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Pull up a seat! Design Meets Decor is your weekly hangout for all things home aesthetic, furniture design, and interior inspiration. Join two friends as they talk through real home design dilemmas, unpack design trends, and showcase how small changes, and the right furniture, can completely transform your space.
Got a room that needs a design intervention? Visit DesignMeetsDecor.com to check out our episode show notes, view featured furniture pieces from Naomi Home, or submit your own decor questions!
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Hello and welcome, home decor lovers. I'm Sue. And I'm Val. And this is Design Meets Decor, brought to you by Naomi Home. In this podcast, we will analyze how home decor styles act as a mirror that showcases who we are as a person and provide inspiration for styling and upscaling your spaces. We do all of this while living, laughing, and low-key lucid.
In this episode, we will continue in our journey where we will go over our 56 home decor styles that we have in our quiz. Today, we're going to talk about minimalist and maximalist home decor styles. If you're interested in finding out which home decor styles you match with, you can check out the link in our bio, take the quiz, and then join us back here at Design Meets Decor, where you will learn more about your style and what it says about you.
Now with all the introductions out of the way, we will get started with minimalist home decor style Starting off, this style reminds me of a white canvas. Yeah, I agree. It's very straightforward, very clean. They follow a less is more philosophy. Yes, and you can really see it in their color palette. It's a very monochrome color palette with different shades of white, gray, and black, which is why it reminds me of a white canvas, 'cause their primary color is white.
Mm-hmm. I think it's kinda interesting how minimalism made a big comeback for millennials, and now with Gen Z, it's the complete opposite, and maximalism is now, like, you wanna have little trinkets around your house or things like that. I was looking into it, and it came up something you mentioned in a previous episode about mid-century modern, how this modern home decor style started in the 2000s, with it being that you should have less stuff- Mm-hmm
avoiding the need to buying too much. Right. But minimalist is a modern style, right? Mm-hmm. Minimalist is fundamentally rooted in the modern design and emerged in the early 20th century. Okay. So moving on to the personalities that embody this style, people who mesh with minimalist home decor are often focused, organized, and they value clarity over clutter.
Like most modern style personality traits, they view their home as a sanctuary. Since they have this clutter-less home, it's just not over-stimulating for them. So it makes sense they do like this sanctuary feel to their home. No, definitely. I'm sure they consider their home like a calm sanctuary. Mm. It should come also, like, a generational thing.
Mm. 'Cause personally for me, I do like minimalism a lot, and it's because I came from a family of collectors all the way to my great-grandmother, and then it kept going on generation trust generation, and I learned to dislike the clutter. I agree. I think the whole- Mm-hmm ... generation thing, it literally, like, changes from generation to generation- True
just like it recently did with Gen Z. But I would say personally, even though I'm more of a maximalist- Mm ... we're gonna go over the personality traits of a maximalist later on. Yeah. But- I do, I would say that if I do buy any decor for my house, it would be very purposeful. I think I mentioned before, like, I wouldn't just decorate with random things.
I want, like, little things around my house to have a, like, story behind them. Just like the minimalist, I do like the quality over quantity mindset too. But I will say I'm not very organized, so that's what makes me more of a maximalist than a minimalist. I think that's also another thing with these two.
We are talking about the extreme of- Mm-hmm ... minimalism and maximalism. All these other styles that follow maximalist home decor or minimalist home decor have their own sort of level of how much- Right ... exactly to have. They don't follow it to the extreme. So even if you like maximalist and I like minimalist, it's the type of thing where we might not be fully related to it just because- Right
we do have our own preference of maybe having a little bit more decor or a little less So for me, in general, I do feel like I fit the description of the minimalist home decor style. I am focused and organized. Mm. Especially with organized, I do have an addiction to organizing things. Going over the materials that this home style uses, since it's very lean and streamlined, they do like a lot of polished stone and smooth glass, just because it's flat and there's, like, no extra ornamentation or texture like you would see in rustic wood, so it adds less visual clutter.
Yes, you also see a lot of stainless steel. Mm, yeah. You'll see it a lot on the railings or in the window frames, the door frames, maybe some furniture legs here and there. Yes, that's true. And they use very light-toned woods- Mm ... if they want to implement wood, and it's strictly lighter wood so it doesn't stand out out of this monochrome color palette.
Yeah, that is true, since they do follow a very white color palette. But other than that, for furniture, it would be just clean, geometric silhouettes. I do see big sofas, but they look simple even though they're big and in your face. At the same time, they're not, 'cause they're just simple. Just because they're minimalist doesn't mean that they want small furniture.
