So let me guess, You have a large blank wall in your living room or stairway and are wondering if you could do anything special with that space besides hanging up a photo or two. Feature walls can be a very unique way to add some character and texture to your blank canvas.
Here are some things to consider before jumping in:
First, pick your paint.
The design is only going to be as impactful as the color might. There are endless shades of every color and they all matter. Depending on the amount of light the room gets, black could look gray or blue most of the time.
Second, pick your pattern.
When deciding on a pattern, you want to choose something that will age as well as your flooring would. Think about it, you wouldn't put marble tiling in your living room just because it was fancy and expensive. Going with a more conservative and timeless style, will ensure your home keeps its value and won't be too imposing on your future guests. You might want to sell your home someday and going with a bold choice might just turned away a future buyer. They might see your beautiful and intricate design as loud and intrusive which would lead to future expenses for them.
Lastly, smooth or not.
Most homes will have what is called, orange peel texturing especially if they were built after 1990. It is actually an upgrade to have smooth walls, despite needing less material. The reason for this is because having a large smooth space takes a lot of work. So there are a couple of options for your feature wall that you can go with and I'll lay them out right here.
The first option which is the more expensive option as well as most time consuming is to skim coat the texture with drywall mud. This process will take multiple layers and sanding with a wet sponge to completely smooth over the orange peel.
The next option is to use batten or sheeting. this method is much faster and cost-effective but it does have its downfalls, for example: the largest sheeting you can use is 4' x 10' in most cases. This means a 10 x 10 wall will have at least three seems to cover where the material butts up against each other. If done correctly, all of the seams could easily be covered up with boards from the pattern.
The last option is to embrace the texture behind the pattern. This option might seem as though it should be avoided, however, in my experience, leaving the texture the way it is, and placing a good design on top of it is not only aesthetically pleasing but much more cost effective and straightforward giving you a wider array of possibilities than with the batten. Your design choices are really endless and this should reduce total labor by at least 4 to 10 hours. Besides, most people will have the exact same texturing in their home so it will make sense. Also, remember the paint being at the top of this list? That's what really matters because the right color will hit the target and the wrong one, regardless of texturing will miss.
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