At one point, it seemed that everyone had an accent wall in their home. I think accent walls are overused and many times not implemented correctly. Before you roll your eyes and never read my posts again, let me explain...
In most cases, there should be a purpose to accent walls...to accent architectural details or to highlight something. Sometimes it can be used to bring more color to a room inexpensively (if it is done right).
What is the purpose of the orange wall?
(In this photo, I am not seeing one. This may change if the entire room was shown.)
 |
| Source |
A lot of people aren't confident with the color enough to paint the entire room that shade, so they slop up a nuetral and then blindly choose a wall to accent in a color that they like.
Clearly red was the chosen color in the following photo. What is being accented and how does it relate to the rest of the room?
Clearly red was the chosen color in the following photo. What is being accented and how does it relate to the rest of the room?
 |
| Source |
Which brings me to the point that it needs to relate to the room!
Where does the purple in this photo tie in with the rest of the decor?
 |
| Source |
Wonderful places to accent walls are behind bookcases, behind a bed (it can serve as a headboard) or on a fireplace wall.
 |
| Source |
Just make sure that if your fireplace extends to the ceiling that you do NOT paint the two adjoining walls.
 |
| Source |
So... as a recap, accent walls should be used sparingly (read- not in every room!), they should be used to accent or draw attention to something, and they have to tie in with the rest of the room.
15 comments:
I agree with you completely! I recently did an accent wall in my sister's bedroom and she wanted a pop of orange color on one wall w/o having it on the entire room. I personally would not have chosen it, but it's her house and that's what she wanted! I do not have any accent walls....Great post to inspire thought about the why and how of accent walls.
Agreed!! Thank you for this great post! I'm not a fan of BRIGHT accent walls; they give me a head ache most of the time.
Becca
http://blondeslogic.blogspot.com
I totally agree, I am honestly SO over the accent wall thing. But done correctly it can be nice :)
BTW thanks for checking out my blog! I am LOVING yours:)
xoxo
Great tips and I agree not loving accent walls. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
sad face :(
i love my accent wall, haha.
don't worry, still love your blog! :)
Your right! I did a post on repainting my office several days ago and have finally choosen a color. I'll be honest... an accent wall did cross my mind but quickly left too. I am starting to paint today so I'll post the finished product later.
This is a great post. I have never liked accents walls and don't have any in my house. But I have to eat my words because my daughter just painted one in her house and it looks really good. But it does relate to the rest of the room and is an entry wall. Thanks for the expertise!
We plan on doing a wallpapered accent wall on the wall behind our bed. I wouldn't, however, put it on any other wall. An accent wall naturally draws your eye to it so you want there to be something important to be seen against it.
Totally agree. Accent walls are done way too frequently for all of the wrong reasons. You make some really great points! :-)
I agree, there's poor ways to accent a wall and wonderful ways! I've always had to paint an accent wall for added dimension behind my bed (and only one bc I didn't want to repaint the whole bedroom when i had to leave..lazy, I know) but I realize it gives the other walls in the room a space of their own, and I fill it with decor and frames!
I always find accent walls to be nice. You have displayed a nice array!
Hope you will please drop by and enter my $50 Overstock.com Gift Card Giveaway!! If there are 500entries, they will increase the Gift Card to $100.
Honey
Thanks for checking out my blog. I loved your post on accent walls and never realized how out of place they can look until I read your post. My husband and I just bought our first house and indeed we did 1 accent wall but it works. We have an open concept living/dining room and used an accent wall to tie both rooms together and pained all the other walls the same color. I'll have to put some pics up on my blog
This is a really good post on accenting a wall. We have done this in our master bedroom. You are definitely right that it needs to tie into something. I'll remember that next time.
Cheers Coley!
http://rambleswithreese.etsy.com
http://rambleswithreese.blogspot.com
Amen! I'm totally going to follow you :)
At Unleashed Painting, we can help you choose the perfect color and design for your Accent walls. We will also carefully prepare the wall before painting it to ensure that the finished product is flawless.
Post a Comment