Adding a feature wall is an easy way to update your favourite room the fuss-free way this spring. Here are five tips:
1. You can create a feature wall with colour and/or a pattern, even texture, in pretty much any room - chimney breasts, alcoves and walls behind beds, dining tables and sofas usually work well - but not all rooms have a suitable wall. If not, you can create a horizontal feature on all four walls by using wallpaper or a different colour paint between a room’s picture rail and cornicing, between the picture rail and dado rail, or between the dado rail and skirting board.
2. Painted stripes look fab on a feature wall, but are fiddly, time-consuming and often frustrating to do properly. You’ll need to use low-tack masking tape for adjoining stripes, and try a tester piece of tape first in case it’s not as low tack as it claims to be. Alternatively, do freehand ‘rough’ stripes with a paintbrush or roller and no tape - it’s much easier, but more of an acquired taste.
3. Wallpaper is popular for feature walls - if you want stripes the easy way, buy a striped design. A feature wall enables you to enjoy patterned wallpaper without it overpowering the room or making it look too busy. It works best if you tie one or more of the colours in the wallpaper in to the rest of room. So, for example, if the other walls are white, a wallpaper on the feature wall with white in it should bring the look together. Murals are similar to wallpaper, but usually depict a scene (a beach, cityscape, mountains, etc) or a large-scale design, such as a map, rather than a more conventional pattern. Unlike wallpaper, which can be hung on as many or few walls as you like, a mural is usually designed to be used on just one feature wall.
4. Feature walls can be practical as well as pretty. You could have a tiled feature wall in a bathroom or shower room (using mosaic or glass tiles, for example) and a chalkboard feature wall in a kitchen or playroom. Chalkboard paints are available in different colours, so the wall doesn’t have to be black. If you’d prefer something less permanent, how about a chalkboard sticker? Wall stickers in general are fantastic for feature walls because they come in lots of different designs, colours and sizes.
5. You can also create a feature wall outdoors. Masonry paint comes in a wide range of colours, so why not do something creative if you have a wall or walls in your garden? Sandtex does a range specifically for this called Sandtex Feature Wall Smooth Masonry Paint, which includes Evening Shadow (£18.91 for 2.5ltr, B&Q), a gorgeous dark grey.