Everywhere you turn, business and homes have people creating a feature wall and some make it look easy. Others make it look incredibly difficult and unattainable.
I’m here to tell you, it’s really easy to create a feature wall that will have others wanting to come take all the pictures! All it takes is a little wallpaper, a bit of patience, and a love to see something different. I will tell you ahead of time, not all wallpaper is created the same. And can cause several curse words to get the perfect look if you aren’t careful!
How to Easily Create a Feature Wall
My vision and dream was to create a wall and space in our Short Term rental property which made people feel like they were in an Instagram or blogging scene every day they wake up. I wanted it to look boho and islandy, and beachy, yet still comfortable. I knew I wanted to include wallpaper, palm tree frawn, wicker, and several plants. Because it is a short-term rental and I can’t expect my guests to water the plants. So I knew fake plants were going to be the way. And honestly, when doing home decor, the most low maintenance is often the easiest focal point to create.
I had a color scheme of green, white, and copper in my mind, and even mixed in a bit of blue and brown for the wicker color. What I didn’t plan on adding but realized they worked so well were pink flowers, and a yellow polka dot pot. It’s important to have coordinating colors in small spaces to not overwhelm the rest of the room or home.
This room has another end that has completely different accent walls and is right off the living room making it important to have fun but coordinating living spaces, even if you don’t see it in these photos. If you’ve been thinking of doing the same, here’s how to add a feature wall.
Feature Wall Wallpaper
Wallpaper has come a long way since I was a kid back in the 90s when wallpaper was at an all-time high in popularity. The wallpaper feature I remember was at the top of the ceiling in a thin strip down the wall. Or above the chair rail. Not often did you see an entire wall or a single wall covered floor to ceiling in wallpaper.
Things have changed quite a bit. Many people are using wallpaper to create beautiful experiences in their homes and entire walls as I did on a few walls in our short-term rental. A good wallpaper today can feel like a real piece of art.
Peel And Stick Wallpaper
I chose to use a peel and stick paper instead of one that needed paste or something complicated. Because this was my first time working with wallpaper, I wanted something that could remove and restick if it wasn’t right the first time.
I also chose the peel and stick in case I ended up not liking it and I would be able to remove it easily. If you need to remove wallpaper and restick it, you can get the adhesive to help keep more stickiness if it’s gone. This is the best pro tip I could give you, because after all, applying wallpaper takes real practice!
My favorite brand was Scott Living by the Scott Brothers. It was super easy to work with, had good repeating patterns, and had enough stickiness if I needed to remove and fix. This is the exact one I used on this wall. My next favorite is NextWall and it was a bit harder to work with when I needed to move and manipulate it. The least favorite was the Opalhouse line by Target. It is hard to work with, not easy to pull up and reapply. But I figured it out after a while.
This photo shows this chair, but I’ve moved it somewhere else in the house 🙂
Feature Wall Accessories
Once you decide what wallpaper and which wall you want to create, apply the wallpaper completely. Depending on the vibe you are trying to create, choose where you want to put your accessories like plants, flowers, chairs, etc. Because I was creating a corner and space, I didn’t add anything to the feature wall other than a window cling of colored palm prints. If you want to let the light in, it’s not necessary to do the window film like I did, however, I think it pops even more. Here’s the one I used.
I then added a hanging boho chair a bit in front of the wall for people to sit and have a moment. Little side note about this chair – I actually bought it back in January of 2018 and never hung it. It sat in the box until I opened it to hang in this spot. Guess it was just meant to be here all along and I didn’t know it! If you don’t have a large beam lying around, make sure you grab this hanging set. And ensure you find a stud to hang on so it doesn’t fall down.
On the opposite side of the room, I spaced out floral rings and hung a boho print from a local artisan here in Arizona along with my fake succulents. Remember to choose accessories of all shapes, sizes, and colors to really bring the wall together and draw attention to the cool vibe.
I finished the feature area off with a table I spray painted green from white. Added a few plants to the table, a little pineapple basket, a smaller basket with a throw blanket. A DIY copper spray painted palm frawn, a cute pillow from Ikea, and a white side chair and rug.
Here’s a little more detail on that spray painted table.
I started with this basic white metal table I picked up from Home Goods and picked out the Rustoleum Meadow Green after looking through the various green paint colors. Then spray painted it 2 coats to ensure the color would stick and be even. Then I let it dry outside about 30 minutes. Because it doesn’t take long in the Arizona summer heat to dry and cure!
I probably spent $100 total on the whole wall and got lucky to snag the palm frawns the day the tree climbers were out cutting the palm trees in the neighborhood for no more than a few prickles in my finger!
The palms started out as regular frawns off the tree. And I used scissors to shape them the way I wanted. And spray painted them with a copper spray paint to hopefully seal them and keep them like this for a long time. If you look close in the final photos, you will see another frawn behind the swinging chair. That one I used a glitter spray paint on and it just dusted the frawn with a gold glitter. And kept the green color. The exact color I used on the frawns was Pearl Champagne Pink, which makes these really pop!
More Feature Wall Ideas
- boho feature wall
- beachy feature wall
- board and batten accent wall
- modern accent wall
- wood accent wall / wood feature wall
- art deco accent wall
- wall mural
- sports-related feature wall
These are just a few accent wall ideas and architectural elements to get your brain flowing and thinking of what to do, you could also add this in an office space or dining rooms for adding wall colors to otherwise boring walls. Oh, and lastly, you don’t have to hire an interior designer, use your imagination and Pinterest to make your accent wall ideas come to life!
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