All the Right Puffs: Pillows Can Add a Tasteful Decor Touch

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WHEN YOUR SOFA SEEMS sad or your bed looks boring, a throw pillow functions like a bit of decor bling. Not only can a well-placed pouf dress up your nest, but it can also provide a place to rest your head — or for Mr. Whiskers to nap. "Pillows are a quick way to update, especially if they are colorful and your home is a sea of neutrals," says Mei Xu, owner of Rockville-based Blissliving home.com, which sells sequined bolsters, striped squares and other stylish bits of fluff. But remember, pillows are to a piece of upholstery as a necklace or scarf is to a dress: One or two equals a sleek statement; too many will overwhelm — and overpad — your pad.

1) Channel the Silk Road with wool pillows made by Kyrgyzstani women. They'd look hip on a leather chair. ($119 each; Art With Flowers, Tysons Galleria;
703-903-6837)

2) Outside, dandelions cause sneezing. Inside, strewn across Paper Cloud's linen square, they cause snoozing. ($85; Vivi, 7254 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda; 301-656-5626)

3) Like something you'd lean back on at a Budapest cafe, but hipper, Thomas Paul's Art Nouveau-gone-newer puff suits a boudoir. ($96; RCKNDY, 1515 U St. NW; 202-332-5639)

4) Blissliving Home's rain-slicker yellow vinyl rectangle provides a dramatic pop against a printed chair or mixed in with patterned bolsters. ($50, Blisslivinghome.com)

5) Style scan: When rendered in a beige linen blend, a mundane bar code morphs into modernist art. Plop Ferm Living's witty piece
on a red recliner. ($110, 2modern.com)

6) Whether you cuddle up with Jane Austen or Dan Brown, CB2's "Lit 101" pillow boasts a funky library vibe. It'd work well combined with bright, solid poufs. ($20, Cb2.com)

Photo by Marge Ely/Express