Painting an Accent Wall: How to Paint the Corner

Accent walls are a great way to give your room a little bit of your personal style. While the creamy soft whites, neutral grays and transitional greige colors are gorgeous and so in style, sometimes a room needs a little bit more to really pop.

Accent walls

When I hear the word accent wall, I immediately think of my grad school buddy’s white walled apartment that had one bright shiny red wall. It was… hideous.

Because of this, I’ve been hesitant to paint an accent wall. After all, it was a 2000’s trend that died in favor or a more monotone look.

Recently though, I’ve been drawn to accent walls more and more. I want the main colors on my walls to be light and neutral, but something about those rich looking accent walls keeps calling to me.

Are Accent Walls Outdated?

Actually, accent walls are totally back in style! Back in the early 2000s, accents walls were typically one dark painted wall. Now, they can range from a wall accented by shiplap, a wall of faux (or real!) brick, a wallpapered wall, a wall with a wood design, and of course, a painted wall.

If you need a little more inspiration to see what I mean…

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Check Out These Accent Walls

See why I’m totally crushing on an accent wall now?

My Accent Wall

In my home, I recently removed the wallpaper in the first floor powder room with a goal of doing a mini-remodel and giving it a boho look. I found an inspiration picture on Pinterest, and got to work.

Painting the wall was easy. If you need tricks and tips on painting, you can find some here.

But once I got to the corner, I knew that I needed to go the extra measure to make sure my corner was crisp and clean.

How To Paint A Corner Where Two Colors Meet

Painting an accent wall corner and making sure the edge is perfect is easier than you think. It requires a roll of painter’s tape, a good paint brush, and a knowing the exact order to paint the corner in. I’ll explain that to you now.

Making a Perfect Accent Wall Corner

Before you put any tape on the wall, paint the whole corner one color. Get paint on both sides of the corner, because you don’t want to accidentally end up with any part of the wall not painted.

Then, tape the wall right along the edge of the color that you painted on both sides of the corner.

Once that is done, you can paint ANOTHER coat of the first color of paint. You’re thinking that I made a mistake here, right? I didn’t!

Painting the first color on the tape again is going to seal the edge. That means that if any of the paint bleeds through the tape, it will be the first color, which is what you want!

Once that paint dries, you can finally paint the second color of paint on the line (being careful to not go over the other side of the tape).

Before this coat of paint dries, go ahead and pull the tape off. This will ensure that you don’t end up peeling a little bit of that final coat off the wall inadvertently.

And you should have a perfectly clean, crisp paint line right in the corner of your wall!

Doesn’t that look perfect!

Trust me, even if you’re an experienced edger, you won’t get as clean of a line as this unless you use tape.

Now that your accent wall corners are completed, your accent wall is done!

If you want to see how the bathroom turned out, you can find the reveal here!

I hope this tutorial is helpful for you! Drop me a note and let me know how it goes!

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