My House Isn’t Finished — And That’s Kind of the Point

I love decorating our home. The problem with loving to decorate your home is that you are literally never done. There’s always a wall I think needs something, a piece of furniture I want to move, or a corner of the house that I suddenly decide needs an entire personality makeover.

And if I’m not careful, noticing that something feels unfinished quickly turns into me thinking I need to buy something to fix it—and then adding more stuff to my Amazon cart.

I’m slowly learning that I don’t actually need to finish every space the second I notice something is missing. Sometimes it’s better to live with an empty wall, a bare shelf, or a boring corner for a while than buy something just because I feel like I need to fill the space. An empty wall is not a decorating emergency. I have to remind myself of that one a lot.

Anddd… there are plenty of spaces in our house that aren’t finished right now. I really feel like everything is just in limbo, waiting on the next rearrange.

The Coffee Bar

If you saw my coffee bar post, you already know this area isn’t winning any awards for the cutest coffee bar on Pinterest. But it works!

We use everything here every single day, and everything we need is right there. I definitely have ideas for making this area cozier eventually, but I don’t know exactly what I want to do with it yet.

The old me might have started buying random things to fill the space until it looked more “finished.” Instead, I’m trying to leave it alone until I find something I actually love.

Is it finished? Nope. Will I probably change it twelve times once I finally start working on it? Yep.

But for now, it works perfectly for us.

The Office That Still Needs a Little Something

My office is another space that isn’t quite finished. The big pieces are there and the room is completely functional, but the shelves still need some love.

There are definitely a few spots where I look at them and think, something needs to go there.

And that’s usually when I want to start shopping.

But I’m trying to be better about buying random decor just because a shelf looks empty. I’d rather slowly add things I actually love—things I find over time, things I already own and can move from somewhere else in the house, or things that actually mean something to me. So yes, the shelves are a little bare right now. And that’s okay. They’ll get there eventually.

Although, knowing me, I’ll finally get them exactly how I want them and then decide to rearrange the whole thing anyway.

The Spaces I Haven’t Figured Out Yet

There are other spots around our house that I walk by all the time and think, that needs something. What does it need? Great question. No idea. And I’ve decided that’s actually a pretty good reason not to buy anything.

I’m realizing that I would much rather stare at an empty wall for six months than buy something I only kind of like because I felt like the space needed to be “finished.”

Because inevitably, I’ll find something later that I absolutely love and wonder why I spent money on the thing I never really wanted in the first place.

I’m Learning to Decorate Our Home Slowly

I think social media can make it feel like everyone moves into a house, decorates every room, hangs everything on the walls, styles every shelf, and then—voilà—the house is finished.

That is definitely not how it works over here.

Our house changes as we live in it. I move things around. I decide I don’t like something where I originally put it. I steal decor from one room and try it in another. Sometimes I decide a space needs something, and sometimes I realize it was actually fine the way it was.

And I’m starting to think that’s a much better way to decorate anyway.

I’ve realized that unfinished and not beautiful aren’t the same thing.

I can love my office while the shelves are still a little bare. I can enjoy our coffee bar every morning even though I eventually want to make it cozier. I can walk past an empty wall without immediately ordering something to hang on it.

Our house can be a work in progress and still be a home we absolutely love.

But is it practical?

Actually, I think this might be one of the most practical things I’ve learned about decorating our home. I don’t need to buy something just because there’s an empty wall. I don’t need to completely decorate a room the week we decide to change it. And I definitely don’t need to buy something I only kind of like because I haven’t found what I really want yet.

Our house isn’t finished. There are blank walls, areas I want to change, furniture I’ll probably move around another 15 times, and rooms that I’m still figuring out.

But we love living here now.

So maybe a home doesn’t really need to be “finished” at all.