The Secret Garden Chinoiserie in Golden Hour by Rockett St George, a golden chinoiserie of birds and blossom in a dining room with a run of red velvet chairs
Decorating Notes

In Praise of More: The Case for Maximalist Wallpaper

By Wallpaper Sales

For years we were told that less was more. Maximalism is the joyful, overdue correction, and its natural home is the wall. This is decorating as self-expression, and it has a long and glamorous history.

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Minimalism likes to present itself as timeless good taste, but for most of decorating history the opposite instinct held sway. The Victorian parlour layered pattern upon pattern with cheerful abandon. The great English country houses accumulated their glorious, mismatched contents over generations.

The most beloved rooms in the world tend to be the full ones, the ones that tell you something about the people who live in them. Maximalism is not a new fad so much as a very old pleasure, rediscovered after a long, pale interlude. At its heart is a liberating idea: that a home should be a portrait of its owner, not a showroom.

"Maximalism is not a new fad. It is a very old pleasure, rediscovered."

More Was Always More

The archives are where it starts. Nympheus, from Baker Originals by GP & J Baker, is a water lily design drawn in blue and acid yellow with absolutely no interest in restraint. Bourton Damask in Rose, from Dauphine by Nina Campbell, is the formal end of the same instinct, and it is hung here beside a red door frame rather than apologised for.

Amritsar in Rose / Jet, from Traditional by Mallion & Knowles, throws coral flowers across a black ground. And Morny, from Papiers Peints Vol 7 by Manuel Canovas, is a whole teal forest, which is about as committed as a wall gets.

Nympheus in Jazz by GP and J Baker, an archive water lily design in blue and yellow beside a doorway and a dark wooden console

Nympheus, Jazz by GP & J Baker

Bourton Damask in Rose by Nina Campbell, a pink damask beside a red painted door frame, with a console table and a vase of flowers

Bourton Damask, Rose by Nina Campbell

Amritsar in Rose and Jet by Mallion and Knowles, pink and coral flowers scattered over a black ground, between tall white doors

Amritsar, Rose / Jet by Mallion & Knowles

Morny by Manuel Canovas, a deep teal forest of trees and palms behind a mid century armchair

Morny by Manuel Canovas

The Art of the Full Room

Done badly, maximalism is just clutter. Done well it is one of the most sophisticated looks there is, and the secret is that it is not random at all. A great maximalist room is held together by a thread, a shared palette, a repeated motif, a consistent mood, that lets a dozen bold elements sing together rather than shout over one another.

Wallpaper is the perfect starting point, because a rich design hands you a ready-made palette to build the rest of the room around. Festival Floral Trellis by Joules sets its red and blue suzani against a navy headboard and a red lamp, and the room is finished. Kalamkari in Stone and Chintz in Petal, both from Kala by Coordonné, do the same in ochre and coral, and Persian Garden by Grandeco does it in sage for £12.99 a roll.

Festival Floral Trellis in Cream by Joules, a red and blue suzani trellis in a bedroom with a navy headboard and a red table lamp

Festival Floral Trellis, Cream by Joules

Kalamkari in Stone by Coordonne, an ochre kalamkari print in a bathroom with a round mirror and a wall mounted basin

Kalamkari, Stone by Coordonné

Chintz Petal in Kala by Coordonne, a coral and blue chintz behind a dark wooden console table in a pale room

Chintz, Petal by Coordonné

Persian Garden in Sage Green by Grandeco, a soft green persian floral behind a fluted sideboard with a lamp and a potted plant

Persian Garden, Sage Green by Grandeco

"A great maximalist room is not random. It is held together by a single thread."

The dark grounds are where it becomes enveloping. New Dawn Rose, from Flowers by Boråstapeter, is blowsy roses on near black. Floral in Deep Red, from The Trend Spectrum by A S Creation, is crimson peonies at £24.99. Flory in Navy, from The Bloom Edit by Josephine Munsey, trails pale flowers over navy. And Pimpernel by William Morris at Home proves the point is as old as Morris himself.

New Dawn Rose by Borastapeter, blowsy pink roses on near black, in a dining room with long curtains and a table laid with flowers

New Dawn Rose by Boråstapeter

Floral Deep Red from The Trend Spectrum by A S Creation, dark crimson peonies behind a bedside cabinet and a small lamp

Floral, Deep Red by A S Creation

Flory in Navy by Josephine Munsey, pale flowers trailing over a navy ground behind a group of turned wooden pots

Flory, Navy by Josephine Munsey

Pimpernel by William Morris at Home, the blue Morris design in a bedroom with floral bedding and a cane chair

Pimpernel by William Morris at Home

How and Where to Use It

Maximalism rewards commitment, so be bold. A busy design can take the whole room rather than a single wall, and the more enclosed the space, a dining room, a study, a cloakroom, the more gloriously it works. Take the pattern over the ceiling, layer in a coordinating fabric on the blinds, and let one strong palette hold the whole thing together.

Small rooms are the easiest place to be brave. Rivington Folly by Graham & Brown wraps a bathroom in a woodland scene, and Pond Life, from Wild Life by Brand McKenzie, puts a lily pond behind a freestanding bath. Dundee in Red, from The Highlands by Today Interiors, takes a hallway in tartan, and Vineyard in Blush runs grapevines up a dining room wall.

Rivington Folly by Graham and Brown, a blue green woodland scene in a bathroom with an antique vanity, twin basins and a pair of mirrors

Rivington Folly by Graham & Brown

Pond Life from Wild Life by Brand McKenzie, a green lily pond design in a bathroom with a freestanding bath and a timber dado

Pond Life by Brand McKenzie

Dundee in Red from The Highlands by Today Interiors, a red and navy tartan in a hallway with a bench, a blue door and a patterned rug

Dundee, Red by Today Interiors

Vineyard in Blush by Mallion and Knowles, trailing grapevines on pink in a dining room with a dark table and a pale pink wall

Vineyard, Blush by Mallion & Knowles

And it need not be loud to be maximalist. Dancing Daisies in Cornflower, from Oakham by Scion, Leaf in Teal, from Cosiness, and Aubin in Pimento by Romo are all pattern and colour rather than volume, which is the whole of the test.

Dancing Daisies in Cornflower from Oakham by Scion, blue and green daisies behind a cane sideboard with a cream lamp and a plant

Dancing Daisies, Cornflower by Scion

Leaf Teal from Cosiness by A S Creation, a soft teal leaf design in a dining corner with a round table, pale chairs and framed art

Leaf, Teal by A S Creation

Aubin in Pimento by Romo, a coral zigzag stripe behind a painted chest of drawers and a checked chair

Aubin, Pimento by Romo

The trick is to be brave but not chaotic: let the wallpaper lead and choose everything else in conversation with it. Browse the whole maximalist collection, or feature wall ideas and jungle for neighbouring moods, and order a sample first to see the full effect in your own light.

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