This season we are seeing the return of the feature wall, but trend aside, what does a feature wall bring? 

A feature wall can give more to a room than meets the eye:

Focal Point

Some rooms can lack personality and have a sense of flatness to them. By adding a change of colour on just one wall, the room will instantly have an interesting feature that the eye is drawn to upon entering the room.

Shape and feeling

Have you ever walked into a naturally dark room or hallway and felt confined? Choosing the right shade or colour palette can instantly change the appearance and feeling of the space with crisp whites or neutrals making a ceiling feel higher or the area feel instantly bigger than what it is, or a hallway feel longer or wider. Adding a feature wall or different door colour keeps the eye moving around the room and creates depth to a space. Think deep blue hues for the doors off a white hallway or a sage green wall in a beige coloured room. The ideal paint colour on a feature wall can also make artwork or those special pieces of furniture come to focus. 

Purpose

A feature wall has the greatest impact when there is a purpose for it. For example, a fireplace mantel painted a different colour to the rest of the walls, a differing wall colour behind the bedhead or a contrasting wall colour to the colours in an artwork.  

To feature wall or not?

There are of course some rooms where a feature wall colour doesn’t have the same impact as a complete colour drench of all the walls. If you have windows or doors on every wall, then the feature wall colour might not have the same big impact as a blank wall as it competes with door and window trim and hardware. Sometimes sticking with the one colour palette can have a bigger difference to the feeling and shape of the room – think a deep green or navy for an old-world look office or snug home theatre. Bathrooms and kitchens traditionally stick with the one flat colour so that the wall paint and the joinery aren’t competing. 

 If you would like help with your colour selection or the ideas of a professional painter then give your local Jim’s Professional Painter a call to discuss.