The Dos and Don’ts of Using Wallpaper for Accent Walls

Typically, homeowners obey the unwritten rule that a room’s walls should follow the same color and pattern. This guarantees that the room remains consistently agreeable throughout. Still, you may want to inject some personality into a space. Making adjustments to the décor itself is one option available to you, but you can also create an accent wall to animate your home in a more unique way. The versatility of wallpaper makes the material apt for this application. To assist you in how to use it effectively, we discuss the dos and don’ts of using wallpaper for accent walls.

Do Go Bold with Its Design

If you’re going to give one wall in a room an exclusive design, you should go bold with it. Otherwise, your accent wall may end up looking more like a mishap than the result of careful consideration. Choose wallpaper that clearly stands apart from the simplicity and perhaps mundanity of the other vertical surfaces. You can do so by selecting a color that grabs the viewer’s attention, such as deep blues or warm orange. Apart from color, you can also find wallpaper with detailed or lively patterns. Floral artwork and animal prints will certainly have a striking effect, as will geometric shapes and striped wallpaper.

Do Think About Overall Color Scheme

You should be daring with your accent wall’s design, but this doesn’t mean you should settle on a wallpaper completely at random. Think about the color scheme you’ve already established in the room. What hue would appear distinct while maintaining some harmony there? An intense red will definitely stand out next to blue and gray furniture, but it can threaten to completely engulf the room with its forcefulness. A medium blue would be more in line with the overall theme while remaining bold enough to enhance the space. The same idea applies to patterned wallpaper colors as well.

Don’t Haphazardly Select a Wall

Since the accent wall is going to draw your eyes towards it, you should think about where you will place it. A wall that’s largely bare can stand to benefit from wallpaper, as you’re trying to give the room a more complete feeling with it. The visual weight of windows, furniture, or fireplaces on some walls might make those walls look overwhelming if you add complex wallpaper to them. By using an otherwise unadorned wall as an accent, you’ll attain a pleasant balance of elements.

Don’t Be Afraid of Texture

The advantage of wallpaper over paint is that you can delve into the dimension of texture with it. If you aren’t inclined to use idiosyncratic patterns, playing with texture is another great path to take in order to contrast your accent wall with its surroundings. Some wallpapers have fabric-like surfaces and outward aspects reminiscent of stone, wood, and leather. So many people are used to seeing solely smooth walls in homes, so textured wallpaper can bring your home from banal to beautifully bizarre without causing it to look too busy.