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Which wall to paint accent color


7 Tips on How to Choose Your Accent Walls

When it comes to decorating your home, there are so many options to consider. One aspect of designing your home includes painting the walls. You want them to match your style and your decor. A trend that is alive and popular in the decorating industry is the use of accent walls.

An accent wall is a single wall in a room that is painted a different color than the rest. Accent walls, also known as feature walls, are a great way to solidify a theme for your space or experiment with bolder decor.

Getting the Proper Attention

Choosing the right wall is the first step to an eye-catching accent wall. A poor choice could mean the difference between a room that’s well put together and a room that just seems off. Whichever wall you choose, be confident there’s a reason to draw attention to it.

There are no rules set in stone when it comes to selecting the accent wall. It's good to be flexible in your options, as all rooms are different.

1. In general, the right wall to accent is usually the first one that you see when you enter a room. You and your guests will always have it in view.

2. Look for other architectural clues, such as a fireplace, built-in bookcases, or architectural nooks. These will ensure that the accent wall is the intended focal point.

3. The wall you choose should be symmetrical. Avoid walls that have a slope, windows of different sizes, or odd niches.

4. Placing your accent wall on the wall you face regularly is a great idea. You'll utilize the natural line of sight of the room, which will enhance the focal nature of the feature wall.

5. Look for a solid wall. Walls that don’t have interruptions such as doors, windows, or built-ins, are great contenders for an accent color.  Common examples of these are the walls behind sofas and beds.

6. Consider existing furnishings. If a potential accent wall is already mainly hidden by other furnishings like art, floor lamps, tall furniture, or window treatments, painting it wouldn’t add anything to the room. You want to choose a fairly open wall.

7. If you can't find the right accent wall, consider the fifth wall, the ceiling. A white ceiling heightens a room while a darker color makes a large bedroom appear cozier.

Choosing the Right Colors

An accent wall is a popular design option because it offers homeowners flexibility with creativity and color.  There are unlimited paint options for you to choose from. Finding the perfect color and the right professional painter is important.  Your home is unique, and your accent wall needs to be as well.

Use color to your advantage. If you want to make a particularly short wall seem longer, you can paint an accent wall in a cool hue like blue or green. Alternatively, you can make a long wall look more balanced by painting an accent wall in a warm hue like red, orange, or yellow.

Trusted Accent Wall Painter

Now that you've chosen your wall, you'll need to choose the proper color schemes. Here at Walla Painting, we can help you choose the right color and shade for your accent wall.

If you need more than an accent wall painted, we can upgrade the rest of your home, both interior, and exterior, with a new coat of paint.

Contact us today for a free consultation.

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The Essential Dos and Don'ts

By

Diana Hathaway Timmons

Diana Hathaway Timmons

Diana Hathaway Timmons has over 10 years as a color and interior design consultant. She writes about ideas and tips for beautifying your space and incorporating decor trends into your home. She wrote the book "How to Sell Your Home Without Losing Your Zen" and has been featured in the "Huffington Post," "Better Homes & Gardens," and additional publications.

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Updated on 05/16/22

Reviewed by

Deane Biermeier

Reviewed by Deane Biermeier

Deane Biermeier is an expert contractor with nearly 30 years of experience in all types of home repair, maintenance, and remodeling. He is a certified lead carpenter and also holds a certification from the EPA. Deane is a member of The Spruce's Home Improvement Review Board.

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Fact checked by

Emily Estep

Fact checked by Emily Estep

Emily Estep is a plant biologist and fact-checker focused on environmental sciences. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Science in Plant Biology from Ohio University. Emily has been a proofreader and editor at a variety of online media outlets over the past decade.

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The Spruce / Michelle Becker 

Accent walls are alive and well in the decorating industry. These easy and stylish color accents will always be popular because of their flexibility. You have unlimited paint options for your accent wall, as well as other surfaces and materials. Even the location of your accent wall is purely personal. Your home is unique, so your accent wall should be just as special. Accent walls can be used in any room if you know the essential dos and don'ts.

What Is an Accent Wall?

An accent wall is an interior or exterior wall that can have a different color, shade, design or material from the other walls around it.

Click Play to Learn the Dos and Don'ts of Accent Walls

Do Think Beyond Solid Colors

Maite Granda

Think outside of the box when you are considering your new accent wall. You are not limited to simple wall paint covering the wall. Think about other ways to use paint color. Your accent wall may be perfect for stripes or for a specialty paint finish. Metallic wall finishes are powerful style statements for an accent wall.

Don't Forget About Texture

There is more to accent walls than just paint. Have you considered stone or tile for your accent wall? Extensive shelving can also work as an accent wall in a room that lacks an architectural feature and storage. Your accent wall can also include a gallery of photos or artwork, or even a fabric-draped wall.

