Expert Advice

Does Your Home Feel Unfinished? Here Are 2 Foolproof Ways to Level Up Any Room of the House

The details make the difference.

By Caitlin Clark
Camille Styles steels doors in her living room

Designing your dream home is a project that never truly ends. Just when you think you’ve finally added the finishing touches, a fresh trend or slightly vacant wall space catches your eye, and a brand new mission begins. And that’s part of the fun! But there are also times when a room feels unfinished, but you can’t put your finger on exactly why. Whether it’s a postage-stamp-sized rug or a piece of artwork hanging just a tad too high, a single item can be a make-or-break detail when it comes to creating a space that feels like home.

We’ve long turned to shelter magazines in times of design-related crises — a move that often leads to great inspiration. One of our favorites, Southern Living, offers a few insightful thoughts on the unfinished room dilemma.

“The finishing touches are what pull a room together and make it look like an intentionally designed, personal space,” Stephanie Purzycki, one of the design-minded founders at The Finish, explains to Southern Living. “So many people go into decorating a space and they get so close to creating something really beautiful, but just aren’t sure how to complete it.”

With the help of Purzycki and her design-minded The Finish co-founder Kaitlin Madden, Southern Living narrowed down the major culprits behind an incomplete room. Read on for two key finishing touches that could take any space to the next level.

Blue Exotic Rug in living room of Camille Styles

The Right Sized Rug

Scale is crucial to any well-planned design, but one occasion where size may matter most: picking an area rug. Too large, and the floor feels like it’s drowning. Too small, and it may as well not be there at all. Fortunately, there is a general rule of thumb for getting your rug just right.

“If it’s in a living room, for example, at least the front legs of every piece of furniture should sit on the rug, if not the entire piece of furniture,” Purzycki tells Southern Living. “If it’s a dining room, all of your chair legs should remain on the rug even when the chairs are pulled out from the table.”

Camille Styles home office window treatments how to finish a room

Treat Your Windows, Treat Yourself

We at Team Camille have an intimate understanding of the value great window treatments can add. Though they might be one of the more intimidating projects to tackle, their ability to level up a room is practically unmatched.

“[Window treatments] add so much to a room: warmth (literal and aesthetic), color, pattern, and privacy,” Purzycki tells Southern Living. “Sometimes, they’re really all a room needs to feel complete.”

That being said, the list of variables that come with choosing window treatments is vast — which is probably why the process can become so daunting. What materials will help you build your dream aesthetic? Considering all the different product lines and mounts, how exactly do you ensure you have the right measurements? Can you layer window treatments?

Fortunately, when tackling window treatments in her home, Camille shared all the best tips she learned. Read on for our guide to choosing the right window treatments for every home, as well as some helpful do’s, don’t’s, and design tips. Whether or not it’s your finishing touch, nailing this particular project could make all the difference when crafting the feel of your space.