Minimalism has been the interior design style of the age. But lately, there has been a revival of the much-loved maximalism. This is the opposite of minimalism, where the more, the merrier. So many homeowners have to break their shells and try to escape the mold minimalism has put them in. For many of us, placing more around the home can be daunting. We don’t want to make clutter; produce a style that makes sense. We want to get to a point where every little item and piece adds to the room, and taking it away wouldn’t improve the room. This is a challenging task because you must make more room for more things first. This is why clearing out your home, in the beginning, could be the start.
The clearout process
Firstly, you need to begin clearing out the items that wouldn’t fit the maximalism style. This also translates over to the design of the room and even the house. For example, an open floor plan is great for a maximalism style as it counteracts the inherent feeling of clutter. So first things first, you need to clear out the seating, tables, and any other items that you think wouldn’t fit the maximalism style, which is more colorful, varied, and experimental than minimalism. Next, hire a Breeding Roll-Off dumpster where you can throw all of your old things and not have to worry about overloading the trashcan or calling in the removal people. Hire 20-yard or up to 40-yard dumpsters for the amount of work you need to do.
Bear in mind; if you are knocking down walls, you will need plenty of dumpster space. In addition, the brick and timber cost a lot to remove if you hire a removal or redesign company. By taking control of this cost yourself, you can use those extra hundred or thousand dollars to spend on your interior.
Surfaces for items
If you look at any home with maximalism, you’ll find many different surfaces for items to be placed on. These include the usual coffee table, side table, and shelves. You’ll also find that window sills are great shelves. Here you can find some quaint objects, such as Russian dolls and crystal figures that glisten in the sunshine. You may also find that things like bookcases are used for more than just storing books. Some platforms in the bookcases are left empty precisely to place photos, posters, and other things that remind you about the novels you have. So, for example, if you have the book ‘Brave New World,’ you could have a futuristic dystopian poster above the bookcase or perhaps a clone figure or set of figures standing on the empty bookcase shelf.
Adding fabrics
Maximalism is about using a lot of expression in your interior design, which often includes lots of different fabrics and materials. In the past, when minimalism was the most popular style for interior decorating, there were many cold practical materials. These were metal, glass, and sometimes wood and plastics. However, now that there is more, we should begin seeing many natural fibers again.
Place an area rug in your living room that can invite more people into the room. These could be colorful patterns you see in places like Asia or the Arab parts of the world. You can also buy some very traditional mats for your front door. The entrance mats can be made from fibrous plant material such as loofah. This is hard and coarse, great for getting mud off your feet. It’s easy to clean, and the holes allow for material to be ejected with a bit of water from your hose.
Place a wool mat in your bathroom, which will help absorb the water that drips. Be colorful in your choice; something bright may remind you of the ocean. A baby blue woolen bath rug, along with designs of fish, divers, submarines, octopuses, and sharks, would be great.
Items around the house
Maximalism is about style and adding more depth and layers to your home. It takes time and experience to get right because there is a fine line between minimalism and clutter. We don’t want to cross the line where items are purely there to cover space. On the other hand, some space left around the home is good; we need it to bounce light around the room.
So what kind of items should you place around the home? Well, like all complex questions, the answer is that it depends.
For the type of style you like, here are some items to place around the rooms.
- Traditional style. If you like the traditional British or European styles, then you should place many traveled items around the home. This can be bone china with exotic Japanese designs. Maybe you could add little knights and horses around the room. The traditional style also loves neoclassical items, so statues of Greek and Roman figures might be appealing.
- The modern maximalist. If you love the modern style, you can place many abstract sculptures around the home. This could be of sci-fi shapes or figures such as two-toned and two-faced busts. You may also want to try showcasing the technology transition using an old radio or TV set, morphing into a slim-screen TV or earbuds.
- If you love animals, you can place all kinds of exotic deep sea creatures around the home. Metal and wooden carvings of animals can be placed in every room and don’t go amiss.
The maximalist style is complex, and it takes time to get right. We’ve provided just a few examples of how you could get started. Let us know how it goes and what style you eventually adopted.
