Yeah, we regret it, too.
Marie Kondo’s take-no-prisoners take on minimalism spread like clutter-scorching wildfire through New Yorkers’ homes a few years ago. “Does it spark joy?” was a question we asked more than ,”So which subway line’s out of action today?”
“A lot of it was about the need to control your environment, the idea that there might be a path to some sort of smooth existence,” said designer Chris Stevens of Tipper Studio, “That’s why New Yorkers were so susceptible to this. Please, we’re always doing 15 things at once.”
Now, though, interior design has sloughed off those minimalist shackles, thanks to trends like trinket-heavy Clutter Core and comfy, overstuffed Coastal Grandma.
Put simply, maximalism is back.
“People want to capital-D decorate now, because they’ve spent all this time working from home, and saw that Marie Kondo thing stripped out all the character,” explained Hugh Long, breakout TikTok interior designer and a champion of “more is more.”
“They want to add things to their space because they’re there all the time. People assume organization is a key goal for your home, but it has to be done in tandem with decoration,” Long said.
As a result, of course, that Kondo-inspired makeover of your home has morphed into interior design’s answer to a drunken tramp stamp inking — a regret-filled choice, made in haste, and seemingly impossible to undo.
Fret not, though, if you’re stuck with an empty home that’s equally clutter and joy-free.
We have some solutions from a few New York-based interior talents, all of them are unabashedly maximalist champions; think of their advice as the decorative answer to lasering away that late-night bad decision.
“Marie Kondo was about cleansing yourself into nothing,” said Martin Brudnizki, the glamor-prone designer who helmed the interiors of Cane Mare and the Beekman hotel, among others. “So to fix it, start with the walls, and look at what you do with them. Every room needs light, so hang some mirrors — they can be small, slivers even — and then put some lights on them, a sconce or a standard lamp in front of them.”
They’ll sparkle and twinkle, adding energy and interest to an interior without effort.
Fill what’s left of the walls with what Kati Curtis, of the namesake studio, calls “a riot of beauty” — that’s a salon wall of art, where pieces jostle for space and crowd together, offering the perfect clash of color.
“It tells people who you are and where you’ve been, what’s important to you. I know people are afraid to do it, but honestly, you can’t go wrong,” he said.
Curtis said an instant additional fix is putting storage on show: Think a coat-stand by the door instead of a closet which hides every jacket or scarf.
The same is true in the kitchen — take off doors to showcase plates and bowls, upending them so they stand in racks facing outwards, so they’re both more decorative and easier to access.
Forget appliance garages, too. Curtis points to crave-worthy collabs between Smeg and Dolce & Gabbana on small appliances, for instance, which are intended to be displayed rather than squirreled away. Buy a luxury toaster and leave it on the counter — ornamental and useful, both.
Hopefully, you didn’t jettison every item Kondo’s rules rendered joyless.
“Kondo says to put things in boxes within boxes, and you can never really find things that way,” Curtis added.
“Kondo says to put things in boxes within boxes, and you can never really find things that way.”
Katie Curtis, designer
And if you did indeed stash stuff in storage boxes, now’s the time to retrieve a few choice tchotchkes. Fill one or two surfaces with them: a table, perhaps, or a shelf. The key when arranging this display is theming: think of an idea, or concept, that connects all the items you’re showcasing.
“They just all have a relationship with each other — you shouldn’t have to explain what that is, either, as it should just be clear,” said interior designer John Barman.
Brudnizki puts it more simply — think of yourself as a real estate agent who’ll be showing the space later.
“Can you tell a story as you walk around the space with people? Imagine that,” he said.
If in doubt with your doodads, skew towards oversize vases and the like.
“Don’t get too much into little, teeny-tiny things because unless you’re really on top of it, it will fly away from you,” said Stevens.
Long offers a simple formula to make shelves feel full but not overstuffed: books should occupy 60% of space, decorative items 30% and keep 10% empty.
“Without a bit of open space, it doesn’t feel like you can breathe,” he said.
But what if you did junk every precious collection in a fit of Marie-inspired madness?
The easiest and cheapest way to replenish is a trip to a local antique mall or junkstore. Sift the stock there, Long says, and you’ll find collections someone else has already assembled and that you can adopt, wholesale.
“It looks like you’ve done it over time, when actually, someone else has done it over time — and for you. If you just buy random junk, it can start to look like you’re living in a storage unit.”
Long also says that it’s easy to avoid re-cluttering a home as you de-Kondo it if you change the way you shop. Instead, practice mindfully acquiring. Stick with Etsy and the like if you’re browsing online, but never buy anything new from your computer. If you have to get up and go out to a brick-and-mortar store, it’s an effort, a gesture and a quest — and it’ll keep you from overbuying.
“The essence of this is that people are spending so much more time at home, and they’re looking at it so differently. You don’t want to live in a white cell.”
Martin Brudnizki
Kondo famously schooled her groupies that any more than 30 books were redundant, but these designers dismiss that idea as bunkum; it’s time to stack your shelves again — or fill the floor.
“Your bookshelf should be bursting, but I have so many books in my house they become side tables,” said Stevens.
Piled high, coffee table tomes become actual tables themselves for a guest to use — coasters only, please — and also grab a title or two to flick through when one piques their interest. With hardbacks, consider removing the paper jackets which might get frayed or fade.
“Once you do that, it cleans everything up and makes it beautiful to have the books on display,” said Curtis.
Whatever you do, forget the snobbish, Kondo-inspired rules that less is more, or stuff is bad. It’s OK to surround yourself with beautiful things.
“The essence of this is that people are spending so much more time at home, and they’re looking at it so differently,” shrugged Brudnizki, “You don’t want to live in a white cell.”
