While you clasp your polished hands in delight over a gorgeous room styled in the new Maximalism, please, dear Diva, look closely. It is not “I never left that style”. There are ultra-new pieces in the mix.
I’ve chosen a room from the new Christopher Spitzmiller website for the exercise of breaking down the look of Maximalism to get a feel for how to handle it in your space.
Wallpaper! Yes! This has a room-surround-pattern in the style of chinoiserie murals, but with honeycomb medallions and irregular plaques in with the normal branches, it becomes the new design mash-up. Don’t you love the silvery gleam? Metallic wallpapers are daringly lovely.
Look through the De Gournay offerings at Primavera Interior Furnishings with your designer. I chose the spectacular 12 panelled Namban mural and the charming Badminton chinoiserie for this context. The full selection is a study in the best of the best. Wallpaper is the backdrop of choice for the Harmonious Modern style too so we’ll be looking at different sorts of patterns in that upcoming report.
Shifting focus to the dining table, glass tops are still an airy, unimposing option. It’s the dining table bases that are boldly going where none have gone before! I love the table in our featured room because its stacked stones, reminiscent of our wired crystals, looks amazing with the high-glamour chairs. The chairs are deceptively traditional in appearance. A heart shaped back did not, to my knowledge, ever appear in the court of Louis XVI or in Swedish or Italian variations on the style.
I suggest a sumptuous dining table from Brabbu using rich gold, in a light treatment and a unique motif. When the table base is highly decorative the chairs hold the line with simplified but not casual styling. No matched sets allowed! You have to sense when the combination of chair to table is right, it’s intuited. The chairs from Koket (centre) are pure art. The flanking velvet upholstered chairs from Brabbu are extraordinary, their website has numerous beautiful possibilities for pairing.
The lavish gold leaf consoles remind me of the pair of mirrors that stopped me in my tracks at the Toronto International Art Fair last year. Sophie Coryndon, represented by Todd Merrill Studio New York, made them by casting real honeycombs in the lost wax process. Fascinating! They have the impact of the paired console tables in our feature room and would add the important beehive motif against a chinoiserie paper.
In a final look at the feature room with Christopher Spitzmiller’s exquisite two-tone lamps, we can recall that Sun equals gold and Moon equals silver. There’s the mindful balance between outgoing and reflective, enthusiastic and concerned, social time and me-time.
For weaving radiance into your surroundings, Diva dear, call on a professional interior designer to co-create maximal magic with you. We have access to exceptional products. It takes schooled knowledge and experience to take design risks while maintaining design equipoise.
Because Minimalism is out. Maximalism is in.
I love maximalism! Your choice of wallpaper is so elegant and timeless. The pale blue velvet chairs are gorgeous! I do recall your introduction of glass topped tables with substantial, geometric or stacked bases, so unusual but the contrast of a light tabletop with a strong base is stylish and maintains a dignified presence. This look is really gorgeous, Lois!
Dear Carmela, I am so glad you find maximalism beautiful and share my joy in this return to elegance!