Striking Feature Wall Ideas

Give your walls a little oomph with these techniques from interior designer Gabriel Hollands.

Plain walls begone! Feature walls are a cost-effective but high-impact way to inject personality into your home.

They can be anything from show-stopping, vibrant focal points to a muted, eye-pleasing pattern.

Searching for creative feature wall paint ideas? We asked interior designer Gabriel Holland for some inspiring feature wall effects to transform your home from the ordinary into something truly one-of-a-kind, just using paint.

Oh my ombre

Looking for ombre wall paint ideas? Create a beautiful blend of colours using a gradient technique. Ombre walls create an ethereal look that works nicely as a feature wall, thanks to the soft yet striking effect. This is one of our favourite feature wall painting techniques – it’s ideal if you want to introduce several colours into your scheme without the room appearing too busy.

An ombre technique also works wonders in toning down a bold shade that may be a little overpowering, particularly in small spaces.

For best results, opt for fresh, bold colours with optimum contrast, such as Mulberry Burst and Dutch Gold 4, or try Bellini and Sorbet.

Watch How to Paint Ombre Effect Walls with our step-by-step guide.

Striking stripes

The humble, versatile stripe is a failsafe pattern that can add a little (or a lot) of drama to your home, depending on the look you want to achieve.

Searching for striped wall paint ideas? First, consider how thick you’d like the lines on your stripey wall feature to be. For a similar look to the scheme above, play with the width of your stripes. Don’t be afraid to add the odd stripe of unexpected contrasting colour for a fresh, contemporary effect.

A few tips when it comes to stripes:

Alternating matt and glossy painted stripes is an elegant way to introduce more depth to your space.
Vertical stripes will create an illusion of height if your ceilings are low.
Horizontal stripes will create a sense of spaciousness as they lead the eye around the room.

Two-tone tales

One striking way to incorporate modern feature wall ideas into your home is by giving your hallway added personality and dimension with a graphic two-tone feature wall (this is also a handy technique to make your ceilings look taller!).

In terms of colour, use a playful shade such as Vanilla Sundae with a neutral such as Fine Cream for a grown-up take on pastels.

Watch Trick to Try: Two-Tone Graphic Hallway for our step-by-step guide.

To discover even more two-tone wall ideas, watch our Paint Effect Playlist today.

Horizon line

Still in love with your old colour but longing for something new? Enjoy the best of both worlds with an on-trend horizon line – a wall of two new, contrasting halves with a slither of your old shade in the middle. Read on for tips from the experts.

Think of it as a painted take on the dado rail, that period feature of yesteryear. In this nook, we’ve used Colour of the Year 2020 Tranquil Dawn for the top half, then painted the bottom half in Spiced Honey, leaving a line in the original colour in the centre. The effect is like looking out to a beautiful horizon.

Watch our how-to video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1-bLz7X3Q8

You'll need

Dust sheet or plastic sheeting (for covering furniture and fixtures)
Tape measure and pencil
String and chalk
Masking tape
Paint from colour palette (see below, left)
Stirring stick
Roller and tray
2 roller heads
1” paintbrush

The method

Before starting, lay down a dust sheet to protect your floor from spills. Use a tape measure and pencil to mark out the width of your stripe at intervals across the wall.
Coat two lengths of string with coloured chalk, then tape them along your pencil marks. Ping the strings against the wall to create guiding lines.
Remove the string. Apply masking tape along the inside edges of the chalk lines so that a strip of your existing wall colour will be left intact.

4. Using a roller, paint the top half of the wall in Tranquil Dawn, taking the paint just over the edge of the tape.

5. Change to a new roller head, then paint the bottom of the wall in Spiced Honey.

6. When the paint is dry, carefully peel away the masking tape. Step back and admire your beautiful horizon line.

Take-away tip

Freshen up the existing paint first – this will form the new horizon line.

Decided which of these unique feature wall ideas is for you? First, test how the colours look in your home by ordering Colour Testers in your favourite shades.