Style It: Blankets and Throws

If you live in a cold climate, you might keep a stash of blankets on hand during the winter to wrap yourself up when you're reading a book or watching a movie. We do this in our home, but we're not always sure where to put our extra blankets when they're not in use. Searching for ideas, we found some good ones hiding in house tours, store catalogs, and shop photos.

1 We saw this trick at Andersonville shop Brimfield: wrap an old belt around a blanket for a tailored, pulled-together look.

2 At Nicole Farhi's store, the blankets are stacked on shelves. Although most people don't have room for a whole display at home, it's easy enough to dedicate one shelf to a pile of folded throws.

3 In the Tine K Home catalog, a wicker basket is a casual, simple way to wrangle extra blankets and pillows.

4 A photo from Fjorn Scandinavian shows a blanket (by Roros Tweed) draped over a stair rail. It's one of those "a-ha" ideas that seems obvious when we see it, but might not have occurred to us otherwise.

5 In Martha and Ben's home, a hand-printed textile smoothed over the sofa adds another layer of character to the living room.

6 The catalog from Les Indiennes is a great source of inspiration for ways to use textiles in your home. In the photo above, a throw blanket is used to update an antique chaise.

7 Another photo from Les Indiennes shows how a casually draped throw can make a room feel more inviting.

8 A reading corner from Kathleen and Alex's home shows how a crocheted blanket and a couple of carefully chosen pillows can bring a shot of color into a room.

9 A catalog photo from John Robshaw displays a set of color-coordinated pillows and blankets arranged on a side chair. It's simple, but it makes a big statement.

10 UK bedding company Peacock Blue provides this idea: a stack of extra blankets stored in a vintage suitcase.

Photos: Sarah Coffey (1, 5, 8), Nicole Farhi (2), Tine K (3), Fjorn Scandinavian (4), Les Indiennes (6, 7), John Robshaw (9), Peacock Blue (10)

Comments (9)

We have a couple of cool barrel-ish pieces that have covers on them so we use them as coffee and side tables but they are perfect for stowing away extra bedding until guests come over. I think they are Asian antiques but you can find reproductions in Asian furniture stores. Also have a tall cabinet with latched doors in my dining room. I store table top linens and napkins in the upper section and blankets, quilts in the lower section.

we use a huge antique suitcase. It is so large that its first purpose is as our living room coffee table. We also have a side table from target next to the couch with a removable lid to store pillows.

Love that belt idea...on the hunt for cool old belts now. :)

Well I have a storage ottoman where all the living room throws go. But I love the look of a woven basket with neatly folded blankets in it.

draped on the couches when the weather is chilly--stored in an old picnic basket when it is warmer

Oh, just thought of another option that I've been wanting to do for a while: if you like a slightly rustic or vintage look, stack blankets in an old wooden shipping crate

I hate to be so blindly consumerist here, but I really like that tartan clad chair. Anybody know what it is or where I can find something like it? TinEye doesn't know the image, sadly.

We have a few blankets in an antique wooden milk crate next to the couch. Easy access and easy to put away. We also have a couple dorm-esque microfiber cubes in front of the couch, and we store extra stuff in there too.

Man, my cats would be delighted if I stuffed all of my throws into a basket (#3) or crate, as recommended above. I just drape one over the back of the chair, one over the back of the sofa, and one at the bottom of the bed. And I always buy washable throws (see above, re: cats).