A Reading by HarlanStar Poufs & Giant Star Floor Cushions
A Fern-Print Star Pouf, Read From the Carpet Up
Get down on the carpet, my friend, where the baby will be. From there this nursery corner is all about one star and the edge that keeps its points square.
SaveThe quick answer
A star floor cushion for a nursery works best with a box edge and self piping, which keep each star point square at carpet height. A fern print in sky blue, leaf green and teal ties the pouf to the plants and rattan already in the room. Pair it with plain pillows pulled from the print's darkest color.
Workshop notebook: the corner before the star, and after
I got down on the carpet to read this one, which at my age is its own kind of commitment. The photographer did the same. From that height a star floor cushion in fern-print cotton canvas fills the bottom of the frame, and the nursery stands behind it: a white changing dresser, a round rattan mirror, wall shelves with a trailing plant, dotted sheer curtains and a fairy-light canopy overhead.
Take the pouf out and you still have a pretty room. But look at what it is made of. White furniture, a woven mirror, a plant, pale carpet. Good pieces with nothing to join them. The star is the stitch that pulls the corner closed.
It does that with its print. Sky blue, leaf green and teal ferns on white canvas answer the trailing plant and the botanical sheers, and the rattan carries the same handmade feel. The pouf reads as part of that greenery instead of a toy dropped on the floor. Canvas belongs to our cotton and ticking family: a plain, sturdy weave for a room where things get sat on and dragged about.
Then the edge. It is a box edge with self piping in the same print, and that welt is what keeps each point of the star square. A seam is a promise, and on a star the promise is five sharp corners.
The pillows mind their manners. A white square pillow and a teal star pillow sit on top; the teal is the deepest leaf color, lifted onto a solid so the print doesn't swallow them. A felt-ball garland on the dresser repeats teal and white at a new height.
Before you choose a cloth, read our Pattern on kid-friendly cushion fabric, and the floor cushion thickness Pattern for height.
Five pins at carpet height
Five pins, from the fern print to the felt balls on the dresser, trace how one star ties a nursery corner together.
- Fern print top
A leafy print ties the pouf to the plant, rattan and botanical sheers around it.
- Piped box edge
Piping in the same print keeps the point square without a hard contrast line.
- Teal star pillow
The deepest leaf color, lifted onto a solid so the print does not swallow the pillows.
- Rattan mirror
Natural fiber above echoes the woven, handmade feel of printed canvas.
- Felt-ball garland
Tiny teal and white balls on the dresser repeat the pouf palette at a new height.
- Fern print topA leafy print ties the pouf to the plant, rattan and botanical sheers around it.
- Piped box edgePiping in the same print keeps the point square without a hard contrast line.
- Teal star pillowThe deepest leaf color, lifted onto a solid so the print does not swallow the pillows.
- Rattan mirrorNatural fiber above echoes the woven, handmade feel of printed canvas.
- Felt-ball garlandTiny teal and white balls on the dresser repeat the pouf palette at a new height.
The makeover in five checks
- One printed piece, and only one, so the pattern has a home
- Print colors pulled from what the room already holds: the plant, the sheers, the rattan
- Plain pillows in the print's darkest shade, never a second pattern
- A piped box edge, so the star points stay square at carpet height
- Small repeats higher up, like the teal felt balls on the dresser
Five corner sets and the question of holding them down
A buyer in the US was planning five sets of tufted, mattress-style floor cushions for a commercial corner seating area, and wrote with three questions: sizing, lumbar pillows and how to hold the cushions in place.
The answers were plain. You choose the seat size, and the workshop sends a matching backrest about 16 in (40 cm) high with round armrests; the seats are about 4 in (10 cm) thick. Extra lumbar pillows can be added. Ties are offered, but underside snap fasteners are not made. For the curved corners, the workshop asked for drawings before quoting.
That order of business is the right one, whether the corner belongs to a café or a baby. Settle how the cushions attach before you design the seating around them. How will yours stay put: ties, their own weight, or a wall at their back?
Buyer questions: play couches, loose modules and a long L
- A common question
Could you make a kids' play couch like the foam ones sold online?
The workshop's answerYes, in linen, and tufted if you like, though it costs more than the mass-market versions. Some shapes can't be tufted, such as drawn under-seat pillows.
- A common question
When the floor sofa is laid out as a bed, do the pieces fasten together with hook-and-loop tape?
The workshop's answerNo. The pieces are separate and don't attach to each other. They are heavy, though, so pushed side by side they mostly stay together.
- A common question
Can you make an L-shaped floor sofa sectional at 110 x 61 in (280 x 155 cm)?
The workshop's answerYes. Each sofa section is about 39 in (100 cm) wide, so the L is built from two floor sofas resized to fit, with runs of about 61 in (155 cm) and 71 in (180 cm). The workshop set up a custom link for the combined piece.
Notebook table: the nursery star
| Piece | Star floor cushion (pouf) |
|---|---|
| Fabric | Cotton canvas, fern print in sky blue, leaf green and teal on white |
| Edge | Box edge |
| Piping | Self piping in the same print |
| Pillows | White square and teal star, both plain |
| Room | Nursery corner on beige carpet |
| Fastening | Ties on request; no underside snaps |
| Best for | Nurseries and playrooms with plants and natural fibers |
Have it made
Have this made — ask Harlan’s workshop
Old upholsterers will tell you the real cutting happens in the conversation, long before the shears come out. Tell the workshop what you sit on, and they will talk it through with you. — Harlan
Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.
A star floor cushion keeps its five points square with a piped box edge; the welt runs along each seam like a rail.
Harlan
Questions buyers ask next
Why does a star floor cushion need piping on its edge?
Piping on the box edge acts like a rail along each seam, holding the five points square. Self piping in the same print gives that structure without drawing a hard contrast line around the star.
Should a printed pouf have printed pillows on top?
No. Keep the pillows plain and take their color from the print's darkest shade, as the teal star pillow does here. Two patterns at the same height compete, and the smaller one gets lost.
What goes well with a fern-print floor cushion in a nursery?
Things that already share its greens: a trailing plant, rattan or woven fiber, botanical sheers. Then echo the pouf's teal and white somewhere higher, such as a garland on the dresser.
Can a floor cushion be fastened to a built-in seat?
Ties can be added on request, but underside snap fasteners are not made. Decide how a cushion will stay put before you plan the built-in seating around it.
Sit well. — Harlan
