Accent walls made their debut in the early 2000s as a “pop” of color without taking too much risk in a room. You can paint one wall a bold color and quickly paint it back… in a quarter of the time as a four-walled room. In doing this, the problem you run into is having it look like you did EXACTLY that. This type of tip-toeing tends to look aimless and gives off an “I didn’t really get around to finishing up the paint job in here” feel. However, some of 2019’s top Home Interior Design pins include accent walls. That being said, this doesn’t mean that they are the early 2000’s accent walls we mentioned earlier. Instead, they are accent walls with a purpose and we are going to walk you through the keys to nailing the accent wall of the beginning of the new decade.
To Draw Attention to an Architectural Feature
First and foremost, using paint to highlight an architectural feature like a fireplace, a special room shape, molding, etc. will always receive deserving praise. If you have a white brick fireplace, give it the contrast it needs against a charcoal wall. When you aren’t working with a flashier tile or surround material, this is a genius way to create a moment out of a pretty basic set-up.
Painting built-ins as your “accent wall” helps to pull all the attention a vintage or newly-installed piece deserves. Whether it may be cabinets or bookcases, your home interior designer will make sure to paint any wall bits that show up the same color so it’s seamless. This works particularly well in a room that might be a little more monotone. If your built-in cabinet or bookcase appears to be centered in a pass-through space, consider keeping colors fresh to maintain an open feel.
If you have a room with a different roofline or shape, consider finding a way to accent either it or tthe space around it to make it shine.
To Bring Interest to An Overlooked Transition Space
Sometimes it doesn’t have to be the wall that is accented, but the door or ceiling. Some ceilings are very tall, so to bring even more attention to them, painting a door up into its overhead space is like a magnet for the eyes. If you decided to include all one color on your walls in your home interior design, it could potentially lay out an entirely different mood. With just one accent, it still can feel bright and airy and add just enough visual interest.
A similar take on the “paint a door at the end of a hallway” thing from before, can come without the whole painted ceiling commitment.To accomplish this, consider not just painting a door but rather all of your moldings and hardware involved.
To Distinguish a Space for a Purpose
Another very smart application of the accent wall is to carve out a “purpose” for a portion of a room without having to put up any walls or get too creative with furniture. A dining room can be distinguished from a much larger living space. The slight alcove can be the perfect opportunity to do this, so if you have awkward little spaces like that, you might want to consider going the accent wall route.
The creative mind thinking behind dealing with the home interior design of an all white room can be to paint it a chalky navy to let it act as a workspace. To save money and labor, you can always skip the paneling and just go the route of paint for a similar effect. Note, also, that you can paint the baseboard in your section, which can seem like a tough decision: to paint or not to paint the baseboard.
Consider also painting the majority of the wall to draw attention to a corner. At first, you may think it is a little funny not to commit fully to the paint job (in terms of taking it fully to the corners, ceiling or baseboards) but you can soon realize that it is the most purposeful way of going about it being that there is more wall beyond the corner, and otherwise you would have had to take the paint all the way across. Leaving the border says “yes, I meant to do this and I’m confident about my choice” which we’re all for.
Now this can seem a bit niche in that most people do not have a full wall of cabinetry in their bedroom with a bed built in, but in case you do, or are thinking up some storage solutions for an upcoming project, painting (and wallpapering) an inset to place your bed is a great way to make a “headboard” without actually having a headboard.
To Add Contrast to a Basic Room
It’s no secret that home interior designers and design-aficionados are TV-averse but look, let’s get real… most of us have a television that we need to have displayed openly. However, if you want some ideas as to how to “camoflauge” it, think of it this way: Majority of rooms in your home can be white, bright and airy, but in the TV-viewing space, you can take the route of painting the wall the flatscreen sits on a similar dark hue. This accomplishes two things: 1. the TV is less HUGE BLACK BOX ON BRIGHT WHITE WALL, and 2. it gives this relatively boxy room some contrast.
And finally, one that won’t apply to most of you, but we wanted to include it because it’s so fun. Particularly if you live in an old home with quirky architectural, using an accent wall approach to highlight anything that’s funky or awkward makes the most of your home’s uniqueness. A powder blue wall portion can really play into the mid-century vibes of a room.
