The Magic Attic Admires, Vol. 7: Maximalist Spaces
- Dania Hurley
- Jul 12
- 3 min read
Some of these maximalist public spaces have been around awhile, others only just opened, but all of them - four hotels and a vintage shop - are jaw-dropping.
Some are fun and fabulous, others glamorous, and one is nothing short of sacred. All of them create their own little world within their walls.
Sadly, as I have never been to any of them, I'm going to have to use promotional photos where possible here. I normally try to only use my own photos because I don't like treading on others' copyrights, but needs must.
I heartily encourage you to click through to each website; I will only use one picture each, but each site has countless pictures of amazing surroundings.
In no particular order (though saving the most staggeringly beautiful for last):
This is in Topanga Canyon, Los
Angeles. The shop carries vintage clothing from the 19th century through the 1980s, from Victoriana to mod to punk and many other eras and styles. They sell costumes for Halloween and festivals like Burning Man.
The building it's in is nearly 100 years old and what they've done with it is amazing. Both exterior and interior are a wild, colorful, Bohemian wonderland.
When you click through, definitely give the History page a read.
2) Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo
This fabulous destination has been around since 1958 and features one hundred and ten themed rooms in wild colors. There is also a spa, a pool, a bakery onsite that creates amazing cakes, and a restaurant that is just as fabulously over-the-top. -->
The rooms can feature spiral staircases, rock showers, rock walls, massive fireplaces, stained glass walls, carved wooden arches, and many more fun and unusual items. The colors are frequently, whether pastels or brights, saturating the room. I have to think it would lift one's spirits.
The pink champagne cake from the bakery is right on brand, and has me intrigued about the taste of a champagne cake. The online/onsite shop offers a "Madonna Inn Goblet" and beautifully colored glassware.
They really know what they're doing in maximizing, so to speak, what they offer for our current times. I hope they continue thriving.
3) The Baby Grand Hotel, Coronado Island
This one ("a polychromatic pastiche") is relatively new, on an island just off of Los Angeles, and where Madonna Inn used mostly cool color palettes, this one uses mostly warm colors, especially in the heavy dose of animal prints. And mirrors, lots and lots of mirrors.
It features a restaurant, a hidden bar, and a cafe ("all day caffeination, crossfaded gently with liquor").
Ceiling-fed copper bathtubs, leather walls, rural opulence, decadence, escapism, velvet ceilings, mirrored walls, and other imaginative design features that could sound "bordello" but instead project "tactile joyride." I would have a hard time walking through a suite and not touching everything at least once.
The designer of these rooms has a bold vision and if there's one thing I admire, it's just that.
5) Sacred House Hotel, Turkey
I never knew this hotel existed until this week, when I caught a glimpse of a picture of the red pool in the Inferno Spa online somewhere and tracked it back to its source.
I shared its existence with a friend, making her (sorry, Danielle) look at room after room. This hotel is in Turkey, in an old mansion, with the uppermost rooms having a 'Heaven" theme, the lower floor rooms, an "earth theme," and the basement areas, an "Inferno" theme.
I highly encourage you to click the link. Breathtaking spaces include a massive Archangel Michael sculpture over a large fireplace in one of the bedrooms, bathing tubs not to be believed, stone walls, and endless fine art.
Please take the time to click the links and visit these places; each one will envelope you in a world of its own and will make you feel like you just had a getaway for real.
For this week's Why Not: come up with one fanciful and magical thing you could do to make your own home something unusual and fun?
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