Styling Tips
Vivid, bold, and showing off your passions!
Many interior design styles can be personalized to some degree, but none more so than the maximalist interior design style. Hold onto your hats!
Maximalist interior design is the biggest and boldest design style out there.
The over-the-top maximalist design incorporates layers upon layers of vibrant colors, patterns, textures, and meaningful items. Maximalism takes your personal preferences and favorite pieces of art, furniture, treasures, and decor and dials it up to ten by having it all on display, hopefully in a somewhat coordinated fashion. This makes each maximalist-styled home incredibly unique to the person designing it!
Some might call maximalism colorfully curated chaos. Though “more is more” is a core principle of maximalist design, it’s not just about adding more and more things, but embracing your personality and your favorite things and incorporating them into your interior design.
The trick to mastering maximalism is to find your happy medium with a little focus and planning, so it’s elaborate yet not too overwhelming for the senses.
A Brief History of Maximalist Design
The maximalist interior design style has roots spanning back several centuries, with the Victorian era experiencing a particular boom. Back then, maximalist decor (even if it wasn’t called that at the time) was all about showing off wealth by displaying treasures, luxurious textures, decor, and collections.
Maximalist style is a fluid and individualistic style, reflecting the personality and enjoyment of the person behind the design. With maximalist designs being so personal and layered, there are numerous ways you can turn your home into a majestic, or even mellow, maximalistic tribute to what you love.
Joy is another pillar of maximalist design. Create layers of joy in your maximalist design to make it feel like your own. Bring your passions and interests into how you style your home, prioritizing comfort and familiarity more than anything else.
While the maximalist designs often feature a charming kaleidoscope of color, layers, and decor, it still should be intentional. Maximalist design is meant to make your home feel homey and comfortable, so too much clutter might be overpowering in a space that already has a lot of other elements going on.
One way to achieve this is to have one or two leading features to help shape the rest of the space. These primary eye-catching elements could be vividly colored plush furniture, decked out bookcases, beautifully adorned wooden cabinetry, a statement light fixture, a gallery wall of art pieces, or even plantlife.
Then, add layers you love around them, from patterns, plants, natural materials, art, collections, souvenirs from travels, and whatever lights you up to see adorning your space.
This very individualistic style is easily paired with or added onto interior design styles that share similarities, like openness to color, patterns, and displaying decor while maintaining a cozy vibe.