6 Feature Wall Ideas to Elevate Your Living Room
Settling into the sofa, you pick up your phone and start searching for living room feature wall ideas. Your living room décor is long overdue for a refresh, and a feature wall is just the thing to breathe new life into your space without the need for a complete makeover.
Browsing for inspiration, you realise you have a lot more options than you first thought. A personalised gallery wall complete with your favourite artwork and photos of loved ones, a statement patterned wall that instantly captures the attention of anyone who walks into the room, an array of eye-catching lighting fixtures that cast beautiful shapes onto the wall.
Closing your eyes, you imagine how you could incorporate these designs into your space…
Delve into our living room feature wall ideas to discover all the inspiration you need.
6 inspiring ideas for a feature wall in a living room
A feature wall provides a focal point within a room, making it a great way to add visual interest and depth to a space that needs a new lease of life.
However, there are many inventive ways to create a feature wall in your living room, which can make narrowing down your options tricky.
These modern living room feature wall ideas will help you find a feature wall style that suits your home and expresses your personality.
1. Create a gallery wall with photos and artwork
One of the easiest ways to establish a feature wall in your living room is by creating a gallery that showcases your favourite photos or pieces of artwork.
The simple addition of these framed prints and photographs will instantly draw attention to the wall and show off the things that matter most to you, whether it’s cherished memories with loved ones, paintings by your favourite artists, or inspirational words.
There are no rules when it comes to creating a gallery wall, but if you want it to look professional, make sure you choose a theme and stick to it. This will make the wall look like one cohesive display, rather than a random assortment of images.
Ally Dowsing-Reynolds, interiors expert and co-founder of Dowsing & Reynolds, suggests that you ‘choose one frame colour, and then go wild with sizes and styles’. This will help you achieve an interesting layout whilst ensuring the wall hangings are still visually connected.
Style tip: In a room with little natural light, use accent wall lights to illuminate your wall hangings and draw attention to them.
2. Add interest with patterned wallpaper
Another simple yet effective living room feature wall idea is to apply eye-catching patterned wallpaper to one wall, leaving the remaining walls blank. This style of feature wall is easy to achieve even with no previous interior design experience, and there is a huge range of different patterns and colours for you to choose from.
If your living room already contains patterns, use its colours as a starting point for choosing the colour of your wallpaper – this will ensure the overall look of your living room is cohesive.
Style tip: ‘When choosing wallpaper for your feature wall, consider a larger-scale print than you might usually choose’, Ally suggests. ‘This will make more of a statement and prevent your room from feeling too bitty with lots of little detail.’
3. Go bold with a vibrant colour
If the walls in your living room are currently all painted white, then a splash of colour could be exactly what you need to give the space a new lease of life.
Paint one wall a bold, bright colour to create a feature wall that truly pops. Be sure to choose a colour that matches the rest of your living room décor to tie the whole space together.
‘The colour you choose for your feature wall will dramatically affect how you feel in the room, so always use tester pots to ensure you get the right hue’, Ally advises.
Style tip: Upgrade your living room lighting fixtures to match the colour of your feature wall for a fun, vibrant look.
4. Add natural textures with wood and stone
If you prefer a more neutral colour palette, a textured feature wall made of wood or stone is the ideal way to add visual interest to your living room without being too loud. This style of feature wall is perfect for creating a calming, refined living space inspired by the natural world.
Style tip: Opt for furniture that complements your feature wall for a cohesive look. Use similar colours to tie everything together and mix and match different textures to add depth to the space – choosing statement floor and table lamps with natural textures can be a great way to do this.
5. Embrace original architectural features
In older homes, feature walls can be used to highlight original architectural elements such as fireplaces and mantelpieces.
This is an especially great option if the rest of your living room décor is quite modern, helping to bring your fireplace or other architectural feature into the twenty-first century while still emphasising the traditional appeal of its design.
To do this, consider painting the wall surrounding your architectural feature a different colour from the other walls in the room, making it a natural focal point. Lighting can also be used to highlight your architectural feature – porcelain wall lights on either side of a fireplace are excellent for adding another layer of visual interest.
6. Make a statement with eye-catching wall lights
Simply choosing the right lighting can help turn one of your living room walls into a captivating focal point.
The gold bubble wall light has a unique and eye-catching design that will naturally draw attention in any room, while options like the black Waldorf 2-bulb wall light are great for casting beautiful patterns and shapes.
Style tip: Always put your living room lights on dimmer switches to create the ideal ambience at any time of day.
Show us your living room feature walls
We’d love to see how you’ve used these living room feature wall ideas to give your home décor a refresh. Tag us on Instagram @dowsingandreynolds – we can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with!
