7 Ways to Open the Door to the Dreamscape of Clutter!
Find out how to welcome the more is more home decor trend.
A quiet yet noisy revolution is underway in home design! A reaction to the often austere “religion” of minimalism, it is rehabilitating color, the throwing together of eclectic styles, and a really personalized space. Suddenly clutter is everywhere on TikTok, and the hashtag #cluttercore is trending on Instagram.
This trend is driven by influences like the wish to create a cheerful den that grew out of the pandemic, and even the tastes of its ambassadors including Britain’s Princess Anne, as the Daily Mail reports, who love this “aesthetic of excess”
Here’s how to bring maximalism, the countertrend to minimalism, into your home and love it!
There’s style in the wild!
As our Interior Design Hub video is careful to remind us, there’s still order in the chaos. Done well, this look is curated, it is not just about hoarding!
Maximalist interior designer, Benji Lewis, tells the Daily Mail that while “it might be assumed that Cluttercore eliminates the prospect of a sense of elegance, think again; with the artful positioning of a pair of objects in your decorative arrangement, you've got the perfect structure in place to clutter up as much as you like around them.”
Apartment Therapy agrees that you can spot the style in the wild in “Rooms that play with multiple patterns within the same space, all united by a common color or color palette… [or] A surplus of accessories and design accents, all of which are thought-out, well-appointed, and visually stimulating; they add interest to a design scheme — not just create “noise”.”
Color rules!
As mymove.com details, “The foundation for maximalism design is color — lots of it.”
There’s a conscious decision to move away from the modern, utilitarian palettes of minimalism in favor of lush colors like bright pinks, fuschia, vibrant greens and deep hues generally that set off the cozier yet glamorous mood for the room. It also incorporates bold motifs like paisley, to add character and charm. Bold accents in sumptuous materials like velvet work beautifully with this look to prevent the room feeling too cave-like.
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This seems to be a gut reaction to the “sameness” of the minimalist aesthetic. As one talkback to the video says: “Every Youtuber who filmed their homes looked like everyone else's. All white, natural colors, few objects, beautiful but oh so boring.” Or as Vox puts it, this trend is “a way of explicitly rejecting the spare white walls and perfectly placed wooden salad bowls of professional taste-havers on Instagram.”
Personalization on show
Remember when minimalist gurus like Marie Kondo preached tidying our stuff away, out of sight, to promote a streamlined aesthetic? Maximalism wants to do the opposite as it is a form of storytelling. Your signature is what makes it special, so surround yourself with what you love. Mementos from your travels, framed family photos, plants and an antique or two can tell the complicated story of you, even if minimalists will shudder at your “museum”!
In its discussion of the top design trends of 2022, Architectural Digest confirms this focus on personal interpretation in home decor: “Much like the evolution of fashion in recent years, interiors are increasingly becoming less about what’s trendy and more about personal expression.”
And this trend is not just about opulence. It offers teens living at home, students, and first-time renters an inexpensive way to make the space they live in “theirs” without making major changes.
Vintage power
Imagine desks so full of figurines, crystals and cute soft toys, there’s hardly any space left to work in! “If ever there was an interiors trend to set your inner magpie loose, #cluttercore is it," interior designer Benji Lewis tells the Daily Mail.
Lewis believes that heritage items offer “anchoring calm” after a couple of years of pandemic uncertainty.
Dip into the past! Historical design trends such as Art Deco and even the Memphis Design Movement of the 1980s, once described as “a shotgun wedding between Bauhaus and Fisher-Price”, were about excess too.
Websites like Chairish and Etsy offer interesting, curated vintage decor pieces to inspire DIY designers.
Comfort and curves
Feeling warm and fuzzy is built into maximalism. In its broad look at the design trends of 2022, Architectural digest puts it like this: “Maybe we’re all just feeling a little fragile, but many of us are still not ready for sharp edges in our interiors.”
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Says Emma Riberti, head of interiors at consumer insights company, WGSN, “Comfy, curvilinear, welcoming forms will be paramount… soft to the eye and the hand to create an overall relaxed and comfortable feel within the space.”
Create gallery walls and showcase your books
Maximalism is a dream for bookworms and art lovers, the more artwork and books the better! Hang multiple artworks on a “gallery wall” to create a focal point in your room. Throw rules about matching art and frames out the window! The trick to still creating a curated look is to pay attention to spacing the artwork, so that the spacing is uniform.
No need to box books away in the garage. Tall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves or even books stacked on side tables are a common feature of this style.
A work in progress
Don’t strive for perfection. Maximalism is not a style you can acquire all at once. The beauty of it is that anything goes though still within a considered approach.
Furniture, colors and patterns don’t have to match. And these things absolutely don’t have to be new, fans of maximalist style point out. You can be green and celebrate stuff.
And there’s no shortage of inspiration. Vox reports that Instagram accounts sharing maximalist interiors by designers like Dabito,and Kelly Mindell of Studio DIY have hundreds of thousands of followers. Meanwhile, popular home decor publications such as Domino regularly spotlight visually textured spaces.
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