Over-Propped with Pillows

The next time you look at a pretty picture showing a sofa (or bench or loveseat or chair) with a lovely grouping of pillows, ask yourself, "Where would you sit?"   What I am finding is that most of these sofas have so many pillows on them that the message seems to be don't sit here at all.

It looks pretty in the photo.  But it's not real life.  The only reason I can think of to put that many pillows on a sofa is if you truly didn't want anyone to sit on it.  Maybe to try to keep the kids or dogs off...  That wouldn't work at my house.  The dogs know how to push the pillows off.

The funny thing is, many of these pretty photos are not from magazines.  They are from the homes of bloggers.  We all seem to be showing off our homes.  Don't get me wrong, I love reading blogs.  I spend way too much time looking at home photos on Pinterest.  But lately, I've been taking a closer look at these beautiful spaces and NOT liking what they say about us.

We are OVER-PROPPING our homes.  That's my new favorite term.  I came across it here in a New York Times article.  Another great term they use in this article was design porn.  I've heard that one before, but had forgotten it.    Mr. Andersen likened the flood of online design porn to that of actual porn in its potential to influence behavior: “People see pictures of stylishness and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to try that.’ ”

Back to pillows.  Pillows are just one way many of us are over-propping.   I am just as guilty as the next person.  I can give many examples of over-propping right in my own home.  I can even point to examples using pillows.  I plan to start taking a look at that.  Starting with pillows.   

Think about over-propping as you look at these photos.  And, for the record, I LOVE these photos.  They are beautiful.  They are saved on my Pinterest page.  But, when I think about actually being in these rooms, I know the pillows would end up on the floor.

This room wouldn't be nearly as pretty and colorful without those pillows, but really... Where would you sit?  I couldn't get comfortable without major pillow re-arranging.  

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Perhaps this one is a display in a shop selling pillows?

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Are you kidding me?  Those two front pillows might as well have an embroidered sign saying, "Don't Sit Here!"

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This one breaks my heart, because I really LOVE it.  But truly, only a cat could get comfortable with all those pillows.

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Here's another room I love.  And if you took away the pillows, the room wouldn't look nearly as pretty.  Can't we figure out a better way to get color in the room without all those pillows?

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I'm thinking for most sofas, two pillows is all that's needed.

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And if you think you need more color, add a throw...

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- or a quilt.

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