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Maximalist

Fill every surface with intention

Rooms so rich you discover something new every time you look.

More is more. Bold pattern mixing, saturated color, statement everything. Confident, collected, dramatic.

More layered and expressive than Eclectic; more current and less historically specific than Victorian.

Jeid Studio

What sits closest

The styles nearest to yours, measured the same way the quiz measured you. A room of yours that does not quite fit this style often fits one of these.

VictorianHeritage & Formal
English CountryHeritage & Formal
Hollywood RegencyBold & Statement

How pattern works here

  • Maximalist rooms are built on many patterns, but they start from one.
  • Pick a lead piece, often a wallpaper, and pull the palette from it.
  • Then mix scales and types: a large botanical or scenic paper, a medium print on curtains or chairs, a small print or stripe on pillows, plus an animal print, which reads almost as a neutral here.
  • Repeat at least one print in a second place, such as the wall print on a stool or screen, and keep the largest pieces calmer so the room does not feel stiff.
  • Color is saturated and runs onto trim and ceilings, held together by a shared palette with small pops of contrast.

Surface by surface

What this style asks for on each surface, and what pushes it into a different style entirely.

Flooring
  • Floors in this style often add pattern rather than hide it.
  • Herringbone and chevron wood suit halls and older rooms, and a two tone checkerboard tile can carry a kitchen.
  • In baths and entries, marble floors work in honed or leathered finishes, with the vein size chosen to fit the room: bigger veins for big spaces, finer veins for small ones.
  • Many rooms keep the wood bare and let rugs bring the color.
  • Avoid: gray washed wood, wall to wall beige as the default, and a floor so busy it fights the wallpaper.
Tile
  • Tile is a place to hold one strong pattern in a set frame.
  • Graphic tiles such as Popham Design Hex Star suit a bath or a child's room, and a tiled fireplace surround puts pattern on a small surface while the large pieces stay calm.
  • One veined marble can wrap a bath floor to ceiling for a single bold move.
  • Onyx can be backlit as a backsplash, but it is soft and can scratch or etch, so keep it out of hard working zones.
  • Avoid: plain white subway as the default, tiny mosaics in many colors, and onyx on a busy kitchen counter.
Carpet
  • Carpet can be a pattern layer here, not a neutral.
  • Animal pattern carpet like Stark Simba, or a custom tartan in a bedroom, gives the floor its own print.
  • Where wall to wall carpet must stay, a bright or bordered area rug on top adds color without removing it.
  • Keep one patterned floor per room so the walls can carry the rest.
  • Avoid: plain beige wall to wall in main rooms and two patterned carpets in one sightline.
Cabinets
  • Cabinets take saturated color: deep red, green or blue on the whole run, or a bold island against calmer perimeter cabinets.
  • A high gloss lacquer look, such as an oil based ultra high gloss enamel, gives a mirror shine but needs careful prep, a sanded primer and thin coats.
  • Figured walnut veneer with burl or crotch figure can stand in for color as pattern in wood.
  • Avoid: all white kitchens, flat gray, and matte finishes that make strong color look dull.
Cabinet hardware
  • Hardware is mostly brass.
  • Unlacquered brass ages to a patina and reads current, while very shiny lacquered brass can look dated, so use polished brass in small doses.
  • Pieces used in maximalist homes include the Rejuvenation Beckett pull and leather pulls in a child's room.
  • Brass pairs well with emerald, cobalt and turquoise cabinets.
  • Avoid: chrome bar pulls, stainless edge pulls, and one finish forced through every room.
Plumbing fittings
  • Fittings lean warm.
  • A polished natural brass faucet sits well against bold tile or colored walls, and a clawfoot tub on a marble floor fits the look.
  • A floor mounted tub filler can stand clear of a stone clad wall.
  • An onyx or marble basin can be the vanity focal, though onyx can etch from acids, so many clients keep it for a powder room.
  • Avoid: chrome everything, matte white fixtures, and builder grade vanities with no character.
Lighting
  • Each room often gets one statement fixture, such as a large chandelier in plaster, glass or brass.
  • Mixed eras work: antique lights with glass pendants and velvet lampshades in one room.
  • Backlit onyx can act as a light source on a bar front, island or hall wall, if a skilled installer balances the LEDs and leaves an access panel.
  • Avoid: a grid of recessed cans as the only light, bare industrial cages, and several competing chandeliers in one view.
Fireplaces
