Today I leave you a little inspiration in colors and walls (and also a possible diy idea for September): the half painted walls! It is a way of painting the walls that I like very much, perhaps it is because they have a vintage flavor that reminds me of old school classes or old taverns.
But mostly I find them perfect for giving a hint of color to a room without letting the color become predominant and leaving space to white (which is always my favorite color for the walls). They can also highlight a piece of furniture by creating a sort of scenery that emphasize its shape or beauty or they can also be used to highlight the function of a corner of the room (for example, the studio area in a kid bedroom, or the “half color” of the wall can become the bed headboard).
In short,they are perfect for any room and, if you also paint doors and furniture, the continuity effect and tromp-oeil effect will be beautiful!
The color combinations and variations are many: you can take a meter and draw a straight line between the two colors or go for a blurred or jagged border; you can color the wall up to about one meter or continue higher (to resize a wall that is too high or, in the contrary, to give an effect of great height if the wall is normal). Also the color combinations are many, from a dark color in contrast to the white wall (my favorite effect) to pastel colors combination.
In short, you can have fun creating your perfect wall!
What is the height of the painted wall? What should it be?
It should be around 1 meter. If you are painting the wall behind your bed, it should be a bit higher than the headboard. 🙂
I was thinking of painting my kitchen walls a deep color .and top wall white . I don’t have a backsplash but what height ? Top of base cabinet , bottom of top cabinets or in between?
Hello Susan, yes I think it is a good idea to paint the kitchen with a deep color at the bottom and white at the top. I like your idea to paint the kitchen with a deep color till the base of top cabinet but only if your kitchen is not too small and really bright with natural light or if the kitchen is white. If it is not the case, use the deep color till the bottom of lower cabinets and then you can paint the backsplash with a waterproof paint in the same color but a lighter shade. I will avoid the “in between” option 🙂
I have a narrow hallway… my plan is to paint the lower half a light grey and leave top white with matt black switches etc and black frames… Do you think having the grey up to approx 1300mm H will work in such a narrow hallway, I feel it will be more modern and didn’t want a standard 1000mm H
Hello Debs, I love the idea of painting the lower half a light grey and with matt black switched, super modern. Yes, since you are using a light grey I think 1300 mm will work well. I you decide to use a medium or darker grey, I will go for 1100 or 1200 mm max (another the hallway will appear even narrower.
Let me know the final result!
Hi Mariana thank you for the inspiration. I’m painting my living room and dining room a medium gray. I choose naval blue as an accent color so I’m going to do a half wall. I read you said to do it at about a meter height but I’m wondering if it would look weird not to do the same walls as the accent wall. I know I’m the end it’s what I like I just wanted a second opinion.
What about the top dark blue and the bottom Off white?
It depends how high are the ceilings. If the ceiling is not high, I would recommend the contrary, white at the top and blue at the bottom. Let me know!
Loving the half accent wall. We are currently painting my bedroom in a light/slightly blue undertone grey. Will it look good to have a half accent wall with the grey on the bottom & white on top, while the rest of the room is the same grey colour?. It will be the wall behind my bed, but there is a window offset on the left hand side of the wall. Will having the bed & window make it look excessive?
I would rather choose one of these 3 options:
– all four walls with the half accent;
– the wall behind the bed with the half part below blue (darker than the light blue you are choosing) and the rest of the walls in the light blue tone.
– no accent wall but simply the three walls in the shade you chose and the wall behind the bed in a darker shade of the same blue.
Hope this would help you.
Thanks a lot to you for sharing about color idea: half painted walls here, these kind of ideas are were much needed. I really appreciate that you have provided the data too, really appreciative and useful blog for us. Looking for more!!
Thank you very much, I am happy you found ideas and inspirations in my blog!
Writing blogs on color idea half painted walls is a wonderful idea. Things to be considered includes many options listed in this link .It is very useful article and would suggest others too. I am sure many people will come to read this in future. Well, I have visited another site hdpaintingservices.co.nz/ having some wonderful and similar information.
Hello! We are doing a half wall in our breakfast nook!
We had some bleeding into the upper half of the wall! What is the way to make sure it a clean straight line with no bleeding!
Are there any specific techniques or paint types for the watercolor looking half wall? Love that one and thinking about it for the bathroom!
I have low ceilings, and I’m in a 2 bedroom ground floor flat. I want to do half walls, in my living room in a sage (bottom) , and white (top). I’m not sure what height to take the sage up to, to make the room seem bigger? Also should I do just one as a feature and the other 3 just white.
Hi there,
Can you over-do half-painting in a house?
We are having half painted walls in the kitchen, with dark green (Little Greene “3 Farm Green”) cabinets below and light off white cabinets above (Little Greene “Joanna”). I would however also like to half-paint the wall behind the dining table in a small adjoining room in a soft terracotta (Edward Bulmer “Brick”) Would this be too much? I’d love to know your thoughts…
i love this look- we live in a victorian house. I really like the image with the pale blue at the bottom and white at the top of the panelled door.
I have measured 1 metre but it only comes up to the bottom of the top panelling and therefore looks a bit predictable.
I am looking at a mid french blue for the bottom and a linen colour for the top of our hall going into the dining room. What height would you go to if it was above 1 meter and would you carry the half painted walls right around the hall and dining spaces?
Hi marianna, my ceiling is a little above 3 meters. Looking to do a half wall in the living room, how high would you suggest? I have a sage green couch, pink rug and black &wood accents so I’m considering a blue or perhaps poppy/orange
Great article. Question. I’m thinking of painting my kids room. I would like to paint the bottom blue. To make the painted walls even should I start from the top of the baseboards or from the floor to the middle of the entire wall to make it even? Your help is appreciated.
My ceiling’s are 3m high and there is a picture rail halfway down the wall. I am considering painting the ceiling white, the top half of the wall a very dark navy and below the picture rail white. I will paint the outside of my claw foot tub the same dark navy. I think this will help lower the ceiling in this narrow room. What do you think?
Hi ,
Your article was very helpful . I have a small rectangular living room with attached kitchen .
I was thinking about painting the walls Ash white but with wall that will have tv black .
What do you recommend should I do it half black at the bottom and ash white at the top .
Or should I follow the same pattern through the living room.
Anyone know the paint color names in the 3rd picture in the second set of pictures?