Mm. They will have big sofas. Yep. They also like to use furniture that's functional, so cabinets and drawers for organization. Like sofa bed, I imagine, too. Yes, yes. They also like the organic shape, so not fully for it to be a full curved sofa, but they like the corners to be rounded. Yeah, I think we can really describe it as what they call spatial purity.
Mm. They focus on the sense of openness. So even though they do have these big sofas, they have a little table, so it's still a very open space. And this is one of those home decor styles that the preferred lighting is floor-to-ceiling windows, let natural light come in, not having a bunch of lamps or- Mm-hmm
ceiling lighting. Yeah, like everything's functional. If you have a window, it's because you want light to come in and stuff. The types of fabric that you'll find in this style, they have a mix of natural and manmade. You see a lot of linen, cotton, microfiber, and even though they don't use a lot of decor, you will see some chunky knits here and there.
I bet they will be tucked away in a multifunctional f- sofa, but they do tend to have that. Yes, and I do like how the first three fabrics you mentioned are very fitting for this style, 'cause they're very thin, very airy. They lacked so much ornamentation. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. It's also just clean, simple. A product that we have that would be perfect for a minimalist home, it's our Tania faux linen power reclining sofa chair.
We have it in a bright white color, which would be perfect for a minimalist home. It's also a swivel, so you could use it for many things, a nursery, a chair in your living room to add something different. That is true. I think one of our furniture pieces that really fit into this home decor style is our Naomi Home Bianca cabinet.
It's available in black, white, and gray, so it matches this style's color palette. This cabinet comes with nine drawers, which is great to have, especially since one of the personality traits for the people who embody this style is that they're organized individuals. So this is a functional and convenient furniture option.
It really is perfect for a minimalist home I think what I like about this style is the mindset of rejecting consumerism. I think it's very nice to look at in a way. Doesn't look as sterile as other modern minimalist home decor that we've gone over. So I think it's still a nice decor style, in my opinion.
Yes, it is. It's calming- Mm-hmm ... very relaxing, not overwhelming at all. I do like the philosophy as well of less is more. I like the idea and the personalities of the people who embody this style. Very calming, very organized, very straightforward. But I'm not a fan of the color palette, mainly because they use more white than black.
I do prefer more of a darker base rather than just white and light grays. So it's a little too light for me as a whole. Yeah, I agree. It's very bright, but I feel like we could add colors into this home decor style without losing the minimalist look. True. So I wish maybe it had, like, an accent color, e- even if it was a very natural light sage green or something like that.
I think it would look nice, other than just white, gray, and black tones. That's why, like, the reasons we mentioned in the materials that they use light tones of wood so it helps it not be too monochrome, but still keeping that simplicity. Mm-hmm. Even though I would like to see more wood, I do like the use of wood that they have.
If I were to bring this style into a room in my house, it would probably be the dining room, since it's already so simple. I think a dining room sometimes is even merged with a living room or within the kitchen area as well- Mm-hmm ... just because a dining room is mostly just what you need, a table- Yeah
and chairs so that you go and eat. So it makes sense, yeah, that you will use a minimalist style in a place like a dining room. I also see this being for, like, a meditation room following, you know- Hmm ... that personality trait of their home being a calm sanctuary. Maybe you like maximalism. You can still have a good dedicated room or area where you use minimalism for, like, a meditation room so that you're not overstimulated, and you can feel that calm sense of the less is more philosophy.
I really like that. That is true. I do... I really do envision that. If you're somebody who wanted to bring the minimalist home decor style into your own space, I would recommend to start off with the furniture selection. Minimalist home decor follows having furniture pieces that have clean lines and that have geometric silhouettes.
But more than that, this home decor style kinda requires you to follow the philosophy of less is more. So it is the type of thing where you live with your essentials and what you need for your everyday life. Yeah, I do think depending on how your house looks already, minimalism can be an easy or hard style to bring to your home.
So if you are starting from a more maximalist starting point, there's also this other category of minimalistic home decor style that it's going to be more warm. It looks more cozy. It has a color palette of earthy, warm tones, but it's still very streamlined, very purposeful, still very minimalist, but it uses more natural materials, so you know, the warm look of the woods So there are other ways that you can implement into your house without just following that monochromatic color palette and making it your own a little more.