  • The fireplace is a focal point and can carry the boldest stone.
  • Rosso Levanto marble, deep red with fine white veins, suits a surround, and it often needs sealing and pH neutral cleaners.
  • A tiled surround holds pattern in one frame.
  • A near black brown such as Tanner's Brown can soften the inside of the opening.
  • Avoid: plain drywall surrounds, stacked gray stone, and floating mantels with no detail.
Stone
  • Stone is colored and veined, chosen to be seen.
  • Rosso Levanto runs blood red to dark purple with fine white veins.
  • Turkish Dark Olive gives zinc and lead grays in honed or leathered finishes.
  • Bardiglio Nuvolato can wrap a bath.
  • Onyx is banded calcite, often honey colored and translucent.
  • It can be somewhat fragile and is a poor pick for most countertops.
  • Marble in general can stain, etch or scratch, so seal it as the supplier directs and expect patina.
  • Avoid: speckled granite, plain white quartz as the default, and onyx on a hard working kitchen counter.
Stairs
  • Stairs can carry a pattern up the house.
  • A zebra print runner is one example, and a wool flatweave stripe such as Roger Oates Dartmouth Green adds color with a gold stripe.
  • In some houses, marble treads beside warm wood make the stair a feature.
  • Fit runners with an anti slip underlay.
  • Avoid: bare painted treads in a busy house and a runner pattern that clashes with the hall wallpaper.
Wallpaper
  • Wallpaper often sets the room.
  • House of Hackney prints florals, botanicals and animals in groups it calls bright and dark, made to order and hung by pasting the wall.
  • Scalamandre Zebras, first made in 1945, comes as paper, grasscloth and a bath rated vinyl.
  • Many rooms start from one paper and pull the palette from it, then repeat the print on fabric, a screen or a stool.
  • Paper can run up into the eaves or mansard.
  • Avoid: one accent wall in an otherwise plain room, peel and stick on rough walls, and three large prints at the same scale.
Paint
  • Paint is deep and saturated.
  • Farrow and Ball dark reds such as Preference Red No. 297 and Rectory Red No. 217, and Benjamin Moore Caliente AF-290, suit dining rooms, front doors and cabinets.
  • Colour drenching puts one shade on walls, trim, radiators and ceiling, with the finish varied for depth.
  • Deep colors need a dark tinted primer for full color.
  • High gloss enamel can turn a wall or door into a lacquer surface.
  • Avoid: bright white trim everywhere, pale grays, and flat white ceilings over dark walls.
Ceilings
  • Ceilings are never left out.
  • A contrast color, such as Jitney over Dead Salmon walls, or a pink ceiling, can lead the whole scheme.
  • A drenched ceiling in the wall color makes a room feel lower and cozier, which suits halls and small rooms.
  • An oil based high gloss enamel is rated for ceilings and gives a mirror shine.
  • Wallpaper can also carry overhead into eaves.
  • Avoid: flat bright white ceilings and popcorn texture.
Wall details
  • Trim and wall details split and frame color.
  • A half wall in deep red with a softer color above is a Farrow and Ball move.
  • Dark trim on lighter walls, such as Tanner's Brown on woodwork, sharpens a room, while painting built ins the wall color quiets clutter.
  • A folding screen in the wallpaper print can divide a room.
  • Avoid: crisp white trim around every color and trim with no relation to the palette.
Furniture
  • Furniture is upholstered in color and texture.
  • Velvet club chairs and a curved vintage sofa in new velvet are recurring pieces.
  • Burl wood side tables bring figure as pattern, and lacquered case pieces add gloss.
  • Keep the large anchors calmer and put the strongest patterns on smaller pieces.
  • Figured walnut and burl lead the wood, since exotic veneers such as macassar ebony and zebrawood are listed as vulnerable.
  • Avoid: matched furniture sets, gray performance fabric on every piece, and only new pieces with no vintage.
Textiles
  • Velvet is the core cloth, often in saturated color and often printed.
  • Schumacher makes leopard velvet in several colorways, and printed velvets can fill whole rooms.
  • Mix velvet with linen, mohair and cotton for texture, and keep silk as a smaller accent next to heavier cloth.
  • Repeat one print in two places so the room feels planned.
  • Avoid: all solid neutrals, one fabric on every surface, and silk on high wear seats.
Rugs
  • Rugs layer.
  • Shag over flatweave mixes texture, several small vintage style rugs can overlap to cover a large room, and a bright runner over a cream base adds one swappable color moment.
  • Animal print rugs and runners work as the floor's pattern.
  • Size the base rug to the room and let the top rug be the smaller accent.
  • Avoid: one small rug floating in a big room, and a patterned top rug on a patterned base.

