Everything About a Perfect Accent Wall: Best Tips and Advice

An accent wall is a straightforward way to spruce up a certain space in your room and make it feel special. It gives a room the depth and the color to make the room “pop” or stand out. They are excellent home extensions to further emphasize a focal point in a room or to add personality to a room. It is easy to install, sometimes DIY friendly and doesn’t require a lot of effort like painting the whole room.

Table of Contents

1. What is an accent wall?
2. Why do you want an accent wall?
3. How to choose the wall for an accent wall?
4. How to choose an accent wall in an open space concept?
5. How to create an accent wall?
6. Which color should I choose for my accent wall: light color or dark color?
7. Can you make an accent wall as a focal point?
8. Which wall to choose for an accent wall in a bedroom?
9. What not to do with an accent wall?
10. Can you have more than one accent wall in a room?
11. Can you have an accent wall in a small room?
12. How do you prepare and paint an accent wall: DIY?

What is an accent wall?

Why do you want an accent wall?

• If you have a minimalist room, and you feel that your room lacks a bit of feature to stand out.
• It is cheaper than repainting the whole room. When you are getting tired of your room color. Instead of repainting the entire room, you can create an accent wall in one of the walls.
• An accent wall will turn a basic room into an interesting room. If your room feels “empty” and you want to add depth, character, or personality to your room.
• When you want to further emphasize a focal point in a room.
• Draw away attention from undesirable built-in room features, low ceilings, and more.

How to choose the wall for an accent wall?

• Make sure that the accent color that you choose contrasts well with the surrounding walls. An accent wall color can be from painting with different colors, wallpaper, and more.
• Check for an existing focal point or feature of the room such as a fireplace, windows, bookshelves, or oversized wall art.
• Identify the wall that first attracts people’s attention when they enter the room such as the wall opposite the door or entrance.
• A simple rectangle wall is a great choice. Try not to make an accent wall in an asymmetrical or irregularly shaped wall such as a slanted wall that is commonly found in attic rooms. An accent color or pattern on an asymmetrical wall is often discouraged because it is hard to make it right and may lead to fuzziness. It will force your brain to understand both the color or pattern of your accent wall and the shape of the wall as well unless it’s something that you want to highlight.
• Choose a wall that has adequate lighting. An accent wall is often having a dark color or texture. Considering the dark color, a lack of lighting on accent walls will cause the room to feel crumpled and smaller, especially in smaller rooms.

How to choose an accent wall in an open space concept?

An accent wall in an open space concept is something that you should consider. An open space concept is typically having two or more rooms connected without any walls or boundaries that separate them, making the space inside the house feel open and bigger.  As they are open and connected, there can be difficulty in defining the boundary easily. This is where accent wall comes in handy which is segmenting the area by creating an illusion of boundary while still keeping your open space concept open and connected.

How to create an accent wall?

• With a mural or wallpaper especially if you are renting as it is portable, low-risk, and removable.
• An accent wall is mostly work best when the adjacent walls are in a lighter shade.
• You should consider dark and airy colors in smaller rooms as it fades the boundary of the room.
• When you have a neutral-colored room such as a white-painted room, pastel colors like blue, beige, grey, or green and high contrast colors like bright yellow, bright blue, or bright orange are great options.
• Having an accent wall with a different wall texture like brick, stone, or fabric will contrast well with the smooth paint on the rest of the walls to create an excellent contrast that adds more depth and texture to a room.

Which color should I choose for my accent wall: light color or dark color?

Both light color and dark color are great options for accent walls. Depending on your color choices, light or dark colors will give different effects to the room. The light accent color will brighten and open up the room. On the contrary, dark accent color will direct people’s attention to it such as to further highlight a focal point in a room.

Furthermore, color is not the only option to create an accent wall. Texture plays a big part in creating amazing accent walls like brick walls, stone walls, board and batten, or wood paneling. As an alternative, wallpaper is a low-risk option that can be applied and removed safely while still giving a striking result.

Can you make an accent wall as a focal point?

Although there is a lot of connection between the accent wall and the focal point, they are two different things. A focal point is a thing, a feature, or an element that attracts and anchors our focus to it as we try to make sense of the space. On the other hand, an accent wall further emphasizes and highlights the focal point by making that area or wall noticeably different than the rest of the walls.

Which wall to choose for an accent wall in a bedroom?

In most cases, the first wall that you see is an ideal wall for an accent wall. But it doesn’t apply to an accent wall in a bedroom. An accent wall in a bedroom is most often installed behind the bed headboard to provide an anchor. Alternatively, you can put an accent wall behind your desk, especially if you have an amazing desk setting. Color and pattern are based on your preferences, but a subtle color or a simple pattern will look great if you have a minimalist bedroom.

What not to do with an accent wall?

• Having an accent wall in an odd-shaped and asymmetrical wall is inadvisable. Comparably, putting an accent wall in a smaller wall in a big room is also not a great idea. It will throw away balance and proportion of the room because it will further highlight the wall size inconsistency.
• There is a reason why accent walls should contrast or complement the rest of the walls. Choosing a color that is similar or slightly different from the rest of the walls will make it harder to notice. This will force your brain to find the differences that will tire you and give odd senses of the room.
• The most common placement of an accent wall is on the first wall that you naturally see, and that’s with a good reason. If you place an accent wall on the wall where the entryway or door is, it will feel awkward and not natural as you will need to turn your head around every time you enter the room to see it.

Can you have more than one accent wall in a room?

You can have more than one accent wall in a room. It is advised to use adjacent walls as accent walls if you choose to have more than one accent wall in a room. For example, with two adjacent walls in a room, you can create a special area and highlight that area even more. However, having two or more accent walls in opposite walls is generally not advisable. People can only see one side of the wall at one point in time and when having two accent walls on opposite sides will split their attention and tend to create confusion.

Can you have an accent wall in a small room?

You can have an accent wall in a small room but with a precaution. There is limited space in a small room and sometimes there is already so much going on in a small room. Having an accent wall in a packed small room will make the room feel chaotic and overwhelming. If you choose to have an accent wall in a small room, a cool airy color, or dark color accent wall is commonly chosen for a small room, as it blurs the boundary of the room and makes the room feel bigger.

How do you prepare and paint an accent wall: DIY?

The first thing that you need to do is to paint lighter walls as accent walls generally darker than the rest of the walls. The second thing is to protect the wall features of the room to prevent other walls from spilling and bleeding when you paint your accent wall. You can do it with tape or other preventive things. Lastly, you can start painting your accent wall with the color that you choose.