Many modern homes have high ceilings.
A high ceiling should not prevent you from adding an accent wall to the room. Accent walls are usually behind the focal point of the room, because their color draws the eye. Walking into a room, you typically see the color of the four walls and the ceiling. In a room with a high ceiling, you cannot immediately see the ceiling color, so the accent wall becomes one-fourth of the room's color instead of one-fifth. The decorating options for your accent wall will change slightly with a high ceiling, depending on whether you want the room to look more open or cozier.
Warm Colors
For rooms with high ceilings, the added space can make the room feel too airy and cold. Use a warm color for the accent wall to add coziness to the room. In "Decorating Ideas That Work: Creative Design Solutions for Your Home," Heather J. Paper describes a home with a contemporary design and open floor plan. The lofted ceiling in the home is offset in the living area by a red accent wall to indicate a warmer gathering spot in the home. You do not have to paint one of your walls bright red, but choose another color on the warm side of the spectrum such as orange, brown or yellow.
Two-Toned
To make the ceiling appear lower, paint the accent wall with two colors. Use a lighter color on the bottom and a darker shade on the top half of the wall. This is the reverse of the two-tone color scheme used to add height to a room. The colors are flipped because you want to make the room appear lower. Divide the colors with a chair rail on the accent wall and extend the chair rail to the other walls of the room to create a line to tie the accent wall in with the rest of the room.
Stripes
A tiger might not change its stripes, but your walls can. Add wide, horizontal stripes on the accent wall to balance the actual height of the room. The horizontal stripes will make the accent wall look wider than it is, balancing the high ceiling. Opting for a few wide stripes shortens the perceived vertical line of the accent wall, as opposed to using a greater number of slender stripes.
Paneling
Instead of painting an accent wall, install textured paneling in a dark color. Add decorative molding to the paneling such as crisscrossing pieces of trim in a lighter color to make square shapes on the wall. The darker background paneling makes the room look cozier with a high ceiling, and the squares made from trim add visual interest to the wall. If you want to lower the ceiling even more, stop the paneling piece just below the ceiling and extend the ceiling paint color to the top of the accent wall to visually bring the ceiling a few inches lower.
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