A Faux Olive Tree and Chocolate Velvet Pillow Covers for a Living Room That Needs More Warmth

A faux olive tree and a set of deep velvet pillow covers solve the same problem in a living room that feels flat: they add real material depth, bark and leaf texture on one, a soft light-catching nap on the other, instead of another plain painted or upholstered surface. Neither requires replacing furniture, and both are the kind of change that reads immediately in a room.

This post contains affiliate links. minimalera may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

VIVATREES Artificial Olive Tree, 5ft, White Planter

VIVATREES Artificial Olive Tree, 5ft, White Planter

$53.99

At 5 feet tall, the VIVATREES olive tree is sized for an actual floor corner rather than a tabletop, and it reads as a real specimen rather than a generic silk plant because of how it's built: a natural wood-look trunk branches into several separate stems before the leaf canopy, the same irregular branching pattern a living olive tree has, and small clusters of dark fruit sit scattered through the foliage rather than painted on in a repeating pattern. It comes pre-potted in a rounded, tapered white planter with a matte finish, which keeps the base simple enough to sit next to almost any other furniture color.

Setup is branch by branch: the stems connect at marked, numbered joints, so assembly is mostly a matter of matching numbers rather than guessing at a natural-looking arrangement, and the foliage can be fluffed and reshaped once everything is in place to close any gaps. After that there's nothing to maintain. No watering schedule, no sunlight requirement, and no dropped leaves to sweep up, which matters most in a corner that doesn't get direct light or daily attention. See the full listing on the VIVATREES olive tree product page for the rest of the specs and photos. For more no-upkeep greenery, our guide to low-maintenance artificial plants covers more options at different heights.

DEZENE Velvet Throw Pillow Covers, 20x20, Chocolate Brown, Set of 2

DEZENE Velvet Throw Pillow Covers, 20x20, Chocolate Brown, Set of 2

$16.98

These covers trade a flat matte fabric for a soft polyester velvet with a slight sheen, which means the chocolate brown shifts a little lighter or darker depending on the angle you're looking from and how light falls across the nap. That subtle shift is what keeps a solid-color cover from reading as flat the way a plain cotton or linen one often does, especially against a lighter sofa.

Each cover closes with an invisible zipper and is cut to fit a 20x20 inch insert, and because both sides are finished in the same fabric there's no wrong side to face out, which makes it easy to rotate them for even wear. They're machine washable on a gentle cold cycle, a real advantage over velvet upholstery itself, which usually can't go anywhere near a washing machine. Sold as a set of two, enough to anchor a neutral sofa without needing a third pattern or color to balance them. See the full listing on the DEZENE pillow cover product page for the rest of the specs and photos. If you're building out a full textile layer, our guide to throw blankets and pillow covers for a cozy room has more pairings.

What to Look For in Faux Greenery and Velvet Textiles

For a faux tree, branch count and leaf density matter more than overall height. A tall, sparse tree with widely spaced branches reads as fake from across the room faster than a slightly shorter one with full, layered foliage, since real olive trees branch densely near the top. Check the stated leaf count or look closely at product photos for gaps before buying, and measure your ceiling height against the tree's listed height plus a few inches for the planter, since a tree sized right at the edge of a low ceiling looks cramped rather than architectural.

For velvet pillow covers, zipper placement and fabric weight are the two details worth checking. An invisible zipper keeps the cover looking like a seamless cushion rather than something you can tell unzips, and a heavier velvet holds its shape and drapes better over an insert than a thin one that looks limp once stuffed. Solid colors in a deep tone like chocolate brown or forest green tend to show the nap's light-catching shift more dramatically than lighter colors, which is either the main appeal or something to avoid depending on how much variation you want from a single cushion.

Browse the full Decor collection for more ways to layer texture and greenery into a room.