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Accent Walls

Painting accent walls is a great solution for those who want to dress up their living space but are not yet ready to commit to a full room’s worth of color.

Even if you are not afraid of using color everywhere, focal walls can really spice things up and create a fresh new look with minimal cost and effort.

An accent, or featurewall, in a room is like an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence – it adds excitement and importance to the space.

By painting an accent wall, you can create a sense of architecture and shape in a boxy room, direct the eye strategically to where you want it to go, or emphasize an existing focal point.

When Deciding on Your Accent Wall Avoid:

An accent wall in the wrong place will only look odd and confusing, that’s why picking the right wall to feature is so critical.

Unlike what most people think, the first wall that you see when you enter a room is not always the best one to accentuate.

In fact, there are many more decisions involved, and the following guidelines will help you determine which wall to choose.

Best Ideas for Painting Accent Walls:

  • Accent walls look best when they are solid – meaning they have no pattern, texture, or other embellishment.
  • You may be tempted to “frame” your beautiful or the large windows with a spectacular view, but oftentimes this will only distract instead of enhance. In addition, itwill usually make the accent color look dark or virtually invisible during the day.
  • In a really oblong room, the best wall to accentuate is the farthest short wall – the accent color will draw attention and make the wall appear closer to you, visually correcting the shape of the room. Painting the longest wall differently will only emphasize its length.
    For this reason, accentuating shared walls(those common in open floor plans) is seldom a good idea. Not only will you have trouble deciding where to start and stop (if the wall spans the kitchen and living room, for example), but you will also make the space look disproportionately elongated and unbalanced.

Determine Your Rooms Focal Point Then Decide Your Accent Wall

  • Do you have a focal point in the room already? Because it’s usually better to highlight the existing point of interest than create a new one.
    For example, if you have a fireplace, that’s a built-in, natural focal point that is already present in the room (no need to create something different), but you can make it stand out more by painting the wall it’s on a different color than the rest. That way you’ll be working withit, not competing against it.
    Other “naturals” include the wall behind your bed’s headboard or an important piece of furniture (usually your couch), the wall holding some dramatic artwork, a niche or other interesting architectural wall feature that already attracts attention.
  • When there is no natural focal point in the room, you can create one. Select the best wall for accent painting. Keep in mind the a above suggestions then look around – what do you want to showcase?
    Maybe you have a favorite painting or a collection of framed photos, a unique piece of furniture or even a live plant that you really love? On the background of the accent wall color, that item will be in spotlight and get more attention.

Competing Accent Walls

  • Before painting an accent wall, make sure there is no competition from the other walls in the room.
    If any of the adjacent walls has some “bossy” or “in your face” element that already draws all of the attention, adding an accent wall next to it may easily create confusion and overwhelm the space.
    Remember that if something in the room is the star of the show, the other elements of the décor should play quieter, supporting roles (so don’t force an accent wall in a room that doesn’t lend itself to it.

    And that brings us to choosing color for painting accent walls…

Color Advice for Painting Accent Walls

  • Accents walls look most organic when they are darker than the other walls in the room – it’s a classic look.
  • A reversed color combination is possible. However, a light accent wall in a room painted a deeper color requires skill and a good eye for color and decorating. Our design team at Local San Diego Painting can help pick the perfect color for your wall.
  • Also, the color of the accent wall should harmonize with the adjacent wall color. When in doubt, paint your statement wall the same color but 2 shades darker than the rest – it’s always a foolproof look.

More Advice About Accent Walls

  • Make sure the accent wall is related to the existing décor. The best way to connect it is to repeat one of the colors already present in the room.
  • Just don’t pick the dominant color in the décor. Because you’ll end up with too much of the same thing and when everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.
  • When choosing a paint color for the accent wall, consider the items that will be placed on its background.
    You need to ensure there is enough contrast, and that the colors will coordinate well – you don’t want your furniture pieces, wall art and other decorations to clash with the wall color, or blend in and disappear on the new color background.

We at Local San Diego painting are experienced in decorating with paint. We can help you create an accent wall that makes a statement. For those who are new and not used to bold colors, adding an accent wall is a good place to start experimenting with possibilities.

Give Local San Diego Painting a call. We can help and take the pain away of trying to find the right color or accent wall placement.

As always we offer free estimates so it’s a no stress option for you. One call is all you need. (619) 586-5683

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