Maximalist interior designers are masters of combining patterns, palettes, textures, and layers to achieve the “more is more” aesthetic, bringing a riot of color, form, and pattern to every room they create. Although it may not everyone’s cup of tea, this trend towards bolder interiors has grown steadily and significantly over the past few years, as homeowners embrace the opportunity to project their playful personalities into their spaces and to show off their collections of, well, anything and everything all at once. The following maximalist interior designers—all of whom are listed on the AD PRO Directory—know just how to give homes a wow factor through brave decor choices, eclectic curation, and whimsical details. Fair warning: You might not know where to look first.
Aquilo Interiors
Eye-catching patterns, vibrant colors, and rich textures are all at play in the lively spaces created by Carmen René Smith and her studio, Aquilo Interiors. The firm, which is based in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, blends fun and sophistication in the bold interiors it designs for A-list clients worldwide, including Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny. Wallpaper and saturated paint colors provide a lively backdrop for carefully curated art and furnishings, and whimsical touches like vintage gumball machines in a living area or a towering plush giraffe in a nursery add to the fun and personal aesthetic of each home.
Michelle Gage Interiors
You can’t help but smile looking at a space dreamed up by Philadelphia-based Michelle Gage Interiors, whether it’s a lilac-hued kitchen or an art-filled living area. Led by designer Michelle Gage, a former home and found vintage buyer at Anthropologie, the team specializes in one-of-a-kind spaces filled with unique pieces, bold patterns, and vivid colors. Michelle Gage Interiors has a knack for breathing new life into historic homes, including a 1787 farmhouse in New Jersey and an 1800s town house in Rittenhouse Square. The full-service design firm works on residential and commercial projects and recently completed a dog-friendly bookstore in a 1920s Victorian in Maryland.
Studio DB
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From sexy lounge spaces to colorful dining rooms, New York–based firm Studio DB knows how to set a mood. The firm, which recently released Drawn Together, a monograph of its interiors with Rizzoli, leans into the drama for its more maximalist interiors. Led by husband-wife duo Britt and Damian Zunino, Studio DB is known for its inviting and elevated interiors that feature a surprising mix of materials and furnishings. Opulent chandeliers hang above sleek modern tables, while curvaceous upholstered pieces hold court within a Tudor Revival living room. The firm works on projects globally and excels at crafting family-friendly homes with a wondrous feel.
Jasmin Reese Interiors
Jasmin Reese approaches interiors with an artist’s eye, embracing daring color combinations and unexpected accents in her impactful rooms. The Chicago-based designer and her eponymous firm specialize in creating dynamic juxtapositions between old and new, high and low. Wallpapered ceilings and “color-bombing” are Jasmin Reese Interiors signatures, but the firm tightly edits each space to keep the look timeless and uncluttered. From a graffiti-covered kitchen to a chartreuse laundry room to a jungle-themed playroom, Reese and her team aren’t afraid to add a bit of whimsy, yet comfort and functionality remain key considerations for every space the firm designs.
Jewel Marlowe
Expect the unexpected in the work of Jewel Marlowe. The Washington, DC, area designer’s work showcases a traditional take on maximalism, incorporating an eclectic mix of antique and vintage pieces from different eras and provenances that Marlowe gathers from sources far and wide. The firm’s interiors feel daring yet steeped in design history, and the designer masterfully layers bold color palettes and whimsical patterns. Classic fabrics and furnishings are reinvented through Marlowe’s surprising and delightful pairings, and the designer incorporates custom furnishings, curtains, and accessories to ensure each space is tailored to the lifestyles and needs of her clients and their families.
Lantz Collective
Barry and Amanda Lantz—a father-daughter team—combine their skills and sensibilities in their interiors through their studio, Lantz Collective, which operates out of both Florida and Indiana. Amanda’s eye for object curation ensures that their projects are always packed with items from unexpected places. Barry, a self-taught painter, brings unique personal style and an adoration of Midwestern and Southern landscapes to original artworks. Frequently appearing in Lantz Collective’s spaces, these works add colorful abstract scenes into an already eclectic mix.
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Fern Santini Inc.
Fern Santini Inc.’s design aesthetic is all about grand gestures, whether they manifest as a study enveloped in deep blue, high-gloss surfaces, a ceiling covered in velvet-textured jewel-toned patterns, or a door to a dark grey kitchen highlighted in sunny yellow. Austin-based founder Fern Santini loves to mix historical references in a tongue-in-cheek way, imbuing her projects with irreverence and wit. Layering details that allow houses to “unfold themselves day after day,” and using unexpected furnishings and artwork, she shows that she’s forever taking risks and thinking outside the box.
