A plain painted wall can sit in a room for years and never get a second look. The ones people stop and ask about usually have a little extra built in. These 5 wall treatment ideas show how that works, from a bedroom to a bathroom.
5 Wall Treatment Ideas for Bedrooms, Entryways, Open Rooms, and Bathrooms
A wall treatment is anything added to a wall to give it more than flat paint, like trim strips, wood boards, or wallpaper. Each idea below does it a different way, so there’s a match for most rooms.
A few of these are weekend projects with a saw, and a few are about picking the right paint or paper. Scroll to the room that bugs you most and start there.
Give a Loud Color Some Structure
Rectangles built from thin trim strips, painted the same terracotta as the wall. That’s picture-frame molding, and because the strips match the wall, their shadows do the decorating. A strong color reads planned instead of loud. Center the middle frame over the headboard, like here, and the wall looks built around the bed.
Wood Where the Scuffs Happen
Wainscot, wood covering a wall’s lower part, sits where bags and boots bump it. Salvaged boards already have knots and nail holes, so scuffs blend in. Stagger the board ends, cap the top with one flat board, and let the charcoal above make the warm wood glow. Like raw texture? These brick fireplace ideas lean on it too.
A Fix for a Long Empty Wall
Long walls get boring fast. Straight strips fix it, some running up and down and some across, all painted the wall’s blue-gray. No angled cuts makes it a fair first build. Plan the grid so each outlet lands inside a panel, like the switch plate here. Prefer a classic feel? These Victorian-style kitchen ideas are a good next stop.
Deep Navy Without a Dark Room
Can navy work in a bedroom without feeling heavy? Yes, when the bed and ceiling stay white and the windows bring in daylight. Board and batten, which is flat panels framed by thin strips, gives the dark wall lines that catch the light. Hang two framed prints centered over the headboard and the wall looks finished without a single shelf.
Wallpaper That Stays Above the Splashes
Pattern up top, plain panels below. The cream wainscot picks up the wallpaper’s background color, so the two meet like they were made together, and the painted panels can handle splashes near the tub. Hang prints in tidy stacks, the way this room does, so a loud pattern still feels organized.
