Accent wall ideas: choosing the wall, the color and the finish

Which wall should be the accent wall?

An accent wall draws the eye, so pick the wall you want people to notice first. Paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams, in its accent wall guide, says the wall that comes into view opposite the main entrance to the room is often the most appropriate one to use. That wall is the first thing people see when they walk in, which gives the color the most attention.

Other good candidates are walls that already carry a feature of the room: the wall behind a bed, the wall around a fireplace, a wall of built-in shelves or the wall where you plan to hang a group of pictures. Painting that wall lets the color and the feature support each other. A wall broken up by several doors, windows or vents usually gives the color less continuous surface to work with, so look at how much uninterrupted space each wall offers.

Before you commit, stand in the doorway and in the spots where you usually sit, and look at each option in daylight and in the evening. If you are planning new window treatments too, our guide on how to hang curtain rods explains how to place them.

How do you choose an accent wall color?

The Sherwin-Williams accent wall guide describes three starting points. The first is choosing a color a few shades darker than the other walls in the room, often from the same paint chip strip, which keeps the room in one color family with added depth. The second is choosing a complementary color, which you find by looking across the color wheel from the main wall color. The third is picking up a hue from something already in the room, such as pillows or draperies, so the wall ties into your furnishings.

A fourth approach uses analogous colors, which sit next to each other on the color wheel, such as blue and blue-green, and it keeps the accent wall in the same part of the wheel as the rest of the room.

Whichever route you take, test before you buy full cans. Paint a large sample on the wall itself, or on a board you can move around, and look at it next to the other walls at different times of day, since daylight, lamps and the direction of the windows all change how a color reads. Browse more color relationships in paint colors.

Which paint finish works best on an accent wall?

Sheen affects how a wall hides flaws and how easily it cleans. The Sherwin-Williams sheen guide describes the main finishes this way:

• Flat: suggested for adult bedrooms, formal living rooms, ceilings and uneven or textured walls; good at hiding surface imperfections, though more prone to scuffs and stains.
• Matte: suggested for living and dining rooms; hides imperfections and is washable.
• Eggshell and satin: suggested for hallways, children's bedrooms and family rooms, where walls take more nicks and scuffs; easily washable.
• Semi-gloss: suggested for kitchens, bathrooms, utility areas and trim; easy to clean.
• Gloss: suggested for trim, cabinets and doors.

For an accent wall, start from the room and the wall itself. A textured or patched wall points toward a flatter finish, and a wall in a busy hallway or a child's room points toward eggshell or satin. If you keep the accent wall in the same sheen as the surrounding walls, the change in the room comes from color alone. A different sheen adds a second visible difference in the way the wall reflects light, so paint a sample in that sheen first. Higher sheens belong on trim and cabinets, as in our guide on how to paint kitchen cabinets.

How do you prepare the wall before painting?

Benjamin Moore's wall preparation guide calls clean walls key to preparing a room for painting and notes that most walls can be washed with a sponge and warm water. Use sandpaper or a sanding block to dull any uneven areas, wipe away the dust with a damp cloth and let the wall dry thoroughly. For walls previously painted with water-based paint, the guide suggests a fine-grit sandpaper, and for oil-based paint a medium grit in the 100 to 150 range. It also recommends a primer when walls are porous or have surface stains that need covering.

Fill small holes and dents before you sand, following the directions on the patching product, and look closely at any stains. A water stain can point to a leak that needs fixing before the wall is painted.

What if your home was built before 1978?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency explains that homes built before 1978 may have lead-based paint, and that the older the home, the more likely it is. The agency stresses protecting family members, especially children, from the lead dust that sanding and scraping can create. The EPA suggests hiring a certified lead inspector or risk assessor to test the surfaces you plan to work on, and it recommends that homeowners hire a lead-safe certified contractor. If you do the work yourself, the agency advises containing the area with heavy plastic sheeting, misting surfaces before sanding or scraping, avoiding dry sanding, wearing a disposable N-100 respirator and cleaning up with a HEPA vacuum.

Step by step: how to paint an accent wall

The Sherwin-Williams accent wall guide lists 2-inch painter's tape, a 9-inch roller frame with a 3/4-inch nap cover, a paint tray with a liner, a brush and a drop cloth. The steps below follow that guide, with a brushed edge added before rolling:

1. Clear furniture away from the wall and cover the floor with a drop cloth.
2. Apply tape along the trim, baseboard and ceiling, and along the edges where the accent wall meets the neighboring walls. Press the tape edge down with a putty knife or a card so paint cannot creep underneath.
3. Brush a band of paint along the taped edges and corners.
4. Roll the paint onto the wall in W shapes to avoid streak marks, working in sections.
5. Let the first coat dry. The guide allows three hours before the second coat; check your paint label for its own drying time.
6. Apply the second coat the same way.
7. Once the paint is dry, pull the tape off slowly in a downward motion.

Keep the lid on the can between coats, and write the color name and finish on the lid of the leftover paint so touch-ups match later.

How do you limit paint fumes while you work?

Paints contain organic solvents and can release volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, both while you use them and, to some degree, while they are stored. The EPA notes that concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors, up to ten times higher, than outdoors, and it recommends increasing ventilation when using products that emit them. Open windows and keep air moving through the room while you paint and while the paint dries.

When you choose paint, the EPA notes that water-based acrylic latex paints are generally lower in VOCs than solvent-based paints, and that zero-VOC or low-VOC paints may reduce the indoor pollution load. The agency also cautions that such paints may still contain or emit other undesirable compounds, so follow the label directions in every case. The EPA also advises buying only as much as you will use soon and safely disposing of partly full containers you no longer need, since gases can leak even from closed cans. Find more room ideas in our decor section.