A Progression

There was a really neat feature in ELLE Interiör, the Swedish version of ELLE Decor, showing the progression of a table from minimalist to maximalist (maybe).  


Minimalist:

In between:

Almost there:

Voila!  Maximalist!

(I love the giant scrabble tile on the floating shelf here!)


I normally think of Swedish or Scandinavian style as tending towards minimalism, with lots of neutral colors, clean lines, and light walls and floors, but even the last (maximalist?) picture strikes me as unmistakably Scandinavian.  There's a lot of stuff on the table there, but it's not jam-packed or visually heavy.  This isn't English country maximalism, with large-scale chintzy prints and overstuffed Chesterfield sofas!  (Which I do like.)  I think it helps that the colors of all the accessories are in the same pallet-- you'll notice that almost everything is black or white, with small pops of yellow.  


So what do you think:  is that last photo really "maximalist", or does it just look that way in comparison to the first photo?  And which do you like best?


(All photos from www.elleinterior.se)