That is true, yes. Warm minimalism does use, like, a warmer color palette so it feels more cozy. Mm-hmm. Like, that is the intent of this home decor style. Yeah, but I think if I have to follow a minimalistic home decor style, either if because my partner does or I have a roommate that likes that style, I would preferably not want to.
Surprisingly, I would rather it over the maximalist, because I feel like maximalism is too much for me, but also minimalism's too little. True. Even though I would prefer over the maximalist, I would still rather not. I think it just looks a little too underwhelming for me. Surprisingly, I agree with you. We do have to differentiate that minimalist home decor style and maximalist home decor style are the extremes- Mm-hmm
within minimalist and maximalist implementation of decor within one's home. And even though I do like having minimal decor within my own space, minimalist home decor style is too extremely minimalist for me. Mm-hmm. So if I did have, like, a roommate or a significant other that practiced this less-is-more philosophy, and was okay with doing minimalist home decor, that's too minimalist for me.
Yeah, I feel like from what you're saying, if either of us attempts to have a minimalist home- Mm ... I think it just wouldn't be a true minimalistic home- That's true ... just because it's so extreme. We wouldn't be true minimalism. Yeah. I think we talked about everything we wanted to go over for this style. We mentioned the color palette, how it uses different shades of white, gray, and black, the personality of the people who embody this style, that they're very calm, organized, how they follow the less-is-more philosophy.
We talked about how they like modern type of furniture, that are, like, very streamlined, and geometric shape. We talked about the materials, that they like using polished stone, smooth glass, stainless steel, and sometime light tones of wood. We talked about the fabrics, how they use linen, cotton, microfiber, and small amounts of wool.
So we're good to end off here. Let's move on to the next home decor style, maximalist home decor. Starting off maximalist home decor. This style in general reminds me of a museum. Mm. I agree. You know, 'cause they display all their trinkets and collections either in walls or shelves, so it does really resemble a museum.
Yeah, I agree. I feel like maximalists could have a little story behind all their little decorations. That's why, like, it reminds me of, like, a collector's room, 'cause they like to collect. I mean, if you're a maximalist, I bet you like to collect things. So it reminds me of a collector's room. Yes, if they're maximalist, in general they do like to collect items.
Mm-hmm. And as well, some of them like to have collectibles. That is the difference. Mm. It reminds me also of, like, the people who reject minimalism and are like, "I want my home-" Mm ... "displaying anything that represents my life story." Not even with only decorations. Prints and even plants. A true maximalist likes everything, so...
It will have to do with the people's preference. Which brings me to the personality traits of the people who embody this style. They're often bold, adventurous, and deeply creative individuals. They value self-expressions and they like their things to represent who they are as a person. Some people with a maximalist home would describe their home as a living autobiography, 'cause it tells a lot about them.
I think it reflects their personality, their experiences, so somebody who's very vibrant and unapologetic themselves. Yes, and I like how the contrast between these two home decor styles, 'cause one of them views their home as, like, a calm sanctuary, and this one looks at it as their autobiography. So even though they're total opposites, they do have that one small thing in common.
I think if you choose to have a minimalist home, you might have a more stressful job. And then somebody who has a maximalist house, they have, like, a chill job. I know when I envision people who have these styles, this is what I'm thinking. I- it actually makes sense, 'cause I did transition from being a maximalist to a minimalist, and the transition was because of the stress of being in college.
Mm. I also think different environments feed different people's creativity. So I would say that, you know, if you're a minimalist, probably creative too. It's more like one side likes a calm sanctuary versus the other one that likes a more expressive outlet. Right. I think just like minimalist, there are some traits that I would describe myself as and some not.
When it comes to decor, I do like colors and prints and knick-knacks, but as a personality trait, I wouldn't say I'm very bold. I wouldn't say my personality's vibrant, maybe unapologetic. But other than that, I would say I, I do like to be creative and I do like to have things that I have a backstory on, so like we mentioned, a living auto- biography.
Things like that I do, like, see myself. I would say that I used to fit the description of the people who embody this style, especially in the self-expression. Mm-hmm. I used to love wearing things that would represent who I am as a person. Nowadays, that's not the case. The only thing that I would have that fits this personality is, is same as you- Yeah
being a creative individual. Other than that, no, I don't really fit the description of the people who embody the style. But moving on to the color palette, this one does use some moody, dark tones like black, gray, and brown, but it has these bright colors incorporated, mainly colors like emerald, sapphire, and magenta.
