Have you ever taken a tour of the home for sale and been put off by the supposedly fun colors on the walls? Or have you ever painted your own accent wall, only to repaint it a few months later when you realize it’s just not working?
Accent walls sound like the perfect solution to every homeowner’s decorating dilemma: How do you incorporate a more fun and interesting color when you’re not quite sure if you’ll like it, or when you think the color might be too strong for the whole room?
But accent walls are trickier than you’d think to get right.
As a painting contractor in the greater Seattle area, we’ve seen countless homes with all kinds of actual accent wall – some that work, and some that don’t; some that homeowners love, and some they can’t stand.
Avoid a case of homeowner’s regret by doing it right the first time: avoid these common mistake with accent walls.
Mistake #1: Making the room too dark
One reason a lot of homeowners decide to paint an accent wall is to brighten the room up. After all, adding in a fun color like bright turquoise, orange, yellow, or blue seems like the perfect way to brighten up an otherwise boring off-white room…right? But the deeper hue, though it may be more interesting than the paint color for the rest of the room, will almost certainly end up darkening the room overall. So unless your room gets a lot of natural sunlight, make sure you don’t choose too dark of a color for your accent wall. Or, if you do, make sure the room already gets lots of great natural light.
Here are two good examples of accent walls that work and allow the room to remain bright – one light, one dark:
Mistake #2: Going overboard with color
Accent walls are supposed to be fun, right? So, isn’t going overboard kind of the whole point? The problem is, what looks fun and quirky on a paint chip will look much stronger – and more overpowering – when it’s covering an entire wall, hovering over you while you eat breakfast every day. Err on the side of caution and pick a color that is more conservative than you think you want. That way, you can still change things up in the room, but you won’t have to repaint it again in a few weeks when you realize the color is way too strong.
Here’s a great example of a unique and beautiful accent wall that isn’t too strong:
Mistaken #3: Picking the color without thinking of the furnishings in the room
This is probably one of the most common mistakes with accent walls. Here’s something you might not of considered before: it is much cheaper to find a paint color that matches the specific furnishings you want to put in the room than it is to find a specific furnishings to match the pain paint color. In other words, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a beautiful yellow vintage dresser to match your mustard accent wall, why not paint a violet accent wall to mach the purple throw pillows you already own? As an added bonus, taking this approach will allow you to make sure you actually do like that color, because you already have furnishings the same color in that room.
The accent ceiling in this room matches the pink ottoman perfectly:
Mistake #4: Painting an accent wall in a room that’s too large
Accent walls are perfect for small rooms like bathrooms, bedrooms, and even small nooks like a breakfast nook or an office nook. But if you have an open floor plan, and large walls that can be seen from everywhere on the floor, that single accent wall will end up over might end up over powering everything else, turning it from an accent wall into the dominant color in the room. Avoid this problem by keeping accent walls confined to smaller rooms, or at least smaller nooks in larger rooms.
Here’s a bright orange accent wall that works well in the breakfast nook:
Mistake #5: Not doing an accent wall at all
Sometime, when you’ve fallen in love with the new color and you just want to see it everywhere, it may be frustrating to start with an accent wall when you just want to paint the whole kitchen and be done with it. But it is much cheaper and easier to paint a single wall first to make sure you like it. So if you want to try a different color that is way outside the current color palette of your home, be sure to stick to accent wall first. That way, you can be sure it works in your home, and in the room you’re thinking of, before taking on the huge project of painting the whole room.
We hope these tips have been helpful to you as you plan your accent wall. And if you need a professional painting contractor in the greater Seattle area, get in touch to get a bid. We’d love to help!
