To celebrate a decade of design I wanted to mark it with a bold, brave and maximalist wallpaper collection. I would call myself a subtle maximalist, the idea of creating gentle pockets of pattern throughout my interior scheme. As much as I love pattern and colour, I like to use it sparingly to create interesting focal points within an interior space.
My latest collection KG Maximalist 21 features ten new bold and exciting wallpaper patterns. Carpi and Bauhaus adopt my signature mismatch style where there is no repeat of match up in the pattern. Apply one strip, cut and keep going. My mix ‘n’ match style is sustainable with little wastage, each customer can create a unique mural style feature wall from one roll. Apply landscape or portrait , any way will work. To make the overall composition easier as for some it can be daunting, you can cut the strips first and work out the layout on the floor before pasting. The other eight patterns are beautiful geometric repeats that are all pretty much exuberant with colour!
It took me six months to design my latest collection and I really wanted it to represent my journey over the past 10 years. To curate this collection, each pattern represents my primary influences and colour has been a huge part of my story. My inspirations are places I’ve traveled to or currently dreaming of (lots of), my favourite design eras, capturing treasured moments of time, patterns in nature and my surrounding environment.
There are so many ways to incorporate the wallpapers into an interior scheme and it always excites me to see how Interior Designers or regular customers have styled theirs. Here I share some of my tips on using a maximalist wallpaper within your interior scheme!
1. Create a moodboard
You need to be able to visualise some sort of end goal or theme for your interior space. I always think designing a moodboard can help with direction, set the tone and keep you on track. You don’t need any fancy software to do this. Just grab yourself some card, scissors, glue and cut and stick your favourite accessories, patterns, textures from magazines and online onto the card. You might have loads of imagery to begin with, condense it down and then build from there. If you have physical samples from brands you like you can use them along with paint swatches. It’s a fun exercise and something that can be done for each room. The boards don’t have to be so big, around A3 is good for size or feel free to make it extra snazzy using digital software. The overall aim is to create a clear vision, if you have that then you are good to go!
2. Work with a neutral base
Not everyone will want to work in this way, this is what I found has worked for me., but its also reflective of my personal style. Everyone has a different take on aesthetic and style and that’s ok! Personally I like to use a neutral tone as a base, so that could be a white, muted grey or sage. ‘The complete book of colourful interiors’ is a great source in helping you decide on what types of colours work in a living room or kitchen for example. I love soft muted pinks and greens and this combination works so well. Once I’ve picked my base tones I then start to add colour through the wallpaper and accessorise with complementary and contrasting tones from the patterned wallpaper. I like to leave white space in between the focal points within my interiors space, for example a white parquet floor to let all the patterns speak for themselves. A subtle maximalist style that is individual and chic!
3. Break up pattern with blocks of colour
Applying pattern after pattern next to each over can make the interior look overwhelming with to many focal points. Using contrasting patterns such as a floral and a geometric can work, but has to be done well for it to look chic. For example using different tones of the same colour in each pattern to encourage a seamless flow. Big blocks of colour are great for breaking up pattern, either through the styling or furniture.
4. Create a gallery feature wall
One of my favorite ways to style up a maximalist wallpaper is to add drama and personality with a gallery feature wall. Off course this would be the main feature within the room, with a bold patterned wallpaper and a mixture of prints and artworks on one wall, perhaps go a little subtle with the opposing walls. To avoid it being to overwhelming I would use same style frames throughout the scheme. Either display personal photographs from experiences, your favourite prints, original artworks or if you are super design savvy mix them all together. You can even lean your prints and artworks on a console table or on the floor mixing different scales throughout. Gallery walls showcase personality and add warmth into the space. I have written a blog post on ‘designing your own gallery feature wall’ with lots of tips and tricks to help you along the way.
5. Use different textures and scale
A maximalist interior utilises different textures and scale. Using a variety of different textures in the same palette of tones will add warmth into your space. For example within the Lucienne wallpaper image, the wallpaper is a warm rustic mustard combined with two different types of warm wood in the same tone, the drawers and the parquet floor.
The triangles in the wallpaper within the Lucienne wallpaper are mimicked within the parquet flooring, playing with the scale of the pattern. The large square flooring emulates the square composition within the Heritage wallpaper which opens up the space.