Ideas worth stealing from the best maximalist interiors around today

Denise McGaha: “The drama of a maximalist ceiling can’t be overstated, but remember to balance it with the other elements in the room. We designed this room with neutrals and accented it with antiques and important artwork to offset the patterned plaster ceiling, which we painted white. The abundant natural light allows the play of shadow to constantly change, which is quite special.”

And then there is the present-day decorator Kelly Wearstler’s twenty-first-century maximalism—an interpretation of old Hollywood glamour, conjured not through excess but with grand-scaled patterns, inventive silhouettes, audacious colour, and her reverence for all things naturalistic, seeing Mother Nature as the ultimate source of inspiration.

Ken Fulk: “The peacock-blue walls in this formal dining room required twenty coats of lacquer applied by the talented Willem Racké to mimic the ever-changing shades of San Francisco Bay just outside the window; the view is a real showstopper! The exceptional dining chairs are covered in just the right shade of red, which provides the perfect counterpoint.”

There is one quality all these incarnations of maximalist design have in common: there must be an element of surprise. Maximalist interiors always create a certain frisson, a sense of amazement, a gleeful jolt for the visitor. When you enter a maximalist room, the question remains, How did the designer ever think of that? To achieve surprise, creativity is a necessity. Creativity in the decorative arts is expressed in the ability to think outside the oft-clichéd box—to be imaginative, to celebrate curiosity, and to come up with original ideas. It’s the creation of spaces that eclipse the predictable. The ways you’ll find designers expressing their creativity in the book More is More is More: Today's Maximalist Interiors fall into five categories, or chapters: colour, elements, pattern, layering, and surfaces.

Brockschmidt and Coleman: “One of our favourite decorative elements is wallpaper, and we especially love those from Adelphi Paper Hangings. Their historic patterns are charming and unusual, the colours can be endlessly customised, the hand-blocked printing gives an artistic quality to the papers, and perhaps most beautiful of all are the deeply coloured matte pigments. In a room like this, we think boldly scaled wallpaper enhances the strong architecture and tall ceilings, and the traditional pattern of the paper and the modern elements complement one another.”

It's important to note that while maximalist interiors often appear busy at first glance, there's always a wealth of knowledge and experience that serve as the underpinnings in visually demonstrative spaces. Designers know there is a difference between curated and cluttered rooms. For example, interior designers understand the subtle ways to link the objects in a room to form a narrative, telling a story as the eye lands on each element and then moves to the next. An understanding of colour theory is key, as when pairing complementary hues—burnished terracotta balanced by just the right shade of teal. And of course, there’s the interplay of silhouettes, with a feminine, curvaceous chair juxtaposed against the ridged angles of a Jean-Michel Frank sofa.

Pulp Design Studios: “We are known for bold and adventurous design, for rooms that are super dynamic but also liveable, and that means thinking out of the box. In this office nook, we asked a muralist to create a stunning ceiling that would look as if the wallpaper pattern flew off the walls and escaped across the ceiling.”

Maximalism as a design movement is very much in vogue. Perhaps it’s our twenty-first-century wish to feel bright and celebratory; perhaps it’s the antidote to decades of midcentury-inflected minimalism; or perhaps it’s the influence of social media platforms, specifically Instagram.

As a lifelong student of design, I’m always curious to learn the “why” behind the choices made in crafting maximalist interiors. I’ve interviewed the designers for each image in this book, sharing their process for achieving the marvelously alchemical success of each space. Through their words, you will see each room and gain insight into their aesthetic vision. From these words and images, you will be able to channel their knowledge as thrilling inspiration for the decoration of your own home. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, please borrow some ideas from this book. I know I intend to!