Your Walls Don’t Have to Be Boring

Facing a blank wall can be daunting. Often, we instinctively fall back on the most familiar option: “What color should I paint it?” Or maybe: “Should I add wallpaper?”

But there is a world of possibilities beyond basic paint and wallpaper that can make a dramatic change to a room: You could paint a blank wall with a mural, coat it in lime wash, install paneling or add decals.

“When you paint a wall with flat paint, you just see color,” said Genna Margolis, the founder of Shapeside, an interior design firm in Los Angeles.

With other wall treatments, you see something more: a graphic pattern, a texture, a sense of variation.