Maximalist Interior Design: Style, Colour and Ideas

What is maximalist style?

Maximalism is the joy of having your things around you. Colour goes on every wall, sometimes on the ceiling too. Pattern sits on pattern. Pictures climb from the skirting board to the cornice, and shelves are full. Nothing is hidden because it is "too much". Yet a good maximalist room is not a muddle: it is planned as carefully as a minimalist one, only with more in it.

As an idea, maximalism is an aesthetic of excess and abundance and a reaction against minimalism. Where the modernist architect Mies van der Rohe took "Less is more" as his motto, the architect Robert Venturi replied "Less is a bore". It is summed up as "more is more". In the home it looks back to the richly layered rooms of the Victorians, and takes colour and pattern from every period since.

The maximalist look in five signs

Colour on every wall. Deep and saturated, often with the woodwork and ceiling painted to match.
Pattern on pattern. Wallpaper, rug, curtains and cushions, all patterned, none the same.
A wall of pictures. Frames of every size hung close together, from low to high.
Rich fabric. Velvet, fringe, tassels, needlepoint and a touch of animal print.
Collections on show. Books, china, glass and curios, grouped and proudly displayed.

Maximalist colours

The secret is a limit. Pick three or four strong colours and use only those, over and over, in the wallpaper, the sofa, the art and the lampshades. Add cream or black as a spacer. A room in emerald, violet, pink and marigold looks rich. A room in every colour at once looks random.

#F4E6CCCreamMounts, lampshades, the spaces between.
#FFCC4AMarigoldFrames, cushions, a lamp.
#D41E78Hot pinkA shade, a print, a chair.
#E2432EVermilionSmall, sharp accents.
#188264EmeraldThe velvet sofa.
#3C166CVioletThe walls or the wallpaper.

The paint calculator works out the litres, with the ceiling if you are painting that too.

Maximalist materials, furniture and lighting

Woods: Dark and polished, or painted and lacquered in a strong colour.
Fabrics: Velvet, silk, chintz, brocade and needlepoint, trimmed with fringe and tassels. Florals beside stripes beside animal print.
Other materials: Gilt, brass, lacquer, mirror, coloured glass, glazed ceramics and marble.
Furniture: A mix of periods, with generous shapes: a buttoned Victorian chair, a modern sofa in bright velvet, a painted cabinet, a brass trolley. The mix is the point.
Lighting: Lights worth looking at: a large pendant or chandelier, lamps with patterned or pleated shades, coloured glass bases and a light over a favourite picture.

Maximalist room by room

A maximalist living room

Paint or paper the walls first, then choose a sofa in one of your colours. Cover it with cushions in several prints. Build the picture wall from the middle outwards: hang the first frame with its centre 145–150 cm from the floor, then keep the same gap between frames every time. A rule designers use is 8–15 cm (how high to hang pictures). Finish with a patterned rug and a lamp with a fringed shade.

A maximalist bedroom

Wallpaper is the quickest route. A standard UK roll is 10.05 m long and 53 cm wide, and a large pattern uses more paper because each drop must match the last. The wallpaper calculator counts the rolls. Add a headboard in a second pattern and bedding in a plain strong colour.

A maximalist hall or cloakroom

Small rooms are the best place to be brave, because you pass through them and do not sit in them. Paper the walls, paint the ceiling, and hang pictures all the way up.

Maximalist style on a budget, in a rented flat

Put your things out. Books, china, records, postcards. What you already own is the start of the room.
Collect frames. Mixed second-hand frames, filled with prints, pages and photographs. Lean them along shelves if you cannot hang them.
Change the lampshades. One patterned or coloured shade does a great deal.
Mix the cushions. Three different prints that share one colour.
Paint a piece of furniture. A chest or a chair you own, in your strongest colour. The walls stay as they are.

For the walls, Magnolia walls covers how to ask a landlord about painting.

What to avoid

No palette. Without a set of colours that repeat, a full room turns into noise.
Only small things. Many small objects look bitty. Add large ones: a big picture, a big plant, a big pattern.
No pause. Keep one plain element, such as the floor or the sofa, so the patterns have something to play against.
Buying to fill. Leave the gap until you find a thing you love. The room is a collection, not a stockroom.

Maximalist vs boho, and maximalist vs Art Deco

Maximalist vs boho

Both are full, layered and personal. Boho is earthy and relaxed, with natural fibres, plants and low seats. Maximalism is brighter and more dressed: saturated colour, velvet, gilt, wallpaper and formal picture walls.

Maximalist vs Art Deco

Both like drama. Art Deco keeps it under strict control: black, gold and one jewel colour, clean geometry and symmetry. Maximalism lets many colours, patterns and periods in at once.

BohoA relaxed style of things collected over time.

Art DecoThe glamorous style of the 1920s and 30s.

All 14 styles, side by side

Maximalist questions

What is maximalist interior design?

A style of abundance: strong colour on the walls, pattern laid over pattern, art from floor to ceiling, velvet, fringe and gilt, and your collections out where you can see them. Its motto is "more is more".

Is maximalism just clutter?

No. Clutter is things with no place. A maximalist room is planned: a set palette that repeats, objects grouped into collections, large pieces to anchor the small ones, and somewhere for the eye to rest.

What colours are maximalist?

Saturated ones: emerald, violet, hot pink, vermilion, marigold, cobalt. Choose three or four and repeat them around the room. Cream or black between them keeps each colour clear.

What is colour drenching?

Painting the walls, the skirting boards, the doors and often the ceiling in the same colour. It wraps the room in one shade and makes a strong background for art and pattern.

How do I start with maximalism?

Start in a small room, such as a hall or a cloakroom, or with one wall. Paint or paper it in a strong colour, hang a group of pictures close together, and add one patterned lampshade. Then build outwards.

Editorial notes

Written by the Snuug team and checked on 11 November 2026. The dates and names come from the sources below. A number with no source beside it is a designers' rule of thumb, not a study. The picture and its colours are Snuug's own pixel art.