The Last Five Per Cent
Completion week is when a project crosses the line from building site to home. The walls are painted, the floors are laid, the kitchen is installed, the bathrooms are tiled — but the rooms still feel empty, echoey, and unfinished.
Styling is the process of adding everything that is not built in: furniture, rugs, curtains, lighting, artwork, books, plants, and the curated accessories that give a room warmth and personality. It is the last five per cent of the project but it accounts for perhaps fifty per cent of the emotional impact.
This guide covers how to plan and execute completion week so that you move into a finished home, not a half-furnished shell.
Pre-Completion Checklist
Before any furniture arrives, confirm that building works are genuinely complete (no outstanding snag items that require access behind furniture), all surfaces are clean (post-construction deep clean has been done), all paint touch-ups are complete (moving furniture over fresh paintwork creates marks that are harder to fix once furniture is in place), flooring protection is in place (felt pads on all furniture feet, runners on timber floors during heavy delivery days), and utilities are connected and functioning (heating, hot water, electrics, internet).
If you are decorating a property in which you are already living, clear each room fully before furniture delivery day. Remove packing materials, temporary furniture, and any building supplies.
The Delivery Schedule
Coordinate deliveries in a logical sequence:
**Day 1: Large furniture.** Sofas, beds, dining tables, wardrobes — the items that define room layout and are hardest to manoeuvre around other pieces. Confirm access routes are clear (remove internal doors if hinges allow, protect newel posts and door frames with blanket wraps).
**Day 2: Secondary furniture and rugs.** Side tables, coffee tables, bookshelves, consoles, desks, dining chairs. Lay rugs before placing secondary items on top.
**Day 3: Curtains, blinds, and lighting.** Curtain installation requires the fitter to work at height with a stepladder — easier before the room is fully furnished. Decorative light fittings (pendants, wall lights, table lamps) go in once furniture is positioned.
**Day 4: Soft furnishings.** Cushions, throws, bed linen. Dress beds fully (mattress protector, sheet, duvet, pillows, decorative cushions, throw).
**Day 5: Accessories, artwork, and final styling.** The styling day. This is when the designer (or you, working from the designer's plan) places artwork, mirrors, vases, books, candles, plants, and decorative objects.
This five-day framework is for a whole-home project. Smaller projects compress the schedule accordingly.
Artwork Placement
Artwork has rules that are frequently broken:
**Height.** Centre artwork at 1,450–1,500mm from the floor (typical eye-level for standing adults). This is lower than most people instinctively hang pictures.
**Relationship to furniture.** Artwork above a sofa or console should be approximately two-thirds the width of the furniture below it. A 900mm painting above a 2,400mm sofa looks lost. A pair of 600mm prints side by side, or a single 1,400mm piece, would be proportional.
**Groupings.** Gallery walls (grids or salon-style arrangements of multiple pieces) look intentional when they share a common element: consistent frame colour, consistent mat width, or a shared palette within the artworks. Lay the arrangement out on the floor first, photograph it, then transfer to the wall using paper templates.
**Lighting.** Picture lights or directional spotlights (adjustable recessed or track fittings) dramatically improve how artwork reads. Budget for artwork lighting during the electrical plan phase — adding it after decoration means re-wiring and re-patching.
Shelf and Surface Styling
Open shelves, mantlepieces, console tables, and coffee tables need considered arrangement:
**Rule of three.** Group objects in odd numbers (three or five). Vary heights within the group (tall, medium, low).
**Material variety.** Combine textures: a ceramic vase, a timber object, a glass vessel. Mono-material groupings feel flat.
**Negative space.** Not every shelf needs to be full. Empty space around objects gives them room to breathe. Overcrowded shelves look cluttered rather than styled.
**Books.** Real books (not decorative spines bought by the metre) add colour, texture, and personality. Stack horizontally as well as vertically for variety. Remove dust jackets if the underlying covers are more attractive.
Plants and Greenery
Living plants add life, colour, and air quality to a finished room. Choose varieties appropriate to the room's light conditions: low light (basement rooms, north-facing): snake plant, pothos, ZZ plant, peace lily; medium light: monstera, fiddle leaf fig, rubber plant; and bright light (south-facing, conservatory): succulents, citrus, olive.
For rooms where living plants are impractical (no one to water during absences), high-quality preserved or dried arrangements are preferable to artificial plants.
The Snag Walk
After styling is complete, walk through every room with a critical eye (and ideally with the builder and designer):
Check alignment — is the sofa centred on the fireplace? Are the bedroom pendant lights centred on the bed? Check function — do all lights work, do all drawers open fully, do all doors clear the rugs? Check finish — any scuffs, scratches, or marks from the delivery and installation process? Document any snags with photographs and a room-by-room list. Pass this to the builder (for building items) and the designer (for furnishing items) for resolution.
When the Designer Manages Styling
An interior designer who has managed the project from brief to completion will have a styling plan prepared in advance — a room-by-room specification of every object and its position. They oversee the delivery schedule, direct placement, and handle the final styling day personally. This is the moment when the months of design work come together.
Interior Design Hampstead connects homeowners with designers who offer full-service delivery including completion week styling. This service is especially valuable for whole-home projects where coordinating dozens of deliveries, managing access logistics, and achieving a cohesive result across multiple rooms requires professional orchestration.