Dining room accent wall: colors and design ideas

Ideas for decorating an accent wall in a dining room

It doesn’t matter if you are the happy owner of a separate dining room or you have a dedicated area between the kitchen and the living room for it – an accent wall is appropriate in any format. As a rule, a vertical surface close to the table is designed in this way, and it often becomes an excellent backdrop for your furniture, decor, and tableware. Now let’s talk about ways that will allow you to make precisely the accent that you need so badly.

Paint or decorative plaster

The good news for those who prefer to follow the path of least resistance – in the case of an accent wall in a dining room, you have this option. Sometimes it is enough to simply paint one wall in a contrasting or complementary color to get a stylish design. In addition, if you chose rich and deep shades, then you can even do without additional decor – unless you want to add elegant sconces or posters that you like.

At the same time, for the dining area in the kitchen, it is worth choosing paint with a high degree of resistance so that, if necessary, you can easily wash everything unnecessary. Keeping painted surfaces clean is slightly more complicated than those with other materials, but the results are worth it.

As for decorative plaster, here you will have plenty to choose from. Paper, fabric, concrete, and marble – the variety of textures opens up unlimited design possibilities. Also, this exquisite material is appropriate in any interior style – from classical to loft style – and is also sufficiently moisture resistant and not too tricky to apply.

Chalkboard paint

An extremely unusual design solution that is increasingly popular today. The chalkboards in restaurants and cafes attracted decorators so much that they tried to apply a similar design to the home interior – and, as it turned out, the dining room was the best choice for such an accent.

If your dining area’s style and size allow, then a chalkboard accent wall is the perfect opportunity to add variety to your decor with just the flick of a hand. You can leave beautiful quotes and scrapbooks for your family, jot down menus and draw patterns and funny drawings – all you need is crayons and a damp cloth to change your “masterpieces”.

Besides, you can DIY a chalkboard accent wall. To do this, mix black acrylic paint and dry plaster or putty in specific proportions.

Wallpaper

The accent wall decorated with wallpaper is kind of a good old classic. The combination of plain surfaces and wallpaper with a pattern has been used for a very long time, but this does not mean that it is no longer relevant. Wallpaper not only adds originality and comfort but also becomes an excellent option for small dining areas. In addition, you do not need to incur considerable expenses: you can paste over the accent surface with expensive design materials, and for the rest, use a more affordable monochrome.

Another advantage of wallpaper is its flexibility. You can decorate a wall with niches and ledges with them, add baguettes or moldings – and all this exclusive is entirely within the reach of each of us.

Brickwork

A laconic modern, stylish loft, calm and cozy Scandinavian style – these are just some of the styles in which a brick accent wall looks incredibly organic. In the dining room, you can use not only natural brick, which is very weighty and not suitable for all types of walls but also its imitation – clinker tiles, wall panels, quartz vinyl, or all the same wallpaper with a corresponding pattern.

The brick’s open texture is so rich that you can safely do without any kind of decor, and this is primarily true for the loft. However, for trendy surfaces painted in white, additional details are still required – posters, light garlands, or wall clocks.

Wood or its imitation

Natural wood is warm, noble, and, in its way, versatile. These surfaces work well with both light and dark finishes, making a wood accent wall invariably a win-win. It is appropriate in classics and modern, and in minimalism and even in art deco – all that remains is to choose the color and materials. Today, the list of trends includes the following types of wooden elements:

You can use wallpaper with a wood pattern in some cases, but this is a very budget solution, which looks accordingly.

Photo wallpaper or fresco

Photo wallpaper is an original and relatively affordable solution both for visual play with space and for the variety of color solutions. What you choose is a matter solely of your taste and design of the dining room: it can be classic “Damascus” or arabesques, mysterious oriental landscapes, fascinating abstractions, colorful tropical views, or even panoramas of famous cities.

Artistic painting of walls and frescoes is a much more exclusive solution and therefore intended mainly for expensive interiors of dining rooms. Such works are performed manually and according to individual sketches, and you can be absolutely sure that you will not find such an accent anywhere else.

Light fixtures

Decorating an accent wall is possible not only with finishing materials but also with the help of various decorative elements, and lamps remain among the most popular solutions.

Modern lighting scenarios also involve the use of several levels, so you may well not be content with solely a chandelier above the table, but place several lamps on the wall that you have chosen as an accent – such as wall sconces, light bulbs of various shapes and swivel spotlights. If you are working on a classic dining room’s interior, you can put backlight in moldings or baguettes – it looks really luxurious.

Paintings, posters, or photographs

If you don’t want to waste time updating the accent wall covering with bricks, wallpaper, or paint, an easier and faster solution is available to you: modern wall art can effectively attract attention. So, abstract or family photos, as well as self-portraits, are trendy, especially if you put them in stylish frames.

Posters are the second most popular. You can hang one or make a collage of several, but it is essential not to forget about important rules: the larger the wall, the larger the decor, a light background requires a colorful image, a bright one – black and white.

Accent for classics and art deco styles will help create paintings and reproductions in elegant frames. At the same time, it is desirable to purchase them not in souvenir shops but in art salons or at exhibitions. As a last resort, you can draw a picture yourself, especially since many art masterclasses are on the network.

Mirror

The mirrored accent wall remains a symbol of chic and elegance – and, dare we say, modern luxury. This technique visually enlarges the space, adds airiness, and in some cases even increases appetite. The shine of the mirror glass creates additional lighting and brings some mystery to the interior.

There are a lot of design options for such an accent wall. It can be a huge mirror with a spectacular frame, or a panel, or a collage of several small accessories. However, the most popular solution is still beveled mirror elements, which create an incredibly sophisticated geometric pattern.

Shelves

Shelves and racks are not only a must but also a very relevant decor for creating an accent wall in a dining room. At the same time, it is entirely unnecessary to turn the dining area into a branch of the kitchen and place pots, pans, everyday plates, and spices on them. It is much more reasonable to adhere to the living room’s design – and place green plants in stylish pots, family photos, books, candlesticks, exquisite figurines on them. However, compromise solutions are also possible – with the help of designer dishes, rare cookbooks, or wicker baskets.

Niche

The wall niche in the dining area is considered structurally more complex, and therefore more effective and expressive solution than all the same shelves and racks. However, if you crave exclusiveness, you can be sure that such a design trick is worth the effort.

In this case, you have two ways: to arrange a niche almost the size of the entire wall or to prefer a small decorative one. A table can be placed in a niche in the first case, making the room’s atmosphere more private and intimate. In the second, simply decorate it with paint, clinker, wallpaper, decorative plaster, and mount glass shelves for beautiful trinkets.

However, in both cases, it is worth considering that a lot of space will be required to implement such an idea, and therefore you can decorate a niche in a dining room with an area of 110 sq ft (10 sq m) or more.