Where to start

Real paint colors and products, so you have something specific to take to a paint counter or a showroom.

Wall paint
Preference Red No. 297Farrow and Ball; deepest red, half walls and dining rooms
Rectory Red No. 217Farrow and Ball; rich clean red; Archive, made to order
Eating Room Red No. 43Farrow and Ball; dark red dining rooms
Incarnadine No. 248Farrow and Ball; dark red
Dead Salmon No. 28Farrow and Ball; earthy pink, above a red half wall
Jitney No. 293Farrow and Ball; for a strong ceiling
Brinjal No. 222Farrow and Ball; aubergine, pairs with Green Smoke
Green Smoke No. 47Farrow and Ball; deep green partner to Brinjal
Tanner's Brown No. 255Farrow and Ball; near black brown, trim and fireplaces
Caliente AF-290Benjamin Moore; classic red, LRV 8.82
Hollandlac Brilliant 98Fine Paints of Europe; ultra high gloss finish in any color
Carpet
Stark Simba CarpetAnimal pattern, wall to wall
Roger Oates Dartmouth GreenWool flatweave runner, gold stripe
Slab stone
Rosso Levanto MarbleLiguria, Italy; red to purple, white veins; seal
Honey OnyxBanded calcite; backlit; light use only
Turkish Dark Olive MarbleGray to chocolate; honed or leathered
Bardiglio Nuvolato MarbleGray clouded marble; bath walls and floors
Tile
Popham Design Hex StarGraphic tile for a bath or kid's room
Hardware finish
Unlacquered BrassPatinas over time
Rejuvenation Beckett PullUsed in a maximalist bedroom
Lighting
Julie Neill Diego ChandelierWhite plaster; chandelier and matching sconce
Thomas O'Brien Whitman Small SconceBrass and milk glass

The architecture underneath

A lot of what makes a room read as this style is in the architecture, before any furniture comes in.

Older Shell With Original Detail KeptMansards, chevron floors, first front doors
Painted Front Door in a Strong ColorRed or yellow, the first statement
Built In Shelving Painted OutLibrary style shelves in the wall color
Chair Rail Height Color SplitDeep color below, softer color above
Colored or Lacquered CeilingContrast, drenched or high gloss
Trim Painted Darker or DrenchedWoodwork joins the color scheme
Fireplace as the Focal PointTiled or colored marble surround
Herringbone or Chevron Wood FloorsPattern built into the floor

What to know about the materials

A few materials this style uses need more care than they look like they will. Worth knowing before you choose them.

MarbleMarble can etch. Lemon, wine and tomato can leave dull marks, and sealing does not stop that. A stone pro can polish the marks out, and a honed finish hides them better. Plenty of people like how it ages. If you would not, we will steer you somewhere else.
OnyxIt is soft, and acids and scratches mark it easily. Onyx belongs somewhere backlit and looked at, rather than on a surface anyone sets a pan down on.

If you are working on a house and want to see what this style would look like in it, set up a time with Jeid Studio and we can go through it with your answers in front of us.

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