Sofa Throws and Bed Throws in Faux Fur, Knit and Cotton
A throw does two jobs at once, and most people buy it for the wrong one. It finishes a sofa visually, and it is the thing you actually pull over yourself at nine in the evening. The second job is the one that decides whether it stays folded over the arm or gets used every night.
Every throw here comes from Scatter Box, a family business in Navan making soft furnishings since 1959. They are filled with nothing and lined with nothing: what you feel is what the throw is made of, all the way through.
Throws for a sofa
The sofa is where most of these end up, and the size question is the one that matters. A throw that only covers the seat cushions reads as a folded blanket someone left behind. One that reaches over the back or down over an arm reads as deliberate.
Two ways of using one work. Folded in a rough rectangle over one arm, which suits a tidy room and keeps it out of the way. Or thrown across a corner and left to fall, which suits a room in use and looks worse the more carefully you arrange it.
On a corner sofa, one throw is rarely enough. Two of the same in different positions works better than one large one stretched across the whole thing.
Throws by colour
A throw is the largest single block of colour you can add to a room without repainting or reupholstering, and the easiest to change your mind about.
That makes it the piece to be braver with. A green or a rust throw on a neutral sofa changes the room; a grey one on a grey sofa changes nothing, which is fine if what you wanted was warmth rather than colour. Cream and oatmeal are the safe choices and the ones that show the most use.
If there are cushions on the sofa already, the throw is better echoing one of them than introducing a fourth colour of its own.
Faux fur, knitted and cotton throws
Fabric is what decides whether a throw gets used, and it is the one thing a photograph cannot tell you.
Faux fur is dense and warm and the one people reach for in winter. It has weight to it, which some find comforting and others find like being sat on. Chunky knit is open and airy, warm without weight, and the texture does as much for a plain sofa as a pattern would. Waffle is flatter and lighter, the summer answer, and it drapes rather than sitting where you put it. Cotton is the everyday one: light, washable, and the only fabric here you would happily use in July.
None of that comes across on a screen, which is why this is the one category where seeing it in person earns its trip. Our Enniskillen showroom has them out to handle, and thirty seconds of picking two of them up settles a decision that no amount of reading will.
Throw sizes
Several sizes run through the range, and the right one depends on what it is going over rather than on how much you want to spend.
For a two-seater or an armchair, a smaller throw is enough and a large one swamps it. For a three-seater or a corner sofa, go up: a throw that has to be stretched to reach never falls properly and always looks tight. For a bed, size to the bed rather than to the sofa you already have — a throw that works on a two-seater will look like a scarf across a king size.
Throws for a bed
On a bed a throw is doing something different again: it runs across the foot, adds a layer of colour against the duvet, and comes off at night in one movement.
It also has a practical use that nobody mentions. A throw across the end of the bed is the extra layer you pull up at four in the morning in February without getting up to find another duvet.
Size up rather than down. It should reach the floor on both sides or stop well clear on both; halfway down looks like it shrank.
Throws that match the cushions
Because the throws and the cushions come from the same maker and the same ranges, a throw and a set of cushions in the same design will actually be the same colour rather than nearly the same.
That sounds small and is not. Matching a mustard cushion to a mustard throw bought from two different places is the single most common way a sofa ends up looking slightly off, and no photograph on either website would have warned you.
Throw FAQs
What size throw do I need for a sofa?
Big enough to reach over the back or down over an arm. A throw that only covers the seat looks like it was left there. Two-seaters and armchairs take a smaller one; three-seaters and corner sofas need the larger sizes.
What is the warmest type of throw?
Faux fur, by some margin, followed by chunky knit. Waffle and cotton are lighter and better suited to a warm room or the summer months.
Can you put a throw on a bed?
Yes, and many people prefer it there. Run it across the foot of the bed rather than trying to cover the whole thing, and size to the bed rather than to a sofa.
Where are the throws made?
They are designed in Ireland by Scatter Box, whose factory is in Navan, County Meath.
Do the throws match the cushions?
Where they come from the same range, yes, exactly rather than approximately. That is the advantage of both coming from one maker.
How do you stop a throw sliding off the sofa?
Tuck the top edge down behind the back cushions rather than laying it over them. Heavier fabrics like faux fur stay put on their own; lighter waffle and cotton throws slide more.