The Best "Room Finishers" - Chris Loves Julia

Chandelier and table lamps provide warm lighting in a sophisticated, cozy space.

This post is sponsored by Wayfair

This year we renovated more rooms than any other year before, and yet, as everything settled, I found myself noticing the gaps. Even when you think a room is done… is it really? The longer I live with a space, the more I realize that the lived-in feeling doesn’t happen in the big reveals. It happens slowly, as you add the pieces that make a room feel like yours.

A space can be entirely functional — comfortable, even — without feeling lived-in. That home-y, collected feeling everyone craves takes time, and it always shows up in the details: the “room finishers.”

Swing Arm Floor Lamp

Lately, I’ve been walking around our house and spotting little pockets that could use warming up. An empty wall that needs art. A window begging for curtains. A lonely corner calling for a chair or a small table. Shelves wanting texture. And lamps —always lamps. I’ve added three new floor lamps in the last two months alone, and every one of them made the room feel instantly more grounded.

You can’t buy a collected home. It’s something you build, layer by layer, as you live in it. This is a great time of year for layering. Before we host for the holidays, I love to bring in “just one more thing” — that subtly shifts the whole space. A room finisher.