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Inspired by African textile patterns, the breakfast room wallpaper also pays homage to the queen of the homeowners’ jungle — their cat, who likes to dine on the bar cart.
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In the library, custom cabinetry by True Furniture Makers incorporates blue relief panels that evoke the texture of a topographical map.
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One of the homeowners took the photograph of a baobab tree while on safari in Africa.
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Interior decorator Lee Waters used Mitchell Black’s Stacked Wall Mural wallpaper, installed by Barden’s Decorating, in this dining room. The custom color, she says, was a surprisingly affordable upgrade.
For many, the allure of travel is the thrill of discovery, the chance to become immersed in a wealth of sights, sounds and sensations. Modern takes on maximalism are much the same, drawing you into a room the way a new destination entices you to explore.
Where traditional maximalism celebrates collections and curiosities, new maximalism embraces richness with intention. In this six-room transformation of a traditional 1960s-era suburban house, interior decorator Lee Waters helped a well-traveled couple bring their wealth of experiences home without filling a single shelf with souvenirs.
This was Waters’ second time working in the house. The previous owners had embraced a grandmillennial style, which, Waters explains, has an established grammar that features pale walls, preppy touches and objects that are reliably pretty. The new owners wanted to put their own unique stamp on the place.
“It’s about being unexpected,” Waters says of the new maximalism. “It’s grandmillennial’s edgy cousin. It can be eccentric, even grotesque, and that’s precisely the point. We have seen every version of pretty, and we are hungry for something we haven’t encountered before.”
Her new clients, globe-trotters who have visited every continent and have no plans to stop traveling, wanted their home to reflect their shared adventures. Rather than crowding rooms with travel mementos, they wanted to prioritize exploration. Waters knew exactly how to get them there, creating a bold visual through line with varying textures and a rich color palette of blues, greens, plums and golden yellows that remain consistent across multiple rooms while evolving to reflect the specifics of each space. The subtle yet powerful effect makes the rooms feel like a well-planned journey rather than a series of unrelated stops.
The theme is most visible in the view from the breakfast room to the dining room, where the graphic red-patterned wallpaper of the former softens into a grassy, linear wallcovering in the latter. The dining room’s custom rug from India and the organic pattern on the walls create a natural landscape evocative of the couple’s time spent on safari. Moving into the breakfast room, the design tightens and turns geometric without feeling formal.
The library introduces a sculptural, topographical motif through custom blue relief cabinetry panels by Richmond’s True Furniture Makers. A guest room drenched in mulberry is grounded by a soft antelope-patterned rug.
This maximalist redesign demonstrates how restraint itself can be bold. When a life of big experiences is concentrated into its most evocative elements, you get the feeling of a place without the baggage. As Tolkien wrote, “Not all those who wander are lost.” In this home, the wonders of wandering have come to rest.
