The English Maximalista

It is my ONE YEAR BLOG-VERSARY, which I have somehow managed to co-ordinate with my 100th blog!

Congratulations to me!!

In blatant self-promotion, here is a Maximalisticle of all 100 blogs I have written since starting English Maximalista, last Summer.

With utmost consideration, I have provided some rather amusing little blurbs and bon mots about the contents of each blog, along with a handy link for you to click on… just in case you were interested in reading it.

You’re welcome.

1. Hello, World! This was my first ever blog, published on July 28th, 2025. Basically an intro to how English Maximalista came about.
2. Accidental evolution. Kind of a second intro to English Maximalista, this time telling you how I accidentally became a maximalist.
3. I see an old chair and I want to paint it black. My passionate love affair with… black spray paint.
4. Switcheroo. Having to say goodbye to a beloved piece of furniture to make space for the way we live, now. By which I mean make space for my books, and all the stuff I keep scoring at the thrift store.
5. Burger, beer, and a new bog. When I took you with me on a typical day out: eating, thrifting, and looking fabulous, darling.
6. For the love of layers. My life-long love affair with wallpaper. It’s not as boring as it sounds. (Okay, maybe it is a little bit boring.)
7. Setting plaster. Tricking my husband into painting our family room PINK.
8. If you don’t like my dog, then don’t read this blog. An introduction to the lovable moron, aka Sadie.
9. Travel Log: New Mexico, Part I. The time when my husband and I went to Taos, NM. It’s a funny blog. You should read it.
10. Coming soon to a browser near you! When I tried to tantalize my readers into reading about an “upcoming project”…
11. Travel Log: New Mexico, Part II. The time when my husband and I went to Santa Fe, NM.
12. Go BIG or go home! The “upcoming project” I was teasing you about in blog #10: a massive wall mural in our downstairs bathroom… which was a massive PIA to put up. Totes worth the effort, tho.
13. Craft corner. Where I regaled you with a marital spat regarding a dining room table, and how I reupholstered the dining chairs. Sadie helped.
14. Boobies: a mammogram story. All is revealed in the title of this one. And yes, there IS a picture of my breasts included. Don’t believe me? Click on the link!
15. Traveling light. Going to California with one of my besties, with my tips on how to pack ones’ suitcase.
16. Napa Valley. The time I got drunk in Napa with my girlfriend.
17. Sonoma Valley. The time I got drunk in Sonoma with my girlfriend.
18. Old dog, new trick. Yes, I did just call myself an old dog. (If the shoe fits…) The new trick is when I learned how to cheat at re-sticking self-adhesive wallpaper.
19. In dog we trust. Accidentally sticking with the canine theme of the previous blog. Sort of.
20. Garbage pickers. The time when I almost made my husband walk home because he didn’t want to garbage pick a gorgeous bench that I spotted in the street. Guess who won this argument?
21. 1-month blog-versary. Delighted with the success of my first month of blogging! This one is not my finest work, so don’t bother reading it if you’re short on time.
22. The last hurrah of Summer. Creating a comfortable sitting area in the dead space at the side of our house. Oh, and did I mention that I went eyeball-to-eyeball with a *cuss-word* TARANTULA?!
23. Wedgwood & Walmart. English afternoon tea served by Mummy Dearest on the second day of her visit. Putting the old girl to work when she’s on holiday. She has to pay the piper, amiright?
24. A room of one’s own. Welcome to my boudoir. Where it is dark. Whimsical. A little bit sophisticated. Actually, I’m just describing my personality. But my boudoir is rather lovely, as you will see when you click on the link.
25. RIP, Tiny. Saying a sad adieu to our resident drainpipe dweller, Tiny the Tarantula. (And no, I had nothing to do with his demise. Rude of you to suggest that I did.)
26. In intinere. Being pretentious in using a Latin title, when telling you about our weekend in Breckenridge.
27. Exploring Colorado Springs. Showing you some of the local sights: Garden of the Gods, and Glen Eyrie Castle.
28. A peacock bedroom. Introducing our peacock bedroom to the world. It’s gorgeous. Click on the link to see pics.