A recent trend is the addition of a wall-mounted electric fireplace on an accent wall. The secret to accent walls is that they are the most flexible decorating secret weapon you can have. (The only rule for accent walls is that they accent a wall—that's it.)

Do Go for an Accent Wall in a Neutral Room

You should still consider an accent wall even if you're keeping your room neutral. Accent walls can work just as well in a neutral color, as a bright one. The initial idea of an accent wall conjures up visions of bright red or blue, but in a neutral color scheme, a dark brown wall is just as dramatic.

Don't Shy Away from Bold Colors

HouseofHarvee / Instagram

As long as you have the right accents around the room to coordinate with your new color, you can choose whatever color makes you happy.

Do Consider the Other Wall Colors

Take into account the color on your other walls. Most accent walls look best when they adjoin walls in a light to medium shade. Accent walls in an all-white room are stunning but tricky. The contrast of a bright accent wall against white walls can look very modern and even stark. Balance your strong accent wall color with neutral wall colors on the other walls. Your neutral walls can be gray, or greige, or beige — whatever works best with your accent color.

If you do choose to accent a wall in a white room, soften the contrast with mid-tone accent colors to bridge the difference.

Don't Just Think About Walls

Think about other ways to use an accent wall. Have you considered the ceiling? A chic decorating trend is to add color to the ceiling. This ceiling color can be your accent wall. Accent ceilings can be created with soft colors or even vivid colors. White crown molding helps separate the wall color from the ceiling and creates a stylish look.

Do Choose the Right Wall

Home By Polly

Be purposeful when picking your accent wall. Rooms without an architectural feature can benefit from an accent wall, especially one with texture. A wall of windows can also be your accent wall, but be mindful that a dark accent color surrounding windows can create a bright light effect and overwhelm the room.

Don't Forget About Wallpaper

Common wallpaper is a gorgeous choice for accent walls. The latest temporary wallpapers can give you a designer look without a long-term commitment. Look for wallpaper with pretty designs and colors for a chic style. For renters, temporary wallpaper is a clever way to personalize your home.

Still not sure which color to choose? Take our short personality quiz and learn which color palette is right for you!

26 Affordable Accent Wall Ideas That Look Expensive

Interior accent wall: useful decorating tips

House in Tangier, designed by Cassandra Karinsky. In tourist booklets, Moroccan Tangier is called the "white city". It is in this color that the locals have been painting the walls of their houses for centuries. Without disturbing the harmony, the designer diluted it with dark blue — one of the walls in the living room is painted in this color. A blue sofa is matched to her tone.

Photo
Gaelle le Boulicaut

Ideal for small spaces

Wall painted in a contrasting color, perfect for small spaces. This technique will allow you to beat a cramped room, especially if you use a deep saturated shade. Painting one of the walls in a small room a rich dark color (or black) will create visual depth in the interior, making the space appear larger.

Room dedicated to Madeleine Castaing in the Saint James Hotel in Paris, designed in turquoise tones. A contrasting navy blue hue adds depth to the space. nine0003

Photo
Antoine Baralhe

Lots of styles

You have several options for this fashion trend. In addition to paint and wallpaper, there are ways to play not only with color, but also with texture. For example, using panels that mimic brickwork or wood. You can drape the wall with a cloth or lay it out with tiles or mosaics. For a children's room, an interesting option would be a wall painted with slate paint. A child can boldly paint and paint such a wall with colored crayons, without fear of incurring the wrath of their parents. nine0003

Trianon decorative panel, design by Carlo dal Bianco, Bisazza.

Photo
Bisazza

A way to divide space

Apartment of Patrick and Laurence Chavannes in Lyon. Its interior is built on panoramic wallpaper, including the interior of the owner's eldest daughter's room. Now it is decorated with wallpapers with the image of New York. What will be on this wall in a couple of years is unknown. The interior of the room changes as often as the tastes of the maturing hostess. nine0003

Photo
Anne-Catherine Scoffoni

Contrasting one or more walls in a room is a great way to divide up a space. For example, an open living room can be easily divided into zones (living room, dining room, study, etc. ) if you use different wallpapers or paint colors for wall decor. At your request, one space will turn into two, or even more.

Apartment in Madrid. Designed by Gonzalo Pardo and Ana Torres.

Picture
ImagenSubliminal.com

The main accent of the interior

When planning your interior, keep in mind that the accent wall is the very first thing everyone will see when they enter the room. This is the focal point that will stand out and distract attention from everything else. To make the interior look more harmonious and balanced, it should have two or more accents. Therefore, to “support” the accent wall, it is better to choose pieces of furniture or accessories that match in color. nine0003

Kitchen, Kitchens Titarev. Bar stools, IKEA. Apartment in Krasnodar, project by Ksenia Lysenko.

