Accent walls can add depth, character, and visual interest to your space. They’re a popular way to improve the look and feel of a room and add some color without overwhelming the space. This guide will walk you through selecting the perfect accent wall for your home to enhance your space and reflect your personal style.
Is an Accent Wall Right for You?
Before diving into the selection process, think about whether an accent wall is the right choice for your room. During a color consultation, designers often ask about homeowners’ design preferences and whether they want painted walls to be the primary source of color or if they prefer the items in the room (such as furniture, rugs, and accent pillows) to provide visual interest.
If you have a collection of vivid modern art to display, you may not need a painted accent wall. Instead, you could opt for a gallery wall to showcase your pieces. However, if your furnishings are neutral, your window treatments lack distinct colors, and you don’t have statement artwork to hang, an accent wall may be the perfect solution to inject personality into your space.
To help you determine if an accent wall is right for your room, consider focal point, symmetry, and inside corners. We’ll dive into these three factors below.
Focal Point
The focal point of a room is where your eye naturally travels when you enter the space. Common focal points include fireplaces, the headboard of a bed, the peak of a large vaulted ceiling, or the TV wall in a living room. When choosing an accent wall, it’s often best to emphasize this natural focal point.
Ask yourself the following questions to find your room’s focal point:
- What’s the first thing you notice when you walk into the room?
- Is there an architectural feature that stands out?
- Does the room have a specific purpose that dictates a natural focal point?
Accenting a wall that naturally attracts your eye is usually the clear choice, but you should also think about the context of the wall in question. Make sure that the focal point wall aligns with the room’s overall design and purpose.
If your room lacks a natural focal point, don’t worry. You can create one by choosing a wall based on symmetry or other design principles.
Symmetry
If you’re unsure about your focal point wall, symmetry (or lack thereof) is likely what’s causing the hesitation. Several factors can affect the symmetry of a potential accent wall, including odd window configurations, walls on either side that don’t mirror each other, or irregular geometric shapes.
While accent walls can work with these configurations in some rooms, a symmetrical wall often provides the best canvas for an accent color because it creates a balanced look. When you’re thinking about symmetry, consider the following questions:
- Are the elements on the wall evenly distributed?
- Does the wall have a balanced appearance?
- Will the accent color enhance or detract from the existing features?
If a wall lacks perfect symmetry, you can sometimes create balance through strategic furniture placement or by using artwork and decor to offset any irregularities. Symmetry is a powerful tool in accentuating the beauty of your living space, especially when it’s thoughtfully integrated into the design.
Inside Corners
While design trends may come and go, some fundamental principles of design remain constant. One such rule is that starting and stopping different colors on an “inside corner” always looks better than doing so on an “outside” corner.
Inside corners refer to the point where two walls meet at an inward angle, typically forming a 90-degree angle. An outside corner is where the corner projects out into a space. Factoring in inside corners when choosing your accent wall creates a more intentional and complete look. The shadows that naturally form in these corners help amplify your accent color, adding depth and dimension to the space.
Using inside corners for accent walls creates a clear delineation between the accent wall and surrounding walls. When choosing your accent wall, prioritize walls with inside corners on both sides to get the most cohesive and attractive result.
Pro tip: If you’re struggling to find a suitable wall for an accent color, don’t forget about the “fifth wall”—the ceiling. In consultations for asymmetrical rooms with no dominant focal point, designers often suggest the ceiling as a novel method of infusing color into a challenging space.
Choosing a Color for an Accent Wall
Once you’ve identified the perfect wall for your accent, the next step is picking the right color. Based on years of experience and thousands of projects, there are two main approaches that most people take.
Subtlety (Monochromatic Accent Wall)
Most people paint the larger public areas of their homes in neutral colors. Choosing a deeper or lighter version of this neutral color for your accent wall often yields excellent results. It’s the same color, just in a different saturation.
If you’d like to take a subtle approach, choose a color that’s 1–2 colors down on the color card for your base room color. Many people make the mistake of choosing colors immediately next to each other on the color card, only to find that the difference is indiscernible on the wall.
Pop (Contrasting Accent Wall)
If subtlety isn’t your style, consider a bold, contrasting accent color. Popular choices include turquoise, red, navy blue, and black in rooms with white or off-white base colors. For children’s rooms, the possibilities are endless—these spaces can handle vibrant, eye-catching colors, including neons and pastels.
When choosing your accent wall color, consider the following factors:
- The overall color scheme of your room: Choose a cohesive color palette that aligns with your personal style, whether it’s warm and earthy tones or cool, neutral shades. This will set the foundation for the room’s ambiance and how all elements come together visually.
- The mood you want to create: Think about the atmosphere you’d like to evoke, such as a calm and serene environment with soft, muted colors or a vibrant and energetic space with bold, contrasting hues.
- The amount of natural light the space receives: Consider how much sunlight the room gets throughout the day. Rooms with a lot of natural light can handle darker colors, while dimly lit spaces may benefit from lighter shades to brighten the area. Test your chosen color in various lighting conditions and times of day
- The size of the room: Keep in mind that darker colors can make a room feel cozier but might also make it feel smaller, while lighter colors can open up the space and make it feel larger and more airy.
Accent walls are still very much “in” when done correctly. With proper planning and thoughtful color selection, an accent wall can be both elegant and timeless, adding character and depth to your living space.