Feature walls have been popular with interior designers and homeowners over the years. They are one of the cheapest, easiest ways to update a room, and are a great alternative to a full revamp. There are plenty of ways to create a feature wall: interesting displays of artwork or photographs, wallpaper, paint, timber, and even textured fabrics such as silk and velvet.
Creating the right mood in the bedroom is important – it can be calm and soothing, cosy and warm, or a sumptuous boudoir. The great news is, there is a feature wall for every bedroom! Get some ideas from the internet – http://www.ebay.co.uk is a great source of inspiration for bedroom makeovers in general.
People can be worried about getting a feature wall right, especially in a room where the main function is to be able to relax. The best advice is to choose a wall that is not cluttered with windows or doors already. If you are uncertain which colour to choose, try picking one that is a shade or two darker than the colour on the other walls. Also remember, darker colours make a room seem smaller, and lighter ones will make it feel larger.
If you don’t fancy a feature wall in your bedroom, have a look at UKTV for some ideas for what may work in your living or dining room.
Which colour to choose
To create a calm feel and aid sleep, lilacs, dusky purples and lighter shades of blue are best. For a warmer, cosy feel, choose warm reds and burnt oranges, and even fabric-embossed wallpaper to create texture. For a bigger impact you could add wood panelling, or cover the wall in a material like velvet. Deep blue and plum tones create a striking feature in a bedroom, making it feel very sophisticated.
Feature walls are a great way to try a wallpaper design that you are unsure about and don’t want to risk covering the whole room with it. As there is only one wall to cover, you can afford to try something a bit different or more special. You can even just focus on the chimney breast if you have an old house. There are lots of textured wallpapers on the market, and they are a great way to add interest to your bedroom.
A feature wall can help to soften the hard walls of the rest of the room, and complement furnishings such as curtains, a bedspread or cushions. Wallpaper designs based on historical patterns, or those that have been revived from a company’s archives, are coming onto the market if you want to evoke the style of a certain era.
House and Garden magazine has a special feature and lots of great photographs of feature walls in every room of the house if you need more inspiration.
Photo credit: House and garden
What about a mural?
If you prefer to go all out, there are some amazing wall murals available. A map of your favourite city or a painting you love can be made into an adhesive mural that is applied onto the wall like wallpaper. If that is a bit too much, there are smaller adhesive stickers and stencils that allow you to add a pattern or feature, without the commitment of pasting the whole wall.
Finally, the best way to highlight your feature room is to arrange the furniture to show it off. Placing the bed against a feature wall could allow it to act as a headboard, particularly if you are just covering an old chimney breast, or you could even use a strip of wallpaper directly behind the bed. Photos or artwork can be arranged to complement the colour and draw the eye to the wall. Whatever you choose, a feature wall is a great way to create the bedroom you want, regardless of taste or budget.
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