What Is An Accent Wall?

When you are decorating your home, you will probably come across a few terms that are never fully explained to you. One such term is ‘accent’ wall but while we all may have some vague idea of what it is, do we truly understand its potential? Here we are going to be covering accent walls including taking a closer look at what they are and how you can use them to completely change the dynamics of your room. This way, you can work out if an accent wall would be a great addition to the decor of your room or if you’re better off keeping the idea for somewhere else.

To put it plainly, an accent wall is a wall (either interior or exterior) that is a different color, design, material or style than all of the other walls around it. Basically, it is a wall that stands out from the rest on purpose. Many people choose to add accent walls to their homes for multiple reasons. Some add an accent wall to their rooms just to make it more interesting and improve its overall visual appeal. Others may have a more practical reason for adding an accent wall to their room as it helps give the room a whole different look to add dimension and create fake space. Fake space is important at helping smaller rooms feel much larger, and an accent wall can definitely help that because it helps create visual depth. Some homeowners and decorators even use accent walls to help divide the space in a room, for example in a large living area that doubles as both a dining room and living room. 

 

So, accent walls refer to a wall that is decorated and styled differently from the other walls in the room, usually through color, materials or style. They are usually added to make a room more visually appealing, but they can also be utilized to help divide space and create fake space to make smaller rooms feel far larger. However, accent walls are not to everyone’s taste. Some people may prefer to use other forms of decor to be their room’s focal point, such as a piece of art or a bold piece of furniture. Accent walls can also limit how you want to decorate your home in the future as choosing a bold color or style can limit you to choosing decor that fits that one accent wall. This means that if you are thinking of adding an accent wall to your home, you should carefully think about the room overall and if an accent wall will benefit the feel of your room or if it will only limit your future decor choices.

 

 

Check more: Which wall should be an accent wall?

 

What To Consider For Your Accent Wall

Accent walls can be utilized in any room of your home and even some garden areas or exterior buildings use accent walls - but choosing to add an accent wall to your home involves a lot of careful thinking and planning. Here are some of the most important areas you should consider before choosing the decor for your accent wall.

 

Color Palette

One of the most common ways homeowners use accent walls is by painting a wall in a room a completely different color to the rest. This can sometimes work and other times, it can be a total disaster because the color chosen for the accent wall doesn’t suit the rest of the color palette. It’s fine to choose bold colors for your accent wall but you need to take into consideration the colors on the other walls of the room and make sure you choose a color that complements it. Rooms that are all white can be tricky because too much contrast can be a bit of an eyesore, but in rooms with neutral colors, it’s also a good idea to add another neutral but deeper color to your accent wall. So, don’t rely on your accent wall to add the pop of color to your room. Make sure that your accent wall ties in with the rest of your room’s color scheme to create a unified design.

 

Patterns

Although block colors are super popular for accent walls, you can still shake things up by adding patterns to your accent wall instead. Stripes, spots, metallic or geometric patterns - these are all great ways to bring some quirk and character to your room. They can also tie neatly into the overall design and style of your room so don’t feel that you are limited to just a block colored accent wall. You can even paint half or three quarters of your accent wall - the options are endless.

 

Texture

Just like with patterns, you are not limited to just using paint as your weapon of choice for your accent wall. You  can also add more depth, style, and pattern by swapping paint for a material that can add more texture to your accent wall. You can also use materials like bricks, tiles, paneling and wallpaper to adorn your accent wall. A brick or tile accent wall works great in more rustic designed living areas or kitchens, enhancing the character of the room overall. Some people even use things like shelving or tapestries to create a feature wall. So, this means that feature walls are way more than just a block color painted wall - they can be so much more!

 

Conclusion

So, accent walls are a great way to add some more color and dimension to a room and many people use this technique in many different homes in their home including living areas, kitchens and bedrooms. However, if they are done wrongly, some accent walls can be more of an eyesore than a treat for the eye. Check over the above information so you can think through carefully if your accent wall will actually improve the overall appearance of your room or ruin it. Think about different styles and materials, wallpapers or paneling that you can use to change your room for the better!

 

Wallpaper design used for the project: Pink Paintbrush Maze Wallpaper