5 Bold Maximalist Spaces That Prove More Is Better

A gallery wall is an ever-pleasing way to make a space your own, but floor-to-ceiling photos do that big-time. Designer Corine Maggio (@cmnaturaldesigns) celebrated a couple living in Brooklyn, New York, with 23 images ranging from wedding portraits to travel shots. Continuing the room’s palette, she had prints made in black-and-white, then varied them with Pottery Barn frames in rectangles and squares. (There’s a Frame TV by Samsung in the center.) The payoff has been just as massive. “They told me that the photos make them smile every day,” says Corine.

This guest bedroom in Austin, Texas, looks out over a verdant forest, and designer Erin Williamson (@sterinwilliamson) couldn’t resist going wild with pattern. She started with glorious leafy Sandberg wallpaper and tacked a swath on the lampshade, too. “Layering them created the immersive, shadowy depth of a forest,” she says. There’s also foliage in the lumbar pillow, made out of a scrap from an old wool tapestry. A tea-dyed thrift store coverlet has a dreamy look—no wonder guests have said it feels like waking up in Narnia.

Arranged at varying heights on a brass and glass étagère, globes bring a world of whimsy to this home in Fairfield, Connecticut. “Vintage ones have these great saturated shades,” says blogger Charlotte Smith (@atcharlotteshouse). “I love hunting them down at flea markets on weekends.” They’re especially fun next to birds and butterflies in flight on chinoiserie wallpaper, from Rebel Walls. Charlotte’s five kids enjoy them as well, in their own way: “I’ve found globes in our playhouse, in a fort, and on toy railroad tracks!”

With only one window in the dining room of her home in Gainesville, Georgia, “I decided to go all in with a dark, moody look,” says artist Angela Chrusciaki Blehm (@angelachrusciakiblehm). Painting a console and the wall behind it the same rich color — Burgundy by Sherwin-Williams — gave the room serious impact. The monochromatic scene has a bonus effect: It makes the art pieces, brass lamps and yellow chairs stand out.