The wall chosen for an accent wall should ideally be the one that naturally draws the eye when entering a room and serves as a focal point. This could be the wall behind the bed in a bedroom, the wall behind the sofa or the fireplace wall in a living room, or the wall opposite the doorway or behind the desk of an office depending on your office layout.

There are full height accent walls and half height accent walls (wainscoting, board and batten, beadboard, etc.). Avoid creating a full height accent wall in a small room like a powder bathroom. This is because you will not be able to get far enough away from the wall or walls to take in its effect and instead it will make the room feel crowded. Conversely, a half height accent wall works great in a small room like a powder room for a couple reasons. The first being that you are able to more easily take in the entire design when you are standing in the room because it doesn’t cover as much wall space. Second, its repeating pattern allows your mind to fill in the pattern anywhere you can’t see it, like behind the toilet or door. Keep in mind this advice is only valid for POWDER bathrooms (typically 5’ x 5’). FULL baths can be quite large in some homes and a full height accent wall may work great because you can stand far enough away from the wall that it does not feel overwhelming.

Typically 3’-5’.

4’-5’ tall is typically used when a ceiling height is 9’-10’ tall and 3’-4’ tall is typically used when a ceiling height is 8’ tall. When considering the height, decide if you want to be able to hang anything above it like artwork or a mirror. If you do, what are the sizes of those items? The center of a wall hanging should be hung at eye level so make sure you will have enough space between the top of the wall treatment and your ceiling for what you plan to hang. Another consideration is to take a look at where your light switches are and whether you want the top of the wall design to be above or below the light switch. From my experience, clients typically choose either slightly above or slightly below the light switches. In summary, there is no hard and fast rule so decide what is best for your space!

Start with the rooms that are most visible to others and most used by you like entryways, living rooms, dining room, powder room, offices (Maybe your office is near the main entrance or the accent wall is the backdrop to all your zoom meetings.) These rooms tend to be on your main floor. Once you’ve completed these projects, work your way down your list to projects in less visible spaces like your bedroom or a basement bathroom.

Take into account the size of the room when choosing the shade for your accent wall. In smaller rooms, lighter shades can make the space feel more open and spacious. In larger rooms, darker shades can create a sense of intimacy and coziness. Also, if you are looking for a more striking wall that pops, choose a color that greatly contrasts the adjacent walls. If you want to add variation and/or texture subtly, choose a color that is the same or only a few shades different than the adjacent walls.

This depends on the style of accent wall. In my opinion, the baseboard of geometric styles should be painted the color of the accent wall because the baseboard tends to feel like part of the accent wall design. In contrast, picture frame moulding does not contact the baseboard so the baseboard does not feel like part of the accent wall. Thus it looks great if you leave baseboard white to match the adjacent baseboards.