Photo
Mikhail Chekalov. Style: Sofia Kalbazova

The accent wall is tiled with Zigzag, Popham Design. Cassandra Karinsky's project to Tangeree.

Photo
Gaelle Le Boulicaut - Photographer

The right choice of color

The wrong accent wall color can ruin a space. To avoid this, give up random shades, even if the color itself is bright and you really like it. A red wall in a pastel interior is too much! The color palette of your home should be unified and clearly planned. Therefore, choose a color for a contrasting wall based on the overall range of the interior, including furniture, finishing materials and textiles. nine0003

Designed by Julia Sheipunas.

Change the accents

A bedroom in a Parisian apartment designed by decorator Pierre Jovanovich. One of the walls is sheathed with cork panels from top to bottom. This technique made it possible to hide the door leading to the dressing room.

Photo
Catherine Scotto

It is not necessary to build an interior around an accent wall. Art objects will give originality to the interior. Instead of papering or painting one wall, choose art pieces that match the style and mood of your home decor. Framed photos or paintings that you like and are in tune with the overall style of the interior are what will give your home a personality, creating a memorable image. nine0003

Project by Liljencrantz Design.

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Accent wall

Published: 10/17/2020

How to separate zones in the interior using color Unfortunately, not every house can provide an additional functional room, for example, an office. In this case, the most frequently chosen solution is the design of the living room as a multifunctional interior.

Modern living room combines several functions. This is a place to relax, receive guests and often work. In many apartments, the living room is also a bedroom, which sometimes makes it difficult to arrange. nine0003

The division of space into zones is a fairly common technique in interior design. Color comes to the rescue with its richness of shades and tones. You can define the boundaries of individual zones using an accent wall.

Photo: Retro Villa, Flugger Eilersen Geneve

Color zoning

9002 certainly sets the mood in the interior. Using a combination of different colors and an accent wall, you can divide the space into zones, keeping an open space where every meter counts. Just by painting the walls in different colors or shades, you can achieve the visual effect of different rooms, focusing on the functional affiliation of each zone: separate the kitchen from the living room, highlight the working area and the relaxation area. nine0003

Accent wall

Zone your room with an accent wall and a range of color options. The easiest way to organize an accent wall is to paint it in a shade different from the rest of the surfaces. If the walls are dominated by a neutral background - white, beige or gray, any contrasting color will suit it, for example, rich blue - Oregon Grape IN-765 from the Flugger Interior palette.

Photo: Helle Melberg, Flugger Oregon Grape IN-756

It is also popular to combine adjacent shades from a similar color palette. For example, all walls are painted in mint, and one is painted in aqua or light beige walls, and one is highlighted in dark brown, etc.

You can create an intimate space by painting the walls and ceiling in the same tone. This technique is often used if the task is to blur the boundary between the transition of a horizontal and vertical surface, for example, in a very small room with high ceilings. nine0003

To create a quality interior, choose professional paints with a wide color spectrum. The Flugger palette includes such a wide range of colors, from light delicate colors to bright, saturated ones, that allows you to freely divide the space into different zones, in different styles.

What color to choose for accent wall

IMPORTANT! If you decide to highlight the wall with a bright, dark or saturated color, then it is important to choose the right product (paint) for the future accent wall. nine0003

Accent wall in the living room or bedroom

Flugger paint. Flugger Flutex 5 , a deep matt paint, is a good option for accents, it will give a beautiful and velvety surface finish.

Can be used Flugger Flutex 10 or Flugger Flutex 7S+ . These products form a satin, silky-matte surface after drying, which gives a certain depth of color.

Paint a dark accent wall behind the headboard. Dark and saturated shades will add enveloping comfort to the room and calmness, and will additionally highlight the sleeping area.

Photo: Jeanette Callesen, Flugger Brasserie Time 17

In the kitchen or in the children's room

For rooms where there is almost always interaction with surfaces or there is a risk of staining the walls, it is better to use washable and strong paints. For kitchens, children's rooms, corridors, we recommend using Flugger Dekso 5 . It forms a matte yet very strong and washable surface that withstands spot cleaning, washing and rubbing.

And in case you want to get a very matte, but at the same time washable surface, you can use Flugger Dekso 1 Ultramat .

Photo: FRKDIS, FLUGGER HINDU No 48

Accent on the ceiling

If you want to emphasize the surface of the ceiling or highlighted with another focus of the niches, then special will be suitable for special focus, then special will fit special latex paints from Flugger.

If you want a black or bright blue ceiling, we recommend Flugger Flutex 2S is a deep matte paint with a very nice velvety look. If you want to emphasize other colors, then you can use paint Flugger Flutex 5S .

Experiment boldly, use accent colors in the interior - this will give a special, interesting and fun look to your future interior.

Learn more