Don’t put away your throws just because winter’s over. Use these tips on how to use throws and afghans to design your room no matter what season it’s.
Spring is here, but does that mean you have to store your throws and afghans? Not necessarily. Throws and afghans can add a lot to home décor, and they might be just the right touch for one or more rooms in your home. So what are the best ways to use throws and afghans in home décor?
Throws and afghans will have the most impact on your interior design when they’re used purposefully and thoughtfully to create a specific effect. Below, you’ll find seven ways throws and afghans can be either useful or artful in a space. But before we get to that, let’s take a second to get clear on terms.
Throws vs. Afghans
The terms “blanket,” “throw,” and “afghan” are frequently used interchangeably. Although these terms are often used as synonyms, they actually refer to different things. You probably instinctively know that a blanket is large enough to be used as bedding whereas a throw is a small blanket designed to be “thrown” over the legs or feet for warmth. But where does an afghan fit in?
An afghan is a throw, but it’s a particular type of throw. The difference between a throw and an afghan lies in construction. The term “afghan” is generally used for a throw that has been hand-stitched, knitted, or crocheted. Usually, afghans are more open in their weave and design. You can use both afghans and throws in interior design.
Obviously, throws and afghans add warmth to your room. But they can do much more. Here are seven ways to use throws and afghans in home décor.
1. Protect Upholstery
Sometimes our dream furniture isn’t a perfect match for our lifestyle. Kids and pets can be rough on beautiful décor. If you’re looking for kid-friendly or dog-friendly interior design ideas, look no further than a throw.
To protect a much-used spot on your furniture, spread out a stylish, washable throw. Be sure the throw coordinates with your décor and be sure it’s neatly folded and positioned. It will look like an integral part of the room’s design while acting as a barrier between your upholstery and dirt or pet hair.
2. Tie in Colors
One of the keys to using color in interior design is creating tie-ins. Color tie-ins are similarly colored items that link together to distribute color in the room. Placing these tie-ins strategically throughout the room is important to a balanced space.
Unless you have the money to buy plush furniture with just the right color upholstery to link to accents or other furniture pieces in the room, you can end up with a part of the room that won’t tie in with other parts of the room. This happens when one region of the room has furniture with no color links to the rest of the room.
An effective way of using afghans in décor is placing an afghan on furniture that needs a color tie-in to the rest of the room. Because afghans and throws can be found in an endless number of colors, you can nearly always find one in the color you require. And an afghan or throw is a much cheaper investment than a new sofa or chair.
3. Connect Pillows
Have you ever found throw pillows you love, brought them home, put them on the sofa or bed and discovered that they look oddly out of place? Sometimes even when colors ostensibly match, tones can be just slightly off or patterns can simply not link up properly. When this happens, don’t despair. You may not have to return your pillows. Perhaps all you need is a third element that can act as a bridge between the pillows and their place on the furniture. A throw can often be this bridge.
To use a throw as a pillow-to-furniture bridge, look for a throw with a pattern or color that coordinates (but doesn’t match exactly) with the pillows and the furniture. You want a throw that pulls out an element of the furniture and an element of the pillows so the two elements become connected by the throw.
4. Create Movement
When your room has many distinctive design pieces that cover a significant amount of space, things like large furniture pieces, bare flooring, and distinctive wall materials, the stark edges between these pieces can create a static feel in the space. This feel results from the start and stop sensation of one big design element meeting another.
Diagnosing this problem in a room is done by feel. You can just sense whether a room feels alive or stuck.
If your room has this static issue, a throw or two can remedy the situation. One of the easiest ways to place a throw blanket is to simply drape it over a sofa or chair, and this is just what you need to create a sense of flow or movement in a room.
5. Develop Depth
One of the reasons for the popularity of geometric patterns in interior design is that these patterns create a sense of depth in a room. They pull a room with many flat, monochromatic elements out of two dimensions and into three dimensions. Another way to add this depth is with the lush cushiness of a couple folded throws draped over a sofa or a folded throw tucked under a pillow. Decorating with throws in this way adds a sort of geometric pattern via layers on your furniture. It works well especially when you have other geometric motifs in the room.
6. Soften
Many design elements have either a feminine feel or a masculine feel. When you’re creating a space that’s a good fit both for him and for her, you want to combine these two feels into one space. For a masculine feel, you’ll use furniture and accents that have harder edges and darker colors. For a feminine feel, you’ll use softer furniture and accent pieces in lighter colors.
Throws will nearly always add a feminine touch to a room, and they can be used to soften the otherwise harsh or tailored feel of a space that has more masculine elements than feminine ones. If you want to retain an overall structured effect in a space while at the same time softening it, simply position the throws in neat folds and use a pair of them symmetrically.
7. Texture
The most effective interior design has a combination of textures. As with the masculine and feminine elements or the static vs. flow feel mentioned above, textural features are most effective when you have balance in the space. This means that a space with several hard or rough textures will need a fluffy or smooth texture to balance it. A throw or afghan will always work as that fluffy or smooth texture. If you have a room or portion of a room in your home that looks a bit severe or bare, try adding an afghan or throw to a chair or sofa in that space. The result will probably be transforming.
Perhaps these ideas have encouraged you to bring your afghans and throws out of storage. Or maybe they have inspired you to go shopping for a new throw in just the right color or texture to develop the look you want in your room. Either way, have fun playing with all the décor-enhancing tricks you can do with throws and afghans.
Post was contributed by Ande Waggene
