The DNA of a Maximalist

I was sitting here thinking that I must have lived a former life in the Victorian Erra. My love for Maximalism is larger than life!

I’ve always believed that MORE is MORE and more than that is even better!!

I’ve always been the creative type. Painting and creating is my jam.. but I didn’t really start to understand the Maximalist nature of my DNA until I recently noticed that it’s kind of becoming a trend on the insta and pinterest.

I’m like WOW! OH! AHHH! At all the wonderful eclectic, colorful non-matchy matchy design choices of my fellow clutter-bugs!!

The definition of Maximalism tends to insinuate that maximalism is being more trendy than timeless, but I disagree. To me trendy is following the trend of the day, where maximalism is filling your life with anything that makes you happy.

Let us now confuse this with hoarding! That’s another subject for another day!

I remember when my ex-husband and I bought our first house, I wanted to paint the interior walls (this was in the 90’s) That was a hard no from him… so I lived out my fantasies in the Daycare that I owned and operated with splashes of primary color EVERYWHERE!!! It was like working in a wonderful, magical world of toys and rainbows!

Then, when we bought our second house in the early 2000’s – I waited patiently for the hubby to leave on a trip and went wild!!! I painted, with my teenagers, to my heart’s content! I turned our blah-zay two story track house into a gold and burgundy coziness with rot iron and jungle accents! Did it match – NO.. did it fill my heart with joy – YES! I eventually painted the outside purple – and the HOA had a fit!

Since then, I’ve allowed my Maximalist freak flag to fly and every chance I get, I make things my own. After becoming single, I rented an apartment for the first time. I painted every wall a different color!!! Deposit? Who worries about a deposit when your heart is so full of happiness!

So many people worry about “resale value” or “what will the neighbors think” – you know what?.... LIFE IS TOO SHORT!!! Make your space YOURS! Make your car YOURS! If you want purple hair – dye your hair purple!!!

I travel full time in my RV now and I recently saw a woman with an RV that is completely COVERED in mosaic tile!! It was amazing!! The time it must have taken her to create this rolling work of art that was truly her own.

I haven’t had a chance to do much yet, but my newest RV already has an orange wall and multi color paisley curtains. I love Disney, so there are splashes of Disney inspired décor as well. I’ll post about it when I get more done.

What is absolutely fabulous about the age we are living in is that there is so much freedom to be who you want to be!

Honestly, now that I’ve embraced who I truly am, and that I like lots of color, shapes, trinkets and silly things that make me smile, I think some people are actually jealous. Not all, but some feel truly “stuck” by conforming to what they might view as acceptable.

If it’s not hurting anyone else, there is something so freeing and wonderful about just not giving a dam what anyone else things and enjoying YOUR life the way YOU want to do it.

K.J. Evans