How To Create Focal Points with Color

Every room naturally has a focal point or a defining feature of a room. It may be architectural, a special feature, a color, a plant, or an art detail. Creating a focal point for each room in your home can create order and a sense of cohesion from room-to-room. It also gives the eye a place to rest and allows the room to feel more comfortable and welcoming. 

Today, we are exploring how you can use paint to create a focal point in your main living areas such as the kitchen, family room, and dining room. 

What is a Focal Point? 

According to experts at Professional Staging, “a focal point anchors the décor and helps create a natural, beautiful flow.”  

In short, a focal point is the “thing” that your eye is drawn to in a room. For instance that “thing” could be a brick wall, window, large plant, artwork, accent wall, or an architectural element unique to the space. 

Typical Focal Points 

If you are looking to create a distinctive focal point in any of your rooms, it is smart to review what focal points are so you can choose one that works for your space and personality. 

Architectural Details 

From wood ceiling beams to exposed brickwork on the walls, architectural details tend to draw the eye directly to them. They truly take the top spot when considering focal points. 

Creating these focal points is not always easy. It usually takes some specialized construction or rehab to get a special architectural detail that was not original to the home. Adding a brick wall, high ceilings, or door archways is not an easy chore. 

What is easy is playing up on the architectural details you already have in the room rather than building one. For instance, you may have an extra large window or oddly positioned wall that can become your architectural detail using a unique paint color or artwork on the walls. 

Accent Walls 

One type of focal point that we love here at Jerry Enos Painting is the accent wall. 

An accent wall can be created by choosing a color that is either bolder or coordinates with the color scheme in the rest of the room that helps a wall “pop.” An accent wall could also be the addition of shiplap, wallpaper, or other wall covering that brings the eye to that location in the room. 

Artwork 

Whether you love Abstract, Contemporary, or Impressionism, artwork can be a perfect addition to create a focal point. Choose one oversized image or lots of framed images to display on your wall. 

If different art mediums are not your thing, you could choose family photos using antique frames. There are tons of online options to help you lay out the frames and decide on a format that will become a focal point of the room. 

Room Features 

If you have a fireplace, mantle, window, or built-in shelving that you would like to serve as your focal point, we have a couple of suggestions to help make these pop with paint. 

Use color to help these features stand out. For instance, if you have built-in bookcases that are white (or other neutral colors) you may be able to add a color scheme on the inside of the bookcase or shelving unit to make the feature stand out. 

Paint can also be used on walls surrounding features like the mantle, large bay windows, or fireplaces to make those features take center stage in the room. 

From architectural details to room features, color can help these focal points become the central element of the room. 

Categorised in: Decorating, Decorative Paint Techniques, Jerry Enos