arrangements, start with large euro pillows. This works well if you have a bed with either a very small headboard or no headboard at all. Using the larger euro pillows brings in the “square” element onto the bed. The euro pillows will lead the eye upward, creating more visual interest in your bedding and your bedroom decor style.

Next, stack your sleeping pillows on top of the euro pillows, slightly offsetting and leaning them. Arrange your pillows in a way where their corners go past the edges of the euro pillows. Doing this allows your sleeping pillows to stay in the limelight. Additionally, they will enhance the overall appearance of your bed. If you have a king-size bed, it makes sense to use three of your pillows to achieve this look, while two should suffice for a queen bed.

To finish off the arrangement, add two or three decorative pillows in the front. You can go with any of the three standard sizes and experiment until you like what you see.

Maximalist Bed Pillow Arrangement

Try a maximalist pillow arrangement if you’re looking for a bold king bed pillow arrangement. You could try this on a smaller frame too, but it truly shines where there’s more space. If you’re like many people who prefer to have lots of pillows on a bed, this arrangement has got you covered.

To achieve the maximalist pillow arrangement, start with the largest euro pillows you have and line three of them next to each other. This will create the bulk of the drama, leading the eye not only up but also to the sides, showcasing the size of your bed.

Second, add sleeping pillows in sham covers in front of the large euro pillows. Using two sleeping pillows will suffice, but there’s no harm in experimenting with more pillows if you’re doing a maximalist-inspired king or queen bed pillow arrangement

It’s good to know how to decorate with throw pillows. These pillows are great when it comes to giving the arrangement a fantastic finishing touch. Also, remember that the throw pillows on a bed should feature a large texture or have unique patterns to pull the entire look together.

When done right, this dramatic arrangement adds extra visual interest to your room without being overwhelming, but keep in mind that you’ll still want to be able to sleep on the bed you arranged. You shouldn’t have to take the extra pillows off the bed to fit a person in there. This style of pillow arrangement is just that: it’s just extra enough.

Space-Conscious Bed Pillow Arrangement

This pillow arrangement style is a bonus for those left behind in the bedding and bedroom design conversation - people with twin or full-sized beds. It can be hard to understand how to arrange pillows on these beds when you’ve only ever seen the classic side-by-side pillow arrangements. It’s easy to dress up a twin or full bed too, and there are multiple ways to do it!

First, pick a euro pillow (use a size that’s big but doesn’t take over your entire bed), stack your standard pillows in front of it, and finish it off by adding a decorative pillow at the forefront. In the second variation, you can swap the decorative pillow with a boudoir pillow instead, keeping the same idea but ending up with a different look.

If the euro pillow makes your bed look crowded, you can still dress up your bed without it. Take a sleeping pillow and add a decorative pillow in front to keep things interesting without doing too much.