Ayromloo Design
Los Angeles–based designer Jessica Ayromloo’s unique brand of maximalism revolves around intense color-blocking of complementary hues, which she also frequently integrates into geometric tile patterns. Add on top of that a selection of surrealist furniture and decor items, a trove of antique pieces, and some contrasting industrial materials, and her designs land somewhere in a dreamlike realm that’s part Dalí painting and part Barbie Dreamhouse.
Summer Thornton Design
Seemingly, Chicago-based Summer Thornton has never met a pattern that she didn’t like or was afraid to layer, remix, and combine. The result? A stunning visual feast that transcends style and period and is immediately recognizable as hers. Thornton firmly believes that each client’s home should be a reflection of their personal style and that their soul, passions, and quirks should be found on the walls and in the furniture throughout the home.
Corey Damen Jenkins & Associates
Looking to give a traditional-style space a more eccentric twist? Call Corey Damen Jenkins, the New York designer and AD100 listee whose ability to create elevated, personality-filled interiors is hard-matched. A magpie mélange full of tantalizing colors and playful patterns, his work is defined through what he describes as a “new maximalist” philosophy, exemplified in both his chic Manhattan atelier and his own fabric and wallpaper line.
Studio Eckstrom
The popular modern farmhouse style has been given a refreshing, wholly original spin by Studio Eckstrom, a firm based in Omaha, Nebraska. Exaggerated ironwork flourishes on cabinetry, a room lined entirely in blue-edged pinstriped fabric, various faunal motifs, and a green clawfoot bathtub can all be found in Mark and Mikal Eckstrom’s daring designs, which are simultaneously sophisticated and, thankfully, don’t take themselves too seriously.
Escala Forma
Design studio Escala Forma isn’t afraid to lean all the way into the tropical tropes of its hometown mixing banana-leaf motifs, wicker furniture, and pastel pink in one particular project so that there’s absolutely no mistaking its location, Miami. Founder Carlos Rodriguez, who has always been fascinated by the interplay between history and modernity, frequently brings together eclectic artworks, busy patterns, and pieces from multiple time periods in order to preserve a location’s history and cultural significance with his “contemporary maximalist” design style.
Lisa & Leroy
Lisa Shaffer, the owner and creative director of Washington, DC, studio Lisa & Leroy, is inspired by an eclectic mix of styles and cultures. Deftly applying four or more bold and contrasting colors in a compact room, her interiors pack a serious punch while still feeling comfortable and inviting. A love of expression is evident in every Lisa & Leroy project: Each space blends form and function, old and new, traditional and whimsical for a different and surprising result every time.
Frampton Co
Though perhaps not as “in your face” as other maximalist interiors, projects by Frampton Co still artfully pull in enough traditional and contemporary elements, varied decorative styles, details, and patterns to be worthy of the categorization. Founded by Elena Frampton and with offices in New York City and Bridgehampton, the studio’s focus is “balancing pragmatism with personality” in each space it designs—whether it’s a modern beachfront home or a historic townhouse—and ensuring they all remain contextually sensitive.
Sarah Stacey Interior Design
Sarah Stacey Interior Design, with offices in Texas and Tennessee, specializes in storied, colorful, and eclectic projects. Founder Sarah Stacey has no trouble blending together deep, rich colors and intricate patterns and is a big proponent of playful wallpaper—whether she’s applying lemon motifs across a feature wall or hexagon prints around and over an entire room. Her team approaches each project with an eye for form and function and aims to incorporate meaningful pieces, antiques, forms, textures, and colors each and every time.
Tim Hawkins Interiors
Grandeur is perhaps the best word for the feeling evoked by the interiors of Tim Hawkins, a designer based in Laguna Beach. (Hawkins’s portfolio includes some truly palatial homes.) With an educational background in fashion and color theory at Otis Parsons in Los Angeles and film at UCLA Film School, his know-how has inevitably informed the drama and the cinematic references in residences he designs today.
Mr Alex Tate Design
A self-proclaimed maximalist at heart, design principal Alex Alonso of Mr Alex Tate Design embraces a global perspective and celebrates the power of storytelling through his spaces. Reflecting a distinct design approach that is all about mixing, the result is a bold sensibility he calls “modern American maximalism” and is typified by the use of fanciful prints, characterful sculptures, and eclectic objects galore.
Creative Tonic Design
Creative Tonic founder Courtnay Tartt Elias likes to layer saturated hues, richly appointed textiles, and personal narratives into the residential spaces she designs. Based in Houston, Texas, her studio is never afraid to shy away from combining geometric patterns, richly toned high-gloss millwork paint, metallics sheens, or varied floral motifs—all together with carefully chosen passementerie and other details.
Are you looking for an interior decorator or designer to hire for your next project? Whichever style suits you, visit the AD PRO Directory to browse our list of AD-approved designers and find your match for a design consultation
