I might do something other than paint in the niche. The dark paint just makes it a bigger dark hole.

Maybe a grasscloth or raffia for the wall. It would be easier to make a suggestion if we had a better view of the rug and furnsihings in the TV area.

I like the idea of grass cloth or something with texture, but I would want to bring in the green from the area rug and not anything too dark.

Thanks for the feedback so far - I did add an extra photo of the room/furniture.to help. There are still some curtains (10' partial curtain rods maybe) TBD as well so something with a suggested texture that could tie into those might work..

I once covered some cabinet doors with the same fabric as my curtains, then sprayed them with a matte lacquer so that I could wipe them off (they were in the eat in area of a kitchen).

You could have a wood frame built that you could cover in fabric that would fit in the space. Easy to recover or change when the mood strikes.

The back wall? I wouldn't go so dark,it jumps out from the off white walls. I like the brown, its warm, but I'd go w a lighter shade to compliment the wall and not jump out from them

Home Depot &Lowes have textured wall covering in the back .....way in the back of the store. My house came with a faux stone wall. Kinda tacky but it adds interest and it grew on me. Mine is old, they might have new panels or faux coverings. Building a frame....that sounds like too much. I had other walls with damage and I covered it by using grit that you mix with paint to give a pebbly texture. You can use fine texture or a larger grit. I still vote for a lighter brown or a warm color like green to compliment the other walls.

If

White. 100% for sure. You are thinking about this niche as though it were a deeper, bigger design element than it really is. There is nothing particularly interesting about this niche - color or wallpaper isn't going to make it a compelling design feature because it is housing a TV and audio components that are really not that interesting to look at. Why dry the eye to this area to just look at equipment? There is a lot of visual information in this large open space and it just looks best to treat it the same as the wall color that surrounds it.

Some options

Thanks to all! Very helpful - while there are divergent color range suggestions my main takeaway is to stay away from the darker looks and keep it light! Jennifer - the light khaki green is interesting. Beverly - the muted rose tone really pops with energy and has my attention.

Now I'm thinking I might want to start with the window treatments before anything else, and work in from there! I am a DIY person and the textured wallpapers look scary to tackle, so for now maybe just a wall color.... or texture I can roll on!

I love bold color choices but many are a bit fearful - I would go with Beverly's rose tones from the area rug in a hot second.

I agree with the grass cloth suggestion.

Proportionate to the rest of the space, can't just paint the back wall; it will feel like a picture that's about to fall out of the frame because the matt is too small. The back wall is unanchored, need to paint the short walls/ceiling surrounding it as well so the result is cove-like and unifies/unclutters everything in the inset. Same color as the cabinet either a few shades light or darker. I'd test both options.

Listen to Lori--she's the consummate color expert here!!!

It's typical in the field to end contrasting paint colors at an inside corner. If you stop them at an outside corner you are at the mercy of the quality of the drywall and corner bead. They are often crooked and you'll not get a straight edge.

It's called Frog tape.

I think you have to see how it looks in your own space. A bright color like the rose may be better on just the back wall. If I were painting the space black or a dark color I may want the whole space to recede.

When doing an alcove that is a seating area and treated as a separate space I want the ceiling and inside walls painted the same color as the rest of the space.