Accent Walls: Pulling It All Together
In the two previous articles about how to create a successful accent wall we analyzed Accent Wall Mistakes to Avoid and how to Make the Most of Fireplace Accent Walls.
This third article is about looking at the big picture so the color and shade of the accent wall works in harmony with the rest of your room.
Personal stylist, Doreen Dove, suggests when you wear a color accent accessory (scarf, purse, shoes) that it repeats a color in your main outfit. This makes you look thoughtfully pulled-together rather than like you added a last-minute splash of color.
This concept applies to adding accent colors to your home.
If you don’t know what color to use, look at your chosen wall. Is there a painting or piece of artwork there that you love? Pick a color from within the painting, ideally not the dominant color in the picture, and use a variation of it for your accent wall color.
A client and I were looking for a warm yellow for a room that would harmonize with brilliantly hued art photograph. The first color my client picked looked on her wall an “off” yellow. Together we looked deeply into the picture and found a warm yellow in a small spot on an apple. (We’re talking about a small spot of color in a large photo.) As a paint color it gave the room a warmth the other yellow lacked and worked well with all the colors in the the artwork itself. We nicknamed it “golden apple yellow”.
Note: Often the best wall color is not a literal rendering of this color. The color may need to be a version that is either more bold or more subtle. Remember an accent wall is just that – an accent to highlight the whole – not something that draws attention only to itself.
See these successful harmonious accent walls:
In this kitchen a storage wall is the accent wall. See how the bold color highlights the pottery display, while the orange tone picks up the wood tones in the table and chairs. This is an example of finding a color in a room and taking it a step or two bolder, thus pulling the room together.
If you don’t have a special something on your accent wall, look at the rest of the room. Do you have a colorful throw pillow you love?, or a patterned rug with a color you can use on your wall?
This is a room full of neutral tones. Although the architecture is striking, the space would be vast and boring (think airplane hanger) without the accent wall. You can find this warm terra cotta color in the lower right quadrant of the painting on that wall. Using a bold earthy color here stands-up to the large neutral space and frames the green garden seen through the window. I would add some accent pillows on the chairs in a color similar to the wall to further enliven and tie-together the entire space.
Accent Walls Can Be Fun, Daring and Sophisticated, If You Know:
- Which walls work best as accent walls,
- How to make the most of a fireplace accent wall,
- Harmonize the accent wall color with something else in the room.
Want help making the most of colors in your home? Contact me for a personal consultation.
Let me know about your experiences with accent walls and colors in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.