Adding personality to a room is always important, as dull or impersonal styling is never good enough, whether your property is for you to live-in or if styling to sell your valuable investment.
Feature walls, although not always popular, are an effective way to lift the look and feel of a room, and this is easily achieved on a budget, by using wall paint or wallpaper. As I discuss in more detail in my Interior Design For Profit course, besides adding a decorative effect, feature walls are very useful to add the feel of length or width to a room where necessary, as well as adding a great backdrop for artworks and furnishing.
Image from Moore & Moore
When entering a room, because it will attract attention first, you can use a feature wall to direct or distract the visitor’s attention. As this is a bold choice, we must be careful and also make sure it doesn’t separate the room from styling of the rest of your property. Instead of adding many colours throughout your home, you could repeat this feature wall colour in other rooms in the home, allowing for consistency with the theme you’ve selected through out.
Image from RenovatingForProfit.com.au
Consider firstly what your intention is: living-in/renting-out/selling? If you’re Designing/Styling for your own personal living place you can be as bold as you like it, choosing very dark or bright colours or maybe strong contrasting wallpaper. BUT if your intention is to achieve a profit by selling your property, then you should always make colour and design choices that appeal to the largest market possible. This can be as simple as choosing paint which is half strength of your main wall colours for a feature wall, and more often than not, colours which are neutral rather than bold and lively. This less striking choice will be a safe one, and may not perhaps reflect your own personal taste, but it will also be a more elegant statement and ultimately one of larger appeal.
Image from RenovatingForProfit.com.au
As always, your selections for not only the main wall colours, but also the strength and amount of contrast you create throughout your home, will affect how effective your Design and Styling are for your chosen audience. If the wall colours and feature wall choices are too strong, or don’t match your property type and your target market, then all of your amazing renovation work and well thought-out interior styling will be overlooked by purchasers. So, always consider very carefully how to use feature walls based on your intention: living-in, renting-out or selling. Always ensure that it provides a cohesive backdrop for the rest of your styling and interior choices.
James Treble is an ambassador for Planet Ark and firmly believes in sensible purchasing, recycling and creative re-purposing. James has three decades of accumulated experience in the Building Industry, Real Estate and Interior Design and regularly shares his knowledge and experience in adding value to properties through effective design & styling. Watch his free videos on YouTube, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram for more free information.
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