Just One Wall: When the Accent Wall Works
Ah, the accent wall. In most cases, I’m a huge fan. Accent walls can liven up an otherwise dull space without too much commitment.
Like anything else in decorating, there are good and bad examples of accent walls. Sometimes I just think: COMMIT! If you want to do it, do it to all the walls!
But that’s the rare occasion. Most of the time, accent walls offer a cool contrast to the rest of the space: just enough texture and pattern and color to make a room more interesting without overpowering.
The pictures below all work for me: They’re the good kind of accent walls, that provide balance and interest. What do you think?
Like anything else in decorating, there are good and bad examples of accent walls. Sometimes I just think: COMMIT! If you want to do it, do it to all the walls!
But that’s the rare occasion. Most of the time, accent walls offer a cool contrast to the rest of the space: just enough texture and pattern and color to make a room more interesting without overpowering.
The pictures below all work for me: They’re the good kind of accent walls, that provide balance and interest. What do you think?
Exposed brick is the original, built-in accent wall. I love it in urban spaces—it gives just the right touch of rough authenticity to otherwise modern rooms.
A little wallpaper can go a long way. In this room, four walls full of wallpaper might cause a headache. I like it behind the bed, though, where it frames the sleeping space and keeps the room from looking too beige and dull.
Accent walls are perfect for black and white rooms. All black or all white is a dangerous gamble: it can be awfully stark. But one glossy black wall? Perfect.
This room offers a slightly softened approach to the black accent wall, with one wall papered in a brocade-like pattern in black.
Complement a black accent wall with white furniture
Complement a black accent wall with white furniture
There’s no rule that an accent wall has to be covered in paint or paper, either. In this case, the windows are the wall.
Install a window wall
Install a window wall
And here, books are the accent. (By the way, I can’t stay away from this photo—ever since I discovered it, I’ve been coming back for more. I just love it.)
Decorate with literature using these bookshelves
Decorate with literature using these bookshelves
Sometimes accent walls feel made for stripes. Cover a room in this black and white pattern, and it would feel like a circus tent. But on just one wall (especially a wall accessorized this way)? I love it.
Todd Oldham obviously knows a thing or two about accents, as well. These bright stripes would really be circus-like around a whole room, but they are so much fun on just one wall.
Including this space is a bit of a stretch, but I think it makes a good point: covering one wall in fabric can look fantastic. Yes, you have to be careful not to venture into dorm-room-tapestry territory, but with a little restraint, a wall of fabric can look sophisticated, worldly, and casual all at once.
Search for sophisticated tapestries
Search for sophisticated tapestries
I love maps in any incarnation, so it's no surprise that I love the idea of one wall papered with an enormous one. It's educational and beautiful.