29. Open apology: a fairytale. My tongue-in-cheek apology to my husband for when he gets blamed for shit *I* did.
30. Bloody carnage (with photos). Clickbait! When wallpaper attacks!!!
31. A day in the life… Fascinating insight into what I do each day. A must-read for any die-hard English Maximalista fan. (All three of you.)
32. That voodoo that you do. About my style evolution. Forgot to mention the time when I was walking home from school when I was 8, and my cotton knickers fell down because my grandmother (who was visiting us) had stretched them out when she IRONED them. So I’m telling you about it now. True story. I’m still scarred. Explains a lot?
33. On the toilet. More clickbait. (Sorry.) A blog about redecorating our WC. And there IS a picture of me on the loo… click on the link if you don’t believe me.
34. On being a foreigner. Some acerbic notes on the cultural differences between Yanks and Brits.
35. Aging disgracefully. Witty anecdotes galore on my personal experience of having recently turned *gasp!* FIFTY.
36. Santa Fe, redux. The time we went to New Mexico with Mummy Dearest, and very nearly left her there due to her misconduct.
37. It’s spooky season, y’all. Not sure why I used “y’all” in this title, since I’m not from The South. Anyhoo. This one is about decorating the love shack for Halloween.
38. Rejoice! For the bathroom is decorated! Genuine rejoicing at the love shack when our primary bathroom was finished.
39. Dirk gets a new coat. Dirk is my knight in shining armour. His armour was looking dull. I brightened it up, again. (Refer to blog #3.)
40. A trip down Memory Lane. Reminiscing about the various Halloween costumes the Top Banana and I have worn, over the years.
41. 3-month blogversary. Celebrating 3 months of blogging. This one is boring. Don’t bother reading it. (Not really. Please read it.)
42. Revealing my facelift! My kitchen got a facelift. I did not. Yes, more clickbait. What can I say? I need the readership.
43. Vegas, baby! About the time when the Top Banana and I went to Las Vegas.
44. I’m alive! One survivor’s terrifying personal account of how she evaded death by Ferris Wheel.
45. Our new “oven hood”. We built a faux chimney breast in the kitchen to add visual interest on a bland 10’ high wall. Sneaky, huh?
46. Swedish death cleaning. Did you know this was a thing?
47. Down the pub. Did you know I have a bar in my basement? Well, I do. Click on the link if you want to see pictures.
48. Happy Thanksgiving! How this Englishwoman celebrates her favourite American holiday.
49. Festivus for the rest of us. Decorating my home for the festive season ahead.
50. Be my guest. Etiquette tips for how to behave when you’re a guest. Rule #1: don’t be a twat.
51. Review: With Love, Meghan. My first ever review. It’s kind of boring. Don’t bother reading unless you hate Meghan Markle.
52. F-words. Today’s letter of the day is the letter F.
53. I saved Christmas. Not really. I was being a martyr.
54. The zebra bedroom. Yes, our bedrooms have names. And themes. This is why my blog is not called English Minimalista.
55. The best books I read, this year. A review of books from 2025. Yep, this one is as boring as it sounds, UNLESS you are — like me — a bookworm. In which case, please do click on the link.
56. Someone, ANYONE, please buy my shit! I re-opened my EBay store to flog some of my clothes. It’s still open. You should check it out. And buy something. I’m selling some nice stuff.
57. Obsessions of 2025. Some of my favourite things of 2025.
58. Weekend update. The first weekend of 2026. Things went bump in the night. Read more to find out WHAT went bump…
59. Dry January? No thanks! My excuses why I won’t be making any New Year’s Resolutions, this year.
60. DIY: our new marble floor. My first DIY project of 2026: installing marble tiles in our bar. It was a PIA. But looks smashing now it’s finished.
61. The blogger in cabin 9020. Our first vacation of 2026 was a Caribbean Cruise 🖤
62. Bienvenido a Mexico. Our first port of call on the cruise was Costa Maya. We took an excursion to visit some phenomenal Mayan Ruins.
63. Blogging in Belize. Our second port of call was Harvest Caye in Belize. A smashing day spent relaxing on the beach, with a spot of shopping. Perfection.
64. Ho-hum Honduras. Our third and final port of call on our 7-day cruise was Roatán. Not the best day since we got accosted by local peddlers. We barely survived to tell the tale.
