The New Feature Wall is Up! It has Watery all over it!

One of my favorite aspects of our house is the two-story foyer. When we were looking at house plans to build a new house, having a two-story foyer was a requirement.

I love sitting at the top of our stairs and looking out the window over our front door. It overlooks a valley, and there is so much light filling the space that you can always enjoy a beautiful sunrise or sunset.

So as soon as you enter our house, a staircase and this two-story foyer immediately greet you, and a massive wall displays at the top of the stairs. As I mentioned, we painted all of our hallways and entries a neutral color because the house, for the most part, has an open floor plan.

Of course, being so organized, I have misplaced the name of this color, which is driving me crazy. So, I decided to break up this nameless color madness. The upstairs hallway is fairly open with a long wall that runs the whole length of the upstairs. Plus right in the center of this wall is the doorway to the kids’ bathroom. In thinking how I could change-up this space, I thought I would add a feature wall for some drama.

What is a feature wall? It is one wall in a room that you want to draw interest and depth to. It is usually used in a living room setting when you have a long wall and you want something to standout or in a master bedroom behind the bed. Here is an example of features wall that I have seen.  You want to avoid walls that have a lot of windows and doors because they break up the space too much. Therefore, my upstairs wall fits this definition to the tee!

Source HGTV

You can use many techniques to create a feature wall. Use paint by using a different color from the rest of the room, or you can use wallpaper or photos!

I considered all three avenues, and, of course, which one did I pick? Paint!  I love to paint walls… my mantra as of late.

In looking at colors, I had to take into consideration the kids’ bathroom. Most of the time, the door is open, and we selected this awesome blue called Hydrangea by Eddie Bauer. I love this color! The kid’s bathroom has a nautical feel to it, so I know I won’t be changing that for a long time. (Plus my son does not like change and if I even suggest changing this bathroom, he will go crazy.)

When I was looking at feature wall colors, I was first thinking of using a dark, rich brown. I found a color called Otter, and loved how it made the room feel so rich, and it really made the furniture stand out. In the hall, I have one of my favorite pieces of furniture, a console table from Pottery Barn. I have always loved this table, and it means a lot to me because it was one of the first pieces of furniture that I purchased for this house. (White furniture has to be my all time favorite look!) I also have two frames with silhouettes of my kids when they were in grade school. I had to remember though… my focus was to paint the wall, but I didn’t want to the color to over shadow these sentimental items.  Ultimately, I had to rule out the Otter brown. What to do now? I looked for colors that would complement the bathroom’s blue, and I seem to be in a minty/blue/green/gray phase since this color is similar to our new bathroom but much darker in tone.

This brought me to Watery by Sherwin Williams, SW 6478. I bought the HGTV paint that they carry; it was on sale, and it came to about $22 for one gallon.

I started this, of course, bright and early one morning! First, I used an edger to help cut into the corners to ensure a perfect edge between the two ceiling and wall colors. It worked really well. Then, I moved on to the walls, and it only took about an hour for each coat. This is the first time I used this brand of paint, and I really liked it. I went with a semi-gloss to provide a little bit of shine to further enhance the feel of the feature wall.

Now when you enter our home, your eyes are automatically drawn up to the second floor, you don’t feel like you are surrounded by boring beige in every corner, and it adds a little bit of unexpected brightness to your day!

Do you have a feature wall in your house? What room would it be in, and what color did you choose?  Tell me about it!