Achieving a pulled together bedroom begins with the bed. After all, it’s the focal point of the space. That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to add five hundred frill throw pillows to it. Even if you’re a swish-the-duvet-and-be-done-with-it type, with five more seconds spent stacking your sleeping pillows, you can create a clean bedding scheme.
There are many ways to arrange your pillows, some more formal than others. You can stack, prop, mix sizes, add decorative shapes, go symmetrical, or pile with abandon. We’ve created a detailed pillow formation chart for your reference, based on the following Matouk sizes for bed pillows, decorative pillows, and pillow protectors:
Matouk Pillow Size Chart
You can also consult our bedding diagram for additional descriptions of various pillow types and bed coverings.
Queen Bed Pillow Arrangement
1. Stack your sleeping pillows neatly atop one another for a no-fuss presentation. Here, the bottom pillows have standard pillowcases, while the top two are encased in standard shams. (The shams have a flange around the entire perimeter.)
2. Layer a pair of luxury decorative pillows in front of a sleeping stack. Use a pattern that incorporates a color from your bedding to tie together the look.
3. Or, prop up pillows fitted with standard size shams in front of your sleeping stacks. This is best done with pillows that have some heft, as light and airy feather pillows have a tendency to be floppy, and thus sloppy.
4. Add a single decorative pillow, preferably 20-inches-by-20-inches in size, centered in front of the propped up shams.
5. Another option: Prop your sleeping pillows up against the headboard, then layer pillows outfitted in shams in front. Finish with a centered pillow encased in a boudoir sham, which fits a smaller 12-inch-by-16-inch rectangular pillow.
6. Start out with the formation above, but finish with a pair of boudoir pillows centered in front of each pillow sham.
7. Start with a pair of plump European squares for this pillow formation. Our Montreux and Libero European-sized pillow inserts will create a beautiful, lofty look for your bed. Next, add your sleeping pillows. Directly in front, layer standard pillows encased in standard shams. Finally, add a fourth layer of smaller size pillows in boudoir shams. Note that all the rectangular pillows align with each other, just a bit offset from the edge of the European squares, so they peek through.
8. Try this pillow formation, which varies from the one above only in that the fourth and final layer is a centered decorative pillow. Don’t be afraid to go bold with pattern here. Or, for a more subdued style, use a decorative pillow with a tone-on-tone texture.
9. Go with a pair of European squares for a more streamlined look, or a pair of standard shams pulled slightly to the outer edges of the bed, and a third layer of boudoir pillows pulled slightly to the center. It’s clean, but with a bit of tension to make things interesting.
10. Finally, do the same as above for the first and second layers, but center a single boudoir pillow on the standard shams. Note, if you use pillows with standard pillowcases on your bed, you’ll have to remove them to pull off this look as well as the one above.
King Bed Pillow Arrangement
For a king size bed, use either three standard size pillows or a pair of king size pillows. As for European squares, a king size bed requires three.
1. Prop up three European shams in the back, against the wall or headboard. (Again, consider using an insert one-inch larger than the sham to achieve a full, rounded effect.) Add a pair of king size pillows encased in shams, and finish with a trio of smaller pillows fitted with boudoir shams (12-inches-by-16-inches) at the very front.
2. Prop three European shams along the back of the bed. Instead of king size pillows, use three queen or standard size pillows with shams for the second layer, then center two boudoir pillows on the gaps. (Note that European squares often coordinate with the duvet in terms of color and pattern.)
3. Begin with the same trio of European shams in the back. Add a pair of king size pillows in king size shams. Finish with 20-inch-by-20-inch decorative pillows centered in front of the two king size shams.
4. Once you arrange the foundation of European squares at the back, prop up three standard size sleeping pillows layered with another three standard size pillows outfitted with shams. This is a simple arrangement, but a style with some depth.
