Every room needs an animal. Is this my new truth? I’m afraid to even say that out loud; it makes me sound kooky and, frankly, cat lady-ish.
But as I was going through bossy color’s portfolio pictures recently, I noticed that many of our designs — for grown-up, public rooms, not just for kids’ bedrooms — include pillows with animals on them. (Ok, maybe not MANY designs, but I’m guessing more than the decorator average.) Take General Yorkie, for example:
How hilarious is he? I found him on Etsy, through The Utilitarian Franchise. The room seemed to call for a little levity, and I thought the client would agree with me. Happily, I guessed right.
We also used this pillow recently, from All Modern. Its name is Doxie:
This Paulina Reyes yellow bird pillow from West Elm is a recent discovery, too. I find it so cheerful.
Here are a few more I like, but the right context hasn’t presented itself yet. Jonathan Adler’s Jaipur Elephant pillow:
Anthropologie’s silk Jinja pillow with peacock:
I’m oddly fascinated by these Fauna pillows, too. They have so many animals to choose from.
Animal accent pillows don’t have to be kitschy if you exercise good judgment and restraint: one animal item per room is probably sufficient. But if an accent pillow with an animal on it floats your boat, why not use it? (Egads, did anyone else just think Noah’s ark? It was unintentional, I swear.)
Do you have a fun/funky/goofy animal pillow you’ve been dying to use? Let me know, and if I like it, I’ll Pin it to the appropriately named, “Fun Animal Pillows” Pinterest board. Woo hoo!
Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C. The room photographs above are by Michael K. Wilkinson for bossy color.