65. A day at the Gulf. Our flight home got delayed, so we had a bonus day in Tampa Bay and the surrounding area. It ended up being a fabulous bonus day at the tail end of our vacation!
66. Saving one’s pennies. Not pointing any fingers at anyone, but someone watches too many reels on Tik-Tok…
67. My January books. Following the surprising popularity of my December blog about the books I had read in 2025, I decided to keep you all informed and apprised of what I read in January.
68. 6-month blogversary. Oh, no. Not another boring blog reporting how many views I got on my website, etc. Calm down! Actually, I decided to spare you from those tedious details, and instead give you an update on what Sadie had been up to, that week. Sorry you blew up?
69. Laundry room update. Introduction to our GORGEOUS (yes, really) laundry room.
70. Love is in the air. Decorating the love shack for Valentine’s Day. Clearly I have too much time on my hands.
71. Happy Valentine’s Day! Mr Maximalista declined to take me out to dinner on Valentine’s Day. How rude. Fortunately, he redeemed himself by taking me thrifting and to lunch. We had a splendid day!
72. My kangaroo pouch. What does an English Lady keep on her person when she leaves the house? Click on the link to find out, you nosy bugger.
73. Our escape hatch. How we turned an ugly window-well egress into a delightful zen-like space for our guests to enjoy.
74. Garage in crisis: Part 1. Introducing you to my dirty little secret: our horrendously messy garage.
75. My 75th blog!! CONGRATULATIONS!! You made it this far! Please join me on Monday for Part 2 of my Garage in Crisis series!
76. Garage in crisis: Part 2. The during stages of mass upheaval in our garage.
77. Garage in crisis: Part 3. AFTER: the English-style boot room I created in one corner of our garage!
78. My old farmhouse. Meet Four Gables, the Victorian farmhouse we renovated in rural Wisconsin.
79. Sadie’s bedroom. My dog must be the most spoiled dog on the planet, as she has her own bedroom with a brand new king size bed.
80. I did a thing!! The time where I learned something new in technology.
81. St. Patty’s Day in NOLA! The time when we went to NOLA for St. Patty’s Day.
82. Sweat dreams. Yes, you read that correctly: sweat, not sweet. I was being punny.
83. It’s amateur hour, folks… Sharing with you some of my own artwork and photography.
84. Scorpion in the house!! Yep. Live scorpion. In. My. House. Yikes.
85. She’s a bit full of herself, isn’t she. This one is kind of personal, about childhood trauma.
86. Happy Easter, my lovelies! Pretty self-evident in the title of this one!?
87. A cheeky weekend in the mountains… Travel blog about our weekend in Salida, Colorado.
88. Opinion piece: MYOFB My polite English rage at how people talk about other women’s bodies.
89. My laundry room is now… GOLD!! If you previously read blog #60, you will see that I just CANNOT leave things alone.
90. No diamonds for my birthday, this year. When I asked for a rock for by 51st birthday… and my husband gave me 14 tonnes of them.
91. Hoarding. What IS hoarding? And why my vast collection of stuff does not qualify as such. Rude of you to think that.
92. Cheyenne, Wyoming. Not exactly the top of anyone’s Bucket List, yet somehow it was on mine? And now it is crossed off. Read the blog to see what I thought of the place!
93. The daily ‘fits! Yes, fully aware that I’m not a natural beauty, thanks for reminding me; nevertheless, my daily attire is one way of making lemonade when born with a face looking like it is sucking on a lemon.
94. Winning at adulting. Who says I can’t eat Animal Crackers for supper? Or chocolate for breakfast? I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life.
95. Home, sweet home. Such a cliche, I know. But home truly is my happy place.
96. Grrr… slow drivers in the fast lane. Ranting (again). This time about… read it to find out!
97. Green zebra walls? Once again visited by the Wallpaper Fairy. What a bitch.
98. Let there be light! My mild obsession with… lamps? Yes. LAMPS.
99. Holy Cross Abbey winery tour. Getting squiffy with Mr Maximalista on a random Tuesday afternoon!

With heartfelt gratitude to all of my lovely readers for reading my brain-scrapings. THANK YOU!!

Lots of love,

M xo