Accent Walls

   
      So, you want to revamp a room with an accent wall. You have colors in mind, but you don't know where to begin. In my opinion, an accent wall should be more than just a different paint color! Sadly, sometimes accent wall projects can turn out looking like an unfinished paint job. So how do you make an accent wall really stand out, and yet fit in as an accent wall? Here are some tips and tricks to make your accent walls make a great statement in your home.

                                                        
                                     How to Create an Amazing Accent Wall in Any Home

       The first step to any accent wall project is deciding which wall you want to be the featured wall. This is the wall that everyone's eyes will instantly be drawn to. This will be the focal piece of the room. Where do you want people's eyes to focus?
   
        Then, It's time to figure out your color scheme. Keep in mind that darker colors, will make your room look smaller and significantly darker. We recently painted our living room, which had a dark brown accent wall, to white. You'd be surprised how light and open and even bigger the room feels now.
       If you're going for a non-neutral color, toned down versions of colors prove to look very nice, and blend into the room more than bright pops of colors, such as neon tones. (These bright pops often look much better being accented in décor such as curtains, pillows and blankets rather than on your walls. You can still have a very colorful room with toned down walls.)
       For our bedroom, I chose a toned down teal-ish color. It reminds me of beach houses and is a very quiet, calming color. These types of tones and colors are great for bedrooms, where you wind down and relax after a long day.
       If you do want to choose a brighter color, I recommend doing so in a kitchen, or even a living room. These are more high-energy rooms, so louder, colorful paint colors would fit in much better in these spaces.

      Now that we've chosen our paint themes and colors, are we done, ready to paint? Not necessarily. As I mentioned in my introduction, sometimes accent walls can fall flat and look like unfinished paint jobs. So how do you make it stand out, yet fit in?
      Patterns are such a good way to go. Whether you add stripes, or add paneling to create 3D effects on your wall, it can make such a difference.

      In my music room, we have white walls as a base. For the accent wall, I went with a deep peacock blue color. To make it pop, we taped off squares on the wall, and painted the inside of the squares in the blue shade, with their borders remaining white. This simple pattern makes all the difference and makes the accent wall stand out even more.
      In our bedroom, we have plans to put paneling on our walls, small rectangles on top and bottom, and bigger ones in the middle, using molding pieces. Then, we are going to paint the entire wall a toned down teal shade. The 3D pops from the molding, outlining rectangles in the wall, will make a stately look, making our accent wall pop out even more than just a flat paint color.
     
      There are so many ways to do this. plain wood paneling on either whole or half of the wall, painting in patterns, like chevron or polka-dots. Accent walls do not need to be just a flat-painted wall. Make them fun, interesting, and make them stand out even more by adding another element to accent it even more. If you'd like, you could even use wall stickers or wallpaper. Being a painter's daughter, I prefer using paint to make my patterns, but everyone is different! Even using a patterned wallpaper on one wall can look very nice.

     So get out there and make your rooms stand out and pop, to create one-of-a-kind designs that all of your guests will be jealous of! Who knows, your accent wall designs could motivate someone to create some DIY accent walls in their home!

                                                                                                                                         -Lauren Hazard