For a long time, gallery walls have been big. They've been done every way imaginable in every room of the house possible. The cool thing about a gallery wall is that it's personal. It's filled with family photos or your children's artwork...maybe even some of your personal art. So it will make sense anywhere because you're connected to it emotionally. Now, we're not saying these walls are dead but we are saying there's something that may be taking the lead in wall design...

Accent walls used to be, very simply, a different paint color. They were the early trend of color-blocking. After that died out in the 90's, pretty much any designer who was forward-thinking avoided accent walls like the plague because it immediately dated a space. However, accent walls have continued to evolve, despite every designer trying to ignore them. And now, they're making a comeback because they're considered a style statement and are created with much more than just paint.

Now, an accent or statement wall can be created with wallpaper instead of paint. This application seems to have more of a flow in a space because you can selected a paint color that coordinates with the wallpaper rather than something that completely fights it. The great thing about statement walls is that they also serve as art pieces. One reason that accent walls have evolved is because art has evolved. What is considered art now is much less complex and rigid than what used to be considered art. People find beauty in so many different things that art has really become an expression.

Accent walls can also be created with tile. Sometimes it's the pattern on the tile but oftentimes it's the way the tile has been applied. Tile shape and direction has so many different possibilities with mixing that you have an incredible number of ways to make a wall pop.

One of the more recent developments in accent walls is the green wall. We love bringing greenery inside for so many different reasons, but the depth and natural beauty a green wall adds to a space is 100% winning. In our minds, a green wall brings the entire room to life as well as the people who live in it!

Finally, mirrors are a great way to make a focal wall. When a wall is covered with mirrors, we typically call it an installation but it is an accent wall, undoubtedly. We always use mirrors with frames so that the outline of the mirrors creates a shape on the wall adding what looks a lot like an architectural detail. Sometimes this is a number of square mirrors, other times this is round mirrors or mirrors that are different shapes and sizes. However you lay it out, it will make your space look much larger and will also make it feel much more dressy!

We love accent walls! We like that they give us opportunities to create art in different ways and introduce things like wallpaper without overwhelming a space. There's a good reason they're still around!

Trends | The Big Trend That's Making a Comeback