How to Arrange Pillows on a Queen Bed: Five Simple Formulas That Work!

Styling and decorating comes naturally for some but for most people, it really doesn’t. I definitely don’t consider myself a “natural” – if you saw what my house looked like 15 years ago, I promise that you’d agree :). It’s only through years of trial and error that I’ve developed a style that’s truly “me” and can make design decisions with confidence. When I was newly married and started trying to decorate our home, I remember being frustrated that decorating advice was vague and really not very helpful. With that in mind, several months back I started a series of posts to help everyone out there feeling the same decorating frustration that I used to by sharing easy to follow decorating formulas that work! My first post was on simple formulas for how to decorate a bookshelf and today I’m back with another “formula” post, sharing five simple formulas for arranging pillows on a queen bed.

Ready to get pillowfying your queen beds?? (post contains affiliate links; full disclosure statement available {here}).

1. The Classic Look

Formula (from back to front): Two Bed Pillows + Two 26″ Pillows + Two 22-20″ Pillows + One Small Centered Pillow

This is my most tried-and-true formula for pillows on a queen bed and the one I keep coming back to again and again (do you remember it from my post on Bed Making?):

The key to this classic look is to gradually decrease the size of the decorative pillows from back to front. My Classic formula starts with two sleeping pillows standing upright against the headboard, then two 26″ pillows, followed by two 20-22″ pillows, and finally one smaller pillow centered in front.

Here are two different variations of this formula with just a simple swap of the pillow centered in the front, including a change to a 20″ navy embroidered leafy medallion pillow:

and then swapping that out to this embroidered lumbar pillow:

The 26″ embroidered blue and white pillows and the 20″ linen fringe pillows are constant throughout all of the looks.

2. The Fully Pillowfied Look

Formula (from back to front): Two Bed Pillows + Two Euro Shams + Two Standard Shams + Two Lumbar Pillows

This formula uses the largest pillows of all five formulas to give a fully pillowfied look! It’s best for beds with a headboard that’s on the taller side like mine so that you still see at least a few inches of the headboard above the Euro shams:

It starts with two sleeping pillows standing upright against the headboard and then two Euro shams, two standard shams, and two lumbars. Six pillows is enough (or more than enough!) for most people, but if you want to add one more into the mix, a small square or lumbar pillow in front works well:

Or you can go the other direction and pare it down to five pillows – this an especially lovely arrangement if you’re going with an all-white look:

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3. The Minimalist Look

Formula (from back to front): Two Bed Pillows + Two Standard Shams + Two 26-20″ Pillows + One Smaller Pillow

This is a more minimalistic look that starts with two bed pillows standing upright, then two standard shams, and then a trio of decorative pillows. You can tweak the sizes of the decorative pillows to best fit the size of your headboard – if you have a taller headboard like I do, you can go as big as a pair of 26″ decorative pillows with a smaller pillow in front:

If you have a lower headboard or just prefer a smaller scale look, you can go as small as a pair of 20″ decorative pillows with a third pillow centered in front:

4. The Eclectic Look

Formula (from back to front): Two Bed Pillows + Two 26″ Pillows + A Mix of Three Pillow Patterns & Sizes

For a more eclectic look, start with a base of two sleeping pillows and two 26″ pillows and then layer three pillows in three different patterns & sizes in front. My “eclectic” look is actually a little more structured than it probably should be (what can I say… I like symmetry!) but the key to this look is to have all three front pillows overlapping versus sitting side to side. Start with your largest pillow of the three in the back, then layer the next size in front of it with a small overlap, and then add the smallest pillow overlapping both pillows behind it:

For those of you who have a love for color and pattern, this might be the look for you since it gives the most opportunity to mix things up!

5. The Practical Look

Formula (from back to front): Four Bed Pillows + Two 22″-20″ Pillows + One 18″-20″ pillow

And last but not least, the practical look! I always keep four sleeping pillows in our guest room because some people like to sleep with two pillows. Instead of having only two on the bed (and two stored somewhere else in the room), the most practical pillow arrangement on a queen bed is have two stacks of two pillows each against the headboard followed by a trio of decorative pillows in front:

It’s an especially beautiful look when viewing it from the side:

While most of the time I use white sheets on my beds (my guest bed has {these white bamboo/cotton sheets} that I’ve been really happy with), for this look I think it’s fun to use patterned pillow cases and a patterned top sheet:

So which pillow combo is your favorite? Like I mentioned, formula #1 is my tried and true but I’m crushing so hard on my new blue floral pillowcases and flat sheet that I’m going with the practical look for a bit! There are many, many other ways you could arrange pillows on a queen bed too so some of these formulas might just be a jumping off point for you to create the perfect mix of your own.

Want to tackle the pillows in your living room next? See my post on how to arrange pillows on a couch for tons of tips!

If you missed it and want more details on the bedding basics I have on my guest bed, check out my Bedding 101 post {here} that walks you through each layer of bedding in detail. I hope you all found this post helpful! Some of the other ideas I’ve had for posts to add to this series are how to arrange pillows on a king bed and how to decorate your fireplace mantel – do you have any other ideas? Enjoy your weekend everyone!