Yeah, so just think anything, 'cause it doesn't have a set color palette, but mainly those moody-based colors. They do, like, a moody look. Going back again, yeah, not having the set color palette because it's your collectibles, your stuff, they all come in different colors. Right. They're all not gonna follow the same color palette, just that a popular choice would be black shelves and furniture that's gray and brown.
And just like the color palette, you'll see that there's no limitations to the materials either. True, yes. You'll find any materials. You'll find velvet, silk. You'll find things with print. They like embroidered cottons, accents here and there. I love that. You just find everything. That's true, and so you were saying about the embroidery.
It remind me of the fabric choice for this style: velvet, silk, brocade. And just by looking at them, they all look more luxurious- Yeah ... than the selection for minimalist, which maximalist was incorporated a lot because it's just been always the nature of wanting to have more- Mm-hmm ... 'cause it represented, like- Wealth
status and wealth and luxury. So to a minimalist, these fabrics would seem as non-essentials. Yeah. So moving on to the furniture selection, they do incorporate colorful furniture options, but they also like the furnitures within the common general colors like black, gray, brown. Yeah, for the furniture, like you said, you see a lot of those silhouettes in, in bigger pieces.
We mentioned earlier brocade, but you also see patterns. You'll see embroideries. And of course, a true maximalist will have a lot of trinkets or knick-knacks, so you'll see a lot of shelves. A perfect furniture piece that you can add into this style is our Naomi Home Bona Grade Corner Shelf, so you have some extra space to decorate and organize your knick-knacks.
It also comes with a USB and USB-C charging port, so it's not only useful for displaying, but it's also functional, which I think would be a great addition to a maximalist home. I definitely agree with that, especially, uh, a non-collector would see it as convenient, but collectors can look at this in a different viewpoint.
You can add a rotating base or an extra light that shines upon your collectibles or your trinkets so that you have that spotlight on them So I do like the Naomi Home Donna Corner Shelf. It's great for getting the most use out of your space. Quite similar to that idea is our Naomi Home Peri Sectional Sofa.
This sectional sofa is also great for getting the most use out of your space because it comes with a sleeper that can be pulled out from underneath the couch, and it offers a hidden storage compartment to conveniently store blankets, pillows, or other household items. As I've mentioned in a previous episode, I do have the Peri Sectional Sofa, and I use the hidden storage for storing away the things that I plan to declutter in my space since I transition from being someone who's more of a maximalist to trying to be a minimalist.
I do emphasize the trying, 'cause it's not easy. Yeah, it's not easy to be too extreme. Or even transitioning from it. Yeah Just, like, going from something that you're used to for most of your life- Yeah ... and then immediately changing it. It takes time. Little by little, I've been improving and eliminating some of the traits that I myself don't like.
So it's possible. In my case, I actually come from a minimalist home. My mom's house, everything has its purpose. If there's some decoration, it would be like a, a plant here and there. The palette, very monochromatic. So I think that's why I steer a little more towards maximalist, but I also do appreciate how disciplined and organized minimalism is.
So, like before I said, I wouldn't be a, a full-on maximalist, but I would steer more on that side. I do find it funny that I'm trying to, to be opposite to my family- Yeah ... for being maximalist, and you're trying to be different from your family with having a color palette that's more warmth in comparison.
We have the same outcome, but different approaches. But I will say, even though I have said many times already that they're too extreme, I do like how they don't hold themself back with the color palette or the materials. Mm-hmm. I also really, really like the embroidery. I like the lace. If I were to decorate my home all over again, I would put a lot of embroidery around.
So those are things I really like about maximalism. Surprisingly, even though I like the philosophy of minimalism and I myself am trying to be more of a minimalist person, I do like maximalist home decor more than minimalist home decor. The reason is because you will see more personality and more- Mm-hmm
expression in maximalist than in minimalist. But again, I am practicing minimalism, and I personally don't like how much is put into each room. It does feel a little too overwhelming, so not a fan of having every single crevice on a wall just covered. Yeah, I agree to an extent. Like you, that's very extreme.
But another thing that I would say I don't like, even though we did mention that the color palette has no limitations, they do tend to use those saturated, rich colors, which I'm not a big fan of. I like more of a, I guess, lighter color palette. I think this is very dark for my personal liking. It looks good, but I would just personally add more lighter colors.
No, that is true. This color palette is, is known as being colorful, but it is more on the darker- Mm-hmm ... side. Yeah, I agree. I think if you were interested to bring this out into your home, there's a lot that you can do with wall decor, trinkets, collecting things. If you are in a furniture store, you like something, you buy it, and it just incorporate it into your home style.
