Grey Cushions

Grey is not one colour

The useful distinction is warm against cool. A warm grey has brown or pink behind it and sits comfortably with wood, brass and cream. A cool grey has blue behind it and belongs with black, steel and white. Putting the two together is what makes a room look slightly off without anyone being able to say why. Take a cushion to the sofa in daylight rather than trusting a screen, because grey is the colour that photographs least reliably.

Velvet and woven fabric

More than half of these are velvet, and on a grey cushion that matters more than on a coloured one. A grey with no texture is flat and can make a sofa look unfinished; a grey velvet reads as two tones at once because the pile catches the light, so it does the work of a pattern without adding one. A woven or textured fabric does the same job differently, with the weave rather than the fibre direction providing the interest.

Using grey with a colour

Grey is at its most useful as the thing between two colours rather than as the colour itself. A pair of grey cushions either side of something green or rust gives the eye somewhere to rest and stops the brighter colour looking stranded. On a grey sofa the opposite applies: grey on grey needs a genuine difference in texture or tone, or the cushions disappear into the seat and you have bought nothing.

The same logic applies to a patterned cushion. A grey pattern on a grey ground is doing the work of a texture rather than a colour, and it will read as plain from the doorway however good it looks in the hand. If the pattern is the reason you are buying, choose one where the second colour is genuinely a different tone rather than a half step away.

Filled or cover only

Some of these come with a pad and some are covers alone, which each product page states. If you are buying a cover, buy a pad about two centimetres larger than the cover in each direction, because a pad of the same size leaves the corners flat. Feather pads collapse into the softer shape people associate with a comfortable sofa; synthetic pads hold a squarer shape and need less plumping.

How many, and what size

Odd numbers on a long sofa and a pair on a small one is what most people settle on. A 45cm square is the standard and the safest. On a bed, a pair across the pillows is usually enough, and anything more becomes something to move every night. Varying the size slightly does more for the look than varying the colour, because it is the outline that reads from a distance.

Keeping grey looking clean

Pale grey shows marks and dark grey shows dust and hair, so the shade you choose sets the cleaning rhythm more than the fabric does. Most covers here can be washed cool, and washing a pair together keeps them fading at the same rate, which matters more with grey than with a strong colour. Velvet should be reshaped while damp rather than tumbled hard, because heat flattens a pile for good.