Minimalist, Maximalist, or ..."Mediumist"??

Oct 8

2 min read

Minimalist, Maximalist, or Somewhere In The Middle???

Have you ever looked at a beautifully designed room and thought, I love it…but I could never live there? There may be a reason for that.

A room can be beautiful without being your style.

Some people feel their best in a home with clean lines, open surfaces and plenty of breathing room. That's where minimalism feels natural.

Others want color, pattern, art, collections and layers. They want their home to give their eyes somewhere to go. That's where maximalism comes in.

Minimalist & Maximalism Style

Clean Lines and can be neutral color palettes & Intentional bold colors, patterns & texture

But what if you appreciate elements of both?

Some of us who can look at both design styles and say…

I need a little more than that, but maybe not ALL of that!!

That's where I fall. I'M SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE.

I love a room that feels styled and personally edited. I want pillows on the sofa. I want accessories on the coffee table. I want artwork, texture, beautiful finishes and pieces that give the room personality. But I also need empty corners and negative space.

I don't want every wall covered or every surface filled. I want my eye to have somewhere to rest. So I'm not quite a minimalist, but I'm not a maximalist either.

For this week's series, I've been calling my style “Mediumist.”

No, it's not an official design term.

It's simply a way of describing a style that takes some of what I love about minimalism and some of what I love about maximalism by finding a comfortable place between the two. That's the balance I naturally gravitate toward in my own design style.

And realizing that is important because sometimes we spend so much time trying to identify an official design category: modern, traditional, minimalist, maximalist, organic modern, that we forget something:

Your home doesn't have to fit perfectly inside a label.

"Mediumist" Design Style

Why Does Knowing Your Design Style Matters?

Because once you understand what naturally feels good to you, decorating becomes a little easier. You stop buying things simply because they're trending.

You stop trying to recreate rooms that look beautiful online but don't actually feel comfortable to you. And you can start asking a better question:

Does this feel like me?

Maybe you need fewer things in the room to feel relaxed.

Maybe an empty wall makes you feel like something is missing.

Or maybe you want a beautifully styled room with just enough breathing room to keep it from feeling busy. None of those answers is wrong.