8 Home Decor Completer Pieces Every Room Needs to Feel Finished

If your home feels unfinished and you dream of creating a space that feels cozy, cohesive, and polished, you may just be missing a few key home decor completer pieces to make it all come together.

We all dream of a well-appointed home made up of spaces that feel cohesive, complete, and just right for our family. The truth is, though, that most spaces I see are unfinished. It’s not that people don’t realize that their rooms aren’t quite complete, it’s just that they can’t quite put their finger on what’s missing since their spaces mostly function well enough for their basic, everyday needs. But they know that things don’t feel quite right and they don’t look like the home they’ve always dreamed of. A lot of the time, all that is really missing is a few key pieces to make the space feel more layered, thoughtful, and lived-in. You may have heard of the term “completer pieces” when someone is describing putting together an outfit. These are the pieces that finish things off and make the whole thing look polished and considered rather than messy and thrown-together. The concept works for the spaces in your home as well, and there are many finishing touches like these that can go a long way to making a space feel magazine-worthy without really making any big changes at all. Here are the home decor completer pieces I believe every space needs.

Bringing a Space Together with Completer Pieces

Think of these pieces like the finishing touches on an outfit. These are the pieces that give your ensemble personality, style, function, and comfort after you’ve already secured all the basic foundational pieces for your room. A designer might utilize an architectural 3d animation company to help visualize how every detail in a space will come together when they’re starting from scratch, but it doesn’t need to be that complicated when you’re just adding the finishing touches to a space. Rest assured that if you bring a few layers of completer pieces that you love into your home, it will always (always) look and feel better than when you started.

These are the pieces that truly make a house feel like a home.

Home Decor Completer Pieces Every Room Needs

Side Tables

Pictured Above: Curtains (CREEKLINEHOUSE for 22% off) | Curtain Rod | Green Quilt | Olive Tree

I promise you that you need more side tables than you think, and you probably need them in rooms that you didn’t expect either. Every seat, every drop zone, and every empty corner becomes immediately better, more useful, and more welcoming with a little side table. Use large round tables for lamps and to display decor when the room is available, and tiny cocktail tables that only fit one cup of tea when space is limited. Tiny tables make a big difference. Try to look for materials that are different in some way from your main furnishings like your coffee table. Look for rustic wood, marble, antiqued metal, wicker, and painted wood to mix things up and add instant style to any space. The new antique side table pictured above is waiting to be styled in my bedroom, but it already looks right at home in this spot.

Lamps and Sconces

Pictured above: Wireless Sconces | Fabric for DIY Pleated Shades

Layered lighting is so important in any space and understanding how to use it gives you so much power over your environment. Beyond utilitarian overhead lights, look to add other functional and decorative lighting sources to your space to immediately shift the atmosphere in a room. Table lamps, floor lamps, sconces at different heights, and picture lights all work together to make a space feel considered and inviting.

Essential home decor how-to: DIY Pleated Lampshades

Pillows and Throws – You Need Both

People often overlook the necessity of toss pillows and throw blankets, thinking that these items are just luxury decorations and serve no real purpose. Worse, they believe that these items do serve a purpose, but that since they’re often used and abused, it’s better to get cheap, throwaway toss cushions and throw blankets. You need these in your home and they need to be good quality. It makes such a difference visually when you have high-quality down pillows and blankets and the good stuff will actually last you a lifetime, so it’s cheaper and easier to do it properly in the first place.

Read next for more decoration inspiration: How Many Pillows Should Go on a King Size Bed?

Baskets

Baskets help hide clutter and keep a space feeling organized, but they also add much needed texture and warmth anywhere you use them, bridging the visual gap between hard surfaces and soft furnishings and making it all feel like it makes sense. Every single room needs at least a few baskets.

Antique-style baskets from thrifted finds: How to Paint Any Basket to Look like a Vintage Find

Case Goods and Closed Storage

Pictured Above: Curtains (CREEKLINEHOUSE for 22% off) | Curtain Rod | Rug | Green Quilt | Similar Frames

Case goods like dressers and free-standing cabinets have a way of anchoring a space and creating a focal point in a part of the room that may have felt lost and without purpose previously. If space is limited, built-in storage options like bookshelves and closed cabinetry are a great, space-saving alternative. If your space feels purposeless and ungrounded, it may be that you’re missing an essential sideboard, cabinet, or buffet.

Plants, Greenery, and/or Florals

Pictured above: Shower Curtains | Tub Filler

Every space needs a little bit of life. The human eye naturally searches for greens and organic materials as a resting place, and this is why a space without any kind of plants just feels wrong. My preference is always for real plants and greenery, but if that’s not an option, good quality faux stems in a vase can be just the thing. I recommend starting with high-quality greenery in a space as your foundation, and layering in seasonal florals only once in a while when the mood strikes. Simple greenery tends to be easier to live with, and faux florals can start to feel tired or out-of-season pretty quickly if they’re your only source of plant life in a space.

Curtains and Fabric Window Coverings

Pictured Above: Curtains (CREEKLINEHOUSE for 22% off) | Curtain Rod | Green Quilt | Olive Tree

I know you probably don’t want to hear it, but basic blinds alone just aren’t enough. They may be functional, but they aren’t helping your space to feel more finished, gracious, or comfortable. I consider curtains and decorative window coverings to be foundational decorating elements, but most people overlook them during the initial planning phase of a space, and they’re what’s missing in a space that is otherwise “done” most of the time.

Custom curtains are ideal, but if space or function won’t allow, roman shades are a great way to bring softness, pattern, and texture to a space where draperies don’t make sense.

Decorative Window Coverings Guide: Everything You Need to Know Before Ordering Custom Curtains Online

Wall Art

There are no spaces in your home where wall art is inappropriate, and you probably need more than you think. Traditional paintings and framed prints work beautifully as gallery walls or in symmetrical arrangements, but consider thinking outside the box to hang plates, mirrors, family photos, and baskets, too. Art helps you tell your story, and that will always make your space feel more interesting, engaging, and, ultimately, complete.

Did you enjoy this post? Join my free newsletter for exclusive content and seasonal ideas for your home, garden, and kitchen delivered straight to your inbox.