Are feature walls still a thing?

[Dualipa]

I'm fed up of my white living room and wall some colour on the walls but probably / maybe not the whole room. Can I still do one wall or is that a bit dated now? I'm talking paint not wallpaper.

If so any suggestions would be great!

Why does it matter if something is dated?

Er, the OP asked if feature walls are dated.

God no, though that's just my taste. Like a previous poster I like it all bright, light and airy with a few houseplants for colour. When you look at Rightmove adverts and you see a feature wall in every room, usually some tacky wallpaper that looks almost holographic, I think it looks really downmarket

Why not? It your space so enjoy it! If you paint one of the long walls a dark colour it might make the room look more narrow. Likewise painting a shorter on would make it look more square. I’d paint a wall parallel to the door. What direction light do you get? North will be cool and flat, east bright and cool, south hot and white and west warm and golden. Some blues have cool undertones, some have warm. You want to avoid having too cold a blue in your main living space

Er, the OP asked if feature walls are dated.

I know that, but my point is, if you like them, who cares if other people think they're dated or not?

If you change your mind in a couple of years you can just repaint. It's hardly a permanent decision!

I think what is dated is the 'neutral walls, one feature wall as a splash of colour look'.

People still have feature walls they just do them in a different way. Personally I don't care for them unless it's quite a bold look. I don't like the grey walls and one silver wallpapered wall etc.

I think they are dated if it's eg: one wall with a hideous splashy wallpaper, massive red and black flowers or similar. Especially if there are matchy-matchy soft furnishings.

But one wall that is clearly different to the others is ok. Depends very much on how you do it.

Basically I agree completely with obviouspretzel

And YES to banning that bloody cheap-and-nasty silver-grey from all interiors forever. Ugh.

I think more it’s how you do it now, rather than a whole sale it is dated thing.

If you make it tone in with the rest of the room, Ie an olive green wall with say paler green or a pale blue elsewhere it looks modern.

If you do bright purple and everything else white or magnolia it’s a bit dated.

In wallpaper the same thing, if you get a lovely tasteful wallpaper and then paint the rest of the walls in a muted colour that ties in it works, but great big flower prints or something, is a bit nineties.

I find these types of threads quite amusing. Who cares what others think? Your home should be how you like it. I personally think there is nothing duller than all white walls, although it's a close tie with 3 white walls and one grey one But other people don't decorate their homes for my taste! Hence mine is not decorated to anyone elses. I am well aware most people would detest my house but I love it and it makes me feel happy and contented. That is what's important.

I think Pinterest, blogs and home magazines still feature a lot of rooms with an accent/feature wall. But yes, the style has toned down since the changing room era.

I really love a room with all white walls and then one rich colour like navy blue or a deep teal. I also love elaborate wallpapers in pictures but I do think it would look dated in my house.

Opps, I break quite a few of the no-no’s here but each to their own. OP, if you want it, do it. If it’s paint or paper, you can always change your mind, and the colour later.

Icequeen01 love your hallway / that paper.

Here’s my very newly completed en-suite. Enjoy the grey wall 😂

We have just redecorated and got rid our purple feature wall. I absolutely bloody hated that wall by the end of it!

Dated.

But I never liked the concept anyway.

I think it really depends on the set-up of the house and the lighting etc. I hate plain walls - when I was growing up our entire house was painted magnolia and it was so boring and plain - maybe I've gone totally the other direction but I love our home the way it is.

But at the end of the day, who cares what other people think? They don't have to live there

I've just done my bedroom with Overtly Olive on one wall where the bed is then Willow Green on the other 3. I like it.

Doing the kitchen diner in lemon/burnt orange this weekend. And loved the Overtly Olive so much am debating it on one wall in the living room. Or possibly 1 big wall and 1 recess possibly. The rest of the living room is Egyptian Cotton.

It's a newish property and when we moved in, apart from the dcs rooms, we did everything in Egyptian Cotton.

That was 5 years ago and am sick of Egyptian Cotton now. Don't like wallpaper so reliant on paint colour for interest.

The only thing I would say when painting a feature wall is do your prep and use masking tape. It looks 1000 times better if you have crisp lines.

Thing is, it's your house. If you like it, give it a try. Who cares what anyone else thinks or if it's dated or not?

Does it matter? If you like feature walls have a feature wall. Don't decorate your house in a way that others perceive to be fashionable. Decorate it how you like it.

It depends what you're thinking. One Idea of a feature wall can be very different to someone else's. @Icequeen01 wall looks lovely.

@Frouby Can we see a picture? Sounds lovely!

There you go. It's very restful. Was Egyptian cotton before with orange pine furniture. We were going to replace all the bedroom furniture but bloody Corona put a stop to that and although dh is back at work we darent spend the money.

This was it before.

They aren’t dated depending on how you do it. There are lots of beautiful wallpapers about at the moment but some could be too much if used over a whole room, these work well as a ‘feature wall’ - I actually think it’s the term that’s dated rather than the look. If you have a beige/cream/magnolia room with one wall painted bright red or wallpapered this could look very dated. But if you pick a beautiful colour and offset it against another complimentary colour it can look very nice.

How about a feature ceiling instead? I have a matte gold ceiling with white walls and brilliant white coving.

I have feature walls in most rooms. I don't care if they are dated - my house, my taste.

Most of mumsnet would probably hate my house. I have twigs (driftwood really) fairy lights, roman blinds, and a collection of hearts

Very relaxing room @Frouby !