Accent walls can be more than just a solid color that contrasts with the rest of the room. When a homeowner wanted help redesigning her baby’s nursery with an accent wall, paint expert Mauro Henrique broke out some simple, easy tricks to create a beautiful, calming accent wall.
How to Paint an Accent Wall
- Check the surface of the walls to ensure they’re in good condition. Make any repairs necessary before moving on.
- Remove the wall plates from the switches and outlets, and run painter’s tape around items like thermostats, baseboards, windows, and doors.
- Cut in around the edges of items like walls, corners, windows, and baseboards with the paint brush. Roll paint onto the walls with the paint roller, using overlapping previous passes to maintain a wet edge and even coat.
- Once the walls are completely dry, start the layout for the accent wall. Start by choosing the right wall. In our case, we liked how one of the walls in the room met with the sloped ceiling and created interest.
- Our design called for arches, so we measured and laid out the correct width of each arch, marking along the baseboard on the painter’s tape. We planned for one arch to be slightly behind the other but still marked both sides of the arch on the painter’s tape.
- Measure and mark the wall at the appropriate height for each arch. Consider making one taller than the other and mark both heights in pencil.
- Place a level on top of the baseboard at each of the marks and draw light, plumb (vertical) lines to the desired height. Complete this on the other hash marks as well.
- Wrap a length of string around a pencil so you can use it to draw a semicircle. Find the center between a set of lines, remembering that the one arch will sit behind the other, so you’ll need to skip a line. Hold the pencil against one of the lines and secure the string to the wall with a pushpin in the center of the arch.
- With the tip of the pencil lined up on the top of the line, draw a half-circle to the other line, outlining your design.
- Before you can move to this step, be sure that the freshly painted wall is dry. Once you’re sure, use low-tack painter’s tape along the outside of the outline, using small pieces to wrap around the arch’s round profile.
- Apply paint to the accent wall by cutting in along the edges with the paint brush and using the roller to make short W-shaped passes to maintain a wet edge.
- Before the paint can dry completely, carefully remove the painter’s tape. There will likely be a gap of paint where the tape once covered, so paint the gap using a paintbrush.
Materials
- String
- Nail (to hold string)
- Painter’s tape (standard and low-tack)
- Paint #1
- Paint #2
- Paint #3
- Paint sticks
- Cotton knit rags
Tools
Resources
- Sherman Williams Cashmere Interior Acrylic Latex Paint – Sea Salt in Eggshell
- Sherman Williams Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex Paint – Colony Buff in Satin
- Sherman Williams Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex Paint – Forestwood in Satin
- Delicate surface painter’s tape
- 2-½ in. nylon/polyester angle sash brush
