Remember the cover of my first book? It featured one of my favorite London apartments and the yellow couch that graced the cover was a hit well beyond the four walls of my home! Even though the book came out almost four years ago, I still get emails from readers asking me where it’s from. So it’s safe to say that colorful couch designs are still super popular! The great thing about colorful couch designs is that they don’t have to be shockingly bright (although that works too!), but can be quietly colorful and still add a punch of personality to a room. I just bought a pastel pink couch for the living room of my New York City apartment (expect a room tour very soon!) and it inspired me to do my latest six of the best round up on colorful couch designs that would work for a variety of design tastes. You name it, from modern to traditional and club to classic, there’s a colorful couch for you! Let me know which is your favorite? Do you have a colorful couch at home that you love? Check out the details on each of the six and where to use them, after the jump!
1. Classic | I’m imagining this colorful couch in a brownstone apartment. The contoured arms and piping details paired with the low-profile seat give the design a modern twist on an otherwise classic looking design, making it both classic and modern. The raised frame also helps make the design feel light and airy, so it would make a nice choice for smaller apartments. The mist color is great for a color thats not too modern but not too stuffy trad., either. A good balance.
2. Boxy | Fans of straight lines and sharp details will love the crisp, right angles and uniform-height arms and back of this couch. There’s a subtle utilitarian feel to the design Miles is a perfect combination of utility and comfort. Add some energy to this rigid look with a bold splash of bright color, like this ruby red. Colorful couch designs don’t come much more, well, colorful than this!
3. Club | I love the softer take on the traditional club chair design here. The refined design still allows for the comfort you’d expect from a club style couch, too. I think this design looks great in a rich sapphire hue – it enhances the piping details and that gorgeous slope arm – so sophisticated! This couch is perfect for both casual and formal spaces.
4. Clean | This forest green color is all the rage right now (seriously, anyone else seeing it everywhere right now?!). I’m digging it, so no complaints and I love how it looks on this couch. The clean lines of the profile make it feel super fresh, while the curved edges (vs. the harder lines of no.2) make the couch look less formal and imposing in a space.
5. Elegant | I almost went for a couch like this in my old brownstone apartment but ended up with a Danish mid-century modern design instead. Still, one day I hope to have a living space that will be perfect for an elegant roll arm sofa like this. The soft fog color allows the beautiful details to shine: the over-stuffed seat cushions, tufted arms and rounded back make for a couch that is the definition of traditional elegance.
6. Modern | Sectional lovers will be all over this colorful couch design. The design is at once understated and commanding in it’s appearance. I like it in a warm yarrow color such as this because it turns the sectional into a conversation piece in a room. While this couch would be great in modern, minimal spaces it would also be an unexpected design element in a more traditional space – I’d love to see this couch used in a room with a gorgeous herringbone floor, high ceilings and dramatic double height windows. Yes, please!
7. Volcano Pillow | Fine Little Day always delivers unique and intriguing pillow designs. Their Volcano in the yellow colorway makes for a fun splash of accent color.
8. Fini Pillow | Inspired by an African mud cloth textile this pillow has a solid reverse so you can switch up the pillow per your current couch line up!
9. Leaf Pillow | Graphic, bold and bright this pillow is super affordable and is great to layer onto a couch with solid color upholstery as it will instantly add pattern and a visual ‘bang’ to the look.
// Top photograph by Interior Define; published with permission
13 Comments
Love your suggestion of choosing a brighter fabric for the box design. You are right that it makes it a more interesting piece. Great post!
@Susan – Right? It injects life into those rigid right angles!
Number four on the couches and nine on the pillows for me! 😉
@Narren – Excellent choices!
Always sharing great advice….thanks!!
@Caz – Kind of you to say, thanks!
The third couch (club/sapphire) and the leaf pillow would look amazing together! Speaking of amazing, another amazing post my friend 🙂
@Kevin – Thanks so much! Oh, and great choices, too! 🙂
I swear you picked that Clean/ Forest Green one just for me, didn’t you?
-Didier
http://www.didieryhc.com
@Didier – Haha! You know itttttt! So you!
Grande fan del tuo blog e tutti i tuoi suggerimenti! Mi piacerebbe dare il mio … Ho sempre acquistare da questo negozio in Brasile, hanno prodotti artigianali realizzati da artigiani in piccole città in tutto il paese, tutti messi insieme in un negozio. Hanno anche un negozio di mattoni e malta in una spiaggia città chiamata Trancoso, questo è il loro sito web: http://www.divinostrancoso.com.br. Spero che tutti piaccia tanto quanto me! =)
Good selection of sofas, simple and classic design, but bright colour execution!
@Hardman – Glad you enjoyed the round up!