Home / Vol. V Guide 4 products · Updated September 18, 2026

MALIBUROOM BYROOM

One splurge per room, no ceiling lights, and the $40 thing that changed everything.

Two facing cream sofas with a kidney-shaped glass coffee table on a checkerboard rug, doors open to the balcony
The living room · two sofas facing
The kitchen with bouclé counter stools
The bedroom, linen curtains to the floor
The bathroom shelf
sofas facing each other, not the TV →
Lauren tested
Words & testing · Lauren Fowler Open story ↓ Photograph · Lauren
Filed under
Home / Malibu / Tour

Published
August 19, 2026

Best by Lauren may earn a commission when you shop through certain links. Every product here was bought with my own money or tested for at least six weeks. No brand has paid to be included, and nothing is ranked higher because it pays more.

I moved into this apartment with a sofa, a bed and a suitcase, and furnished the rest of it over about five months with three rules.

Buy the frame once. Replace the soft things. One lamp per corner. Everything below follows from those.

The ShortlistJump to a product
01 Bouclé Counter Stools $398 02 Black Bouclé Dining Chairs $1,160 03 Tall Black Taper CandlesticksThe $40 detail $40 04 Glass Fridge Containers, set $52
01
Bouclé counter stools at the kitchen island
CB2
CB2

Bouclé Counter Stools

Bought for the Malibu kitchen and immediately the most-asked-about thing in the apartment.

Why I love it
They read expensive and they wipe clean, which is not usually both.
Good for
Kitchen islands · Small spaces
The verdict
the thing everyone asks about
Shop — $398
02
CB2

Black Bouclé Dining Chairs

Every other surface in the apartment is cream. These are the punctuation.

Why I love it
Set of four. Black against everything cream.
Good for
Dining · Small rooms
The verdict
the contrast the room needed
Shop — $1,160
Black bouclé dining chairs around a round table
CB2
03
Candlelight on the dining table at night
Cheap thing
the $40 one →
The $40 detail
Cheap thing

Tall Black Taper Candlesticks

Forty dollars. Photographs like four hundred. I have bought them for six people.

Why I love it
The single cheapest thing in the apartment and the one that changes a room.
Good for
Dinner · Every table · Gifts
The verdict
reads $400
Shop — $40CB2
04
Cheap thing

Glass Fridge Containers, set

The entire reason my fridge looks like that. You see what you have, so you use it.

Why I love it
You can see the food, so you eat the food.
Good for
Meal prep · Small fridges
The verdict
the reason it stays tidy
Shop — $52
Organised fridge, glass containers of prepped food
Cheap thing
The three rulesEverything follows from these
I.

Buy the frame once

Sofa, table, bed, rug. Hardwood and real upholstery outlive three cheap versions and cost less than all three.

II.

Replace the soft things

Cushions, throws, linens, candles. This is where a room gets a season without getting a renovation.

III.

One lamp per corner

Never the ceiling light alone. Three warm sources at different heights does more than any furniture you can buy.

Room by room6 rooms
Two facing cream sofas with a kidney-shaped glass coffee table on a checkerboard rug, doors open to the balcony
One splurge, one rug, no ceiling light

The living room

Sofas facing each other, not the television. Nobody sits sideways again.

The kitchen with bouclé counter stools at the island
The stools everyone asks about

The kitchen

Bouclé on a kitchen stool sounds like a mistake. They wipe clean and they have survived two years.

The bedroom, sheer linen curtains hung to the floor
Curtains hung 10cm above the frame. Always.

The bedroom

Hang curtains high and let them touch the floor. It is free and it makes a ceiling look a foot taller.

The bathroom shelf, skincare lined up
Everything visible is something I use

The bathroom

If it is out on the shelf, I use it weekly. Everything else lives in a drawer.

Black bouclé dining chairs around a round table
Black chairs against everything cream

The dining corner

One dark object per room. It stops a neutral space from going flat.

The bookcase, books and objects arranged
Books flat and upright, never all one way

The bookcase

Half the shelves horizontal, half vertical, and one gap left empty on purpose.

Every room12 frames · Five months of furnishing
Two facing cream sofas with a kidney-shaped glass coffee table on a checkerboard rug
The kitchen with bouclé counter stools at the island
Bouclé counter stools at the kitchen island
The most-asked-about thing
The bedroom, sheer linen curtains hung to the floor
Hung 10cm high
The bathroom shelf
The bathroom shelf, skincare lined up
Black bouclé dining chairs around a round table
The bookcase, books and objects arranged
Half flat, half upright
A ribbed cream dresser with the television on top
The one dark object
A wavy-edged full-length mirror in the hallway
The hallway mirror
Candlelight on the dining table at night
The $40 detail
Organised fridge, glass containers of prepped food
Questions
What is the cheapest way to make a room look expensive?

Lighting. Three warm lamps at different heights instead of the ceiling light, and tall black taper candles on the table. Under a hundred dollars total and it changes the whole room.

How high should curtains be hung?

About ten centimetres above the window frame, falling to the floor. It is free and it is the single biggest visual change you can make to a rented room.

What should you spend money on when furnishing?

The frame — sofa, bed, table, rug. Everything soft can be cheap and replaced by season.

Best by Lauren Awards 2027
xo Lauren
Keep readingMore from Best by Lauren
Candlelight on the dining table at night
Home

The Cheap Things That Look Expensive
Bags lined up in a Tokyo hotel room
Fashion

The Investment Pieces That Were Actually Worth It
The Weekly Best

One email.
Everything worth it.

What I actually bought this week, what I sent back, and the one thing I’d tell a friend about.

Weekly-ish · No spam · Unsubscribe in one click