Before and After: Accent Wall

A while back, I saw a picture online of a black and white striped accent wall in an entryway. I loved the look, so last weekend I set out to replicate the look in our house. Matt was out of town (painting is my favorite way to pass the time while he's gone) so Jen came over and assisted.

Here's the wall before:



And after:



I've hated the dingy looking kitchen paint since we moved into the house. It just seemed like a dead spot in our otherwise vibrant color palette. The cabinets, backsplash and tile are all a little on the dark side so I didn't want to paint the kitchen walls solid red to match the rest of the house.

I started by painting the creamy off-white kitchen walls a stark white. Then we used a laser-level and painter's tape to tape off 4 inch wide red stripes on this narrow section of wall. The overall effect makes the narrow section of wall look a lot wider and the ceiling look taller, something I wasn't expecting to happen.

I really love the stripes but I'm not completely thrilled with the white paint in the rest of the kitchen. It looks like we primed and then forgot to paint. There isn't really a lot of wall place once you factor in the back door, windows and cabinets, so I thought it might be cool to paint red vertical stripes in the other wall. But I want to avoid making the kitchen look like the inside of a circus tent. (My dad already asked me if calliope music plays when you walk in the door.)