Pillow Size Guide for Chairs

Chairs look best with decorative pillows that are similar in width as the width of the seat, give or take a few inches.

Leopard Linen 17x17 pillow covers (with 18x18 inserts) | interior design by Jess Weeth

To get an ideal pillow width range, measure how wide the seat of your chair is, and then subtract 4 inches to get the minimum width, and add 4 inches to get the maximum width.

Minimum pillow width = seat width - 4

Maximum pillow width = seat width + 4

 

As an example, this chair below has a seat width of 22", so we want a pillow that's somewhere between 18" to 26" wide. 

The zig zag pillow shown is size 13x19, so it's width is right within the 18" to 26" range that we want. It looks pretty good, but we could stand to go larger if we wanted to fill up more of the seat width, perhaps a 13x21 or 13x25 lumbar.  Anything too much smaller than the 13x19 though would look disproportionate. 

You might be wondering, if the seat width is 22", why would you recommend a pillow that's wider than that?

The reason is because once a pillow cover has been filled with an insert, it's dimensions change. About 4 inches of it's width measurement when laid flat, get used up for the depth.  That's why we can go up to 4 inches larger, because a pillow cover that measures 26" when laid flat, transforms into a stuffed pillow that has some depth and measures about 22" wide. 

That said, the higher end of the width range works best for lumbar pillows. For comfortability, if you choose a square shaped pillow, we recommend sticking to the middle to lower end of the range. Although a 26x26 square pillow would technically fit on the above 22"wide chair, that size would be too bulky and would eat up a lot of the seat depth.   

 

To determine the optimal pillow height, if you're going with a lumbar rectangular shape, divide the seat height in half and add 3 inches.  For example if the chair seat height is 18", the optimal pillow cover height would be 18 divided by 2 plus 3, which would be 12.

If you're opting for a square shaped pillow, choose a pillow cover that's the same or 4 inches less than the chair seat width. For example for the chair above, with the 22" seat width, you could choose a pillow cover that's anywhere from 18x18 up to 22x22. 

It may be difficult to find readymade pillows that are just the right size for your chairs. Luckily most of Regular Collection pillows can be custom made in your ideal dimensions. Feel free to contact us anytime for a quote or customized size recommendation.