Walls perform a variety of functions in a house. Some walls have structural importance in holding up the ceiling or a second floor, while other walls are just dividers that separate one space from another.
Regardless of the purpose of the wall, there are many things you can do to transform a dull wall space into a standout feature of your home, that all your guests rave about.
Some changes can be made on a low budget and some more significant changes can be implemented if you have more money available. In this article, there is something for everyone who is trying to transform a big empty wall space into something beautiful.
Nothing is stopping you from combining multiple techniques that you learn about in this article, but if you do choose to add multiple techniques to a wall make sure you start with one at a time and slowly build up until you are happy with it. It is easy to go too far.
Gallery Wall
A gallery wall is one of the simpler wall styling ideas you can incorporate to transform a dull wall into something beautiful. The gallery wall is a series of photos, usually of a certain theme, placed on the wall in a certain pattern.
Photo themes you could consider are photos of your family, photos of your friends, or you could go for something less personal and have a series of photos of nature, or buildings and structures.
The number of photos you use is totally up to you. Many people like to use a masonry pattern, arranging the photos in a grid. Grids could be two photos high by two photos wide, or three photos high and three photos wide, or more.
The nature of the gallery you set up does not have to be a symmetrical grid, you can choose any pattern you would like that fits with the number of photos you have and the space you have available.
The size of the photos is up to you. Some people prefer to use smaller photos arranged in the grid so that there is still a significant amount of wall space surrounding the photos. A small arrangement of photos on a small part of a wall can make a significant difference to the overall feel of the wall. But some also like to use very large photos to take up a significant part of the wall space, which is ok too.
Boiserie
Boiserie is a more involved technique, which makes picture frame shapes on a wall made from different types of moulding.
Boiserie originated in the 17th century and was used to give a feeling of elegance to royal castles and properties.
It is a very elegant technique used to create square and rectangular patterns in a symmetrical way across the span of a wall. There are many different ways to structure a boiserie pattern.
You can elect for a single strip of frame shapes or a dual layer, and even have split colours for different layers.
It does take a bit more skill, material, and planning to achieve a quality boiserie effect. So, we don’t recommend you try boiserie if you are new to DIY projects.
If you implement a boiserie in a room it is important that you adjust the rest of the room to complement the boiserie and not overload the visual experience for the individuals inside that room. Adding a significant amount of texture to a wall space means you can decrease the amount of texture and decoration included in furniture and other room dressings.
Large Pieces of Art
Large pieces of art can be a very effective way to break up a large simple wall space and make it a feature of your home.
You can choose the piece of art based on your passion, and something important to you, and this will give you a great source of conversation with all your visitors, let alone a source of pleasure for you when you are on your own contemplating the piece of art.
This could be achieved at a reasonable cost. You can get large duplicate prints that look very good that do not break the bank, and the only thing you need is to create a hanging hook strong enough to hold the large piece of art.
If you opt to install a large piece of art sure you take the time to find out how much it weighs and then design a hanging system that comfortably supports that weight for a long period.
Set Of Prints
Similar to a gallery, a set of prints can be a very effective way to transform an empty wall.
The nature of the prints can be anything that takes your interest, and it could be a series of two, up to 10 or more prints, depending on your desire for that wall.
A set of prints can be configured in any design you can conjure up. Popular configurations include a single row of prints of A4 size, at head height. But many others enjoy grid shapes and dual-row arrangements as well.
Wallpaper
Wallpaper was very popular in the 1970s and 1980s and seems to be making a comeback. when people understand the amazing textures, shapes, and effects that can be found on wallpaper they are often surprised and excited to implement it onto a wall in their house.
If you are an experienced DIY’er you could attempt wallpapering a room or a wall on your own. But if you’ve never done something like that before then you may be better off hiring a professional. It is quite a quick job for a professional so it’s not likely to be heavily cost-intensive to have someone come and instal wallpaper for you.
Considerations when choosing an applying wallpaper are how many walls of a certain room you plan to put the paper on. In many cases wallpapering a single wall of a room or space can be all you need to do, to make a significant difference to the look and feel of that space and your home as a whole.
Feature Wall
When you paint a single wall a different colour from the rest of the walls in a room or an open space this is referred to as a feature wall. Feature walls are a great way to accent a specific area with a complementary colour that matches your house furnishings or other elements of the colour scheme in your house.
Feature walls are something that most people can do themselves because it is just simple residential painting. If you go to a hardware store and go to the paint to section you should be able to find a whole lot of colour samples and take some home and stick them up on the wall to see which ones you think would be good candidates for a feature wall colour.
If you do opt to paint your feature wall you need to pay special attention to the wall edges where the feature wall colour meets the other wall colour, as getting those edges sharp and clean is important to the striking impact of a feature wall.
Final Thoughts
There are hundreds of ways you could transform a plain wall into a highlight of your house.
Included in this article was a summary of some of the more popular and easy ways you can do that, but the only limit is your imagination.
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