It just fit right in, 'cause you have so many different things. So I would say buy a lot of decoration, rugs, pillows, pictures, different frames, different textures. It would just give you that maximalist look. I would say to add a lot of shelves- Mm-hmm ... especially if you have a dedicated collector's room where you keep actual collectibles like coins, like stamps.
Another thing you can add is one of their preferred lightings, like big, tiered tassel lamps. So you can add that to achieve the maximalist home decor style. Good question to the audience, 'cause I was kinda wondering, like, if a maximalist sometimes feels, like, overwhelmed- Mm-hmm ... and then a minimalist feels, like, restraint.
Restraint. In, like, their decoration. Mm-hmm. As someone who comes from a family who had homes covered in shelves and with knick-knacks and porcelain dolls, I personally wouldn't feel comfortable living in a home that practiced the maximalist home decor style, just because I have done it, and not a big fan.
It is a little too overwhelming for me nowadays. Yeah, I think I, I wouldn't either, but I think it's just 'cause it's very extreme. Yes, they're both extreme 'cause they're big commitments- Yeah ... to this philosophy in, in general. Yeah, I agree. I think a maximalist home could very easily get disorganized- Mm
which is, like, the downside of it. Yeah. To conclude maximalist, we went over the personality traits, how people that have this style are very bold. We went over the color palette, which is also very bold, the materials, that it doesn't have limitations, the furniture used, favorite part, the fabrics, and the use of decoration in this decor style.
Yeah, that's good. So we are reaching the end of this episode, but before we close out this chapter, Val and I are going to rate these styles on our tier list. We do want to disclose that we will be rating them according to our own personal preferences, so don't worry if you don't agree with our choices.
There will be times that Val and I won't even agree with each other. So if you never heard of a tier list before, essentially it's a ranking system from best to worst, S being the top ranking, followed by A through F, and for S rank, we will exclusively only leave four choices out of the 56 styles. Out of those four choices, Sue gets two, and I'll get the other two.
Yes. And just to be clear, the order on the tier list does matter as it is placed within their tiers. Furthermore, for those of you listening in, we will have the tier list up on the screen, so if you wanna tune in and see the current standing of all the home decor styles we talked about previously, you can.
Now let's go straight into which home decor style we liked for this episode. I think this is gonna be a hard one to choose because think I like the minimalist look a little better than the maximalist, just because the color palette. I do like the philosophy and the personality traits and the furniture and kinda, like, the more of the aspects and less of the looks of maximalist.
Mm. So I don't know. I think I might put them in the same tier. I just don't know which one. Oh. What do you think? So I do like maximalist as the home decor style more than minimalist home decor style, mainly because the interest of being a collector is one of the things that's been the hardest to let go of.
Again, maximalist is not exclusively for collectors, but it's still what it reminds me of- Yeah ... just having shelves with the things that represent you. So I do like the maximalist home decor more than minimalist. This is also, like, we are more comfortable with what we know, 'cause you come from a maximalist home and I come from a minimalist one.
So I think we're more used to that look. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So now, where do we see them on the tier list? Do you have any ideas? I think maybe C tier. C tier? I would put minimalist low. Okay. Like, I don't know. Would you feel comfortable going B tier? You know what? I agree. Yeah. I agree. I agree.
Just 'cause I feel a lot of the other home decor styles will stand out more- Mm-hmm ... than minimalist. So I think we can put it in D tier comfortably- Okay ... just to get started there. How about maximalist? Will you be okay if maximalist is also in D tier, or do you think it deserves to be a little bit higher?
I think it could be D tier, but before minimalist. Before minimalist? Yeah. Okay, I agree with that. So we'll have maximalist home decor style in D tier, and we'll add minimalist home decor style in D tier as well, but after maximalist. So let me do the quick rundown of the current placement on the tier list.
We have organic modern standing proud on A tier. Then on B tier we have first mid-century modern, second industrial, and in third biophilic. In C tier we have Bauhaus in first and urban modern in second. And now in D tier, the newly added, we have maximalist first on D tier and minimalist second on D tier.
So we're set, and that will do it for this episode. Thank you to all our home decor lovers for listening in. Once again, I'm Sue. And I'm Val. And this was Design Meets Decor- Brought to you by Naomi Home ... make sure to follow us on YouTube, Transistor.fm, and wherever else podcasts are available so you don't miss any of our upcoming episodes.
We hope you visit us again soon, and we'll see you next time.