Ashley's House: Black Accent Wall

Hi there, Ashley here. Do you ever have that one project that holds up progress? You know, the project that creates a spiral, holding up forward momentum in nearly every single room of your house? I certainly do, and today's post is about finally tackling that project. It has been almost two years since we bought and moved into our home. Two years and I still haven't hung a single piece of art on my walls. Crazy right!? Okay, I'm being a bit dramatic, I have hung a few things. However, nearly everything that is actually up is something my significant other pressured/threatened me into hanging. When we moved in, we had an agreement. Sara could do whatever she wanted in the basement and second story as long as I could have control over the decor on the main floor of the house. This means I get to hang my art and pick out the furniture, paint, etc for the rooms that people/guest actually see. I compromised on a few things, of course, I want her to feel like it's her home too — the biggest compromise: her LARGE collection of X-Files memorabilia. Whenever I was dragging my feet on home progress, she would say, "if you don't hang my X-Files posters soon, I'm getting masking tape and hanging them myself... in the living room." I understood this was a real threat, and set about finding acceptable frames and surprising her with her very own X-Files hallway! Thus, giving her what she wanted while keeping my living room from looking like a college dorm. Throughout this process though, I have yet to hang any of MY art! As a graphic designer, I've amassed quite the collection of posters — given to me by paper companies, screen prints by fellow designers, collections from my travels — I must have over 30 pieces already framed, just waiting on the sidelines ready to be displayed. The problem is, I've been completely paralyzed as to how and where I want to display them. My plan was to gather up everything and lay it all out before carefully dividing things up room by room. Of course, this can't happen until all the rooms are painted. Most of our painting happened fairly early on. The need to cover up bright pink and neon green walls was strong. However, shortly after finishing the entire house, I started picking up on a trend that called out to me. That trend: painting the wall behind the television black. I just love how in every single example, the TV fades away and everything of importance stands out. The artwork and furniture shines, and the room is tied together in a sophisticated, modern way.

See for yourself: black accent wall inspo

[caption id="attachment_4234" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image via Awfully Big Adventure Blog[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_4229" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image via Rain on a Tin Roof[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_4231" align="aligncenter" width="564"] Image by Arthur Garcia-Clemente via Apartment Therapy[/caption] Sara wasn't quite so convinced. So, after taking photos for my first home tour, I used the powers of photoshop to give her a visual of what it could look like. She loved it! I quickly gathered paint samples, picked the perfect black, and then, life got busy. Here we are nearly a whole year later and I FINALLY found a free weekend to tackle this project.

My painting process

1. Pull everything away from the wall and remove the outlet covers.
2. Wipe down the wall and trim with a damp rag to remove dust.
3. You could, and probably should, tape off the trim with painters tape. I have a steady hand and zero patience for this, so I only taped off the corners.
4. Cut in along the trim, outlets, anything the roller can't get close to with a brush. I'm obsessed with this Wooster brush, it's short handle and angled bristles make cutting in along the trim so easy, I don't even have to use tape!
5. Use a roller to paint the majority of the wall. This provides the best coverage with the least amount of work.
6. Keep a damp paper towel on hand for any mess ups. I occasionally have some around the trim, and the paper towel takes care of them quick.
7. Let dry and repeat steps 4-6 to ensure complete coverage.
8. Sit down, have a beer, and admire your work.

 

A quick reminder of the room before

[caption id="attachment_2191" align="aligncenter" width="697"] Ashley's Living Room Before[/caption]

and here's where we're at now

[caption id="attachment_4239" align="aligncenter" width="825"] Bonus black cat, for visual balance ;)[/caption]

I am so, so happy with how it turned out! The black is deep and dark just the right amount of moody. It even helps my beautiful mid-century credenza turned TV console shine in all it's glory. The next step will be hanging the TV on the wall and dispersing my prints throughout the house. Stay tuned. I cannot wait to share my revamped rooms with you soon!

When I told my mom about this project, she was very wary and very vocal about her distaste for this plan. She thought it would make the room too dark. What do you think? Will my mom be convinced that painting it black was a win?