What Makes a Feature Wall?

The concept of a feature wall has expanded in meaning in recent years; while it used to be exclusively associated with a singular wall of wallpaper, tiles, or paint, this strict definition is being debated and discussed. Large maps, paintings or even expansive bookshelves are increasingly being utilised to create an expressive focal point. Unique design statements are made, and rooms become saturated with character; is this not what feature walls are all about?

Despite these expanding parameters of what constitutes a feature wall, at Watts we believe wallpaper remains at the root of the design tool. Whilst using wallpaper for a feature wall has previously been disdained for its potential to create an ‘incomplete’ look, when approached thoughtfully it can give a room a profusion of vitality and character. If curated as part of a room’s wider collective, a single wall of wallpaper not only takes away from, but actually feeds into a room’s feeling of having been expertly compiled by drawing upon accents of colour and adding a depth of scale to layouts.

A dash of elegant wallpaper can provide balance for interiors. Its potential to create different focal points is incredibly multi-faceted; it can divide up open plan spaces, highlight specific architectural features of the room, and even dictate the direction and perspective of the room’s design narrative. Furthermore, its ability to interact with colour, scale, and spatial planning can elevate spaces and present new design opportunities.

Colour

Colour plays a crucial role in the success of a feature wall. Wallpaper offers a more delicate approach to feature walls, as unlike block colours of paint or tile, it can provide multiple colours to be accented throughout the room, and can offer more delicate injections of colour than a single block has the ability to do.

Gooseberry Sloe Blue, a popular design from our Queen Mary Collection.

Our Gooseberry Sloe Blue, lifted from chinoiseries found in Queen Mary’s bedroom at Eastnor Castle, offers a prime example of this. The dainty blue and contrasting leafy green provide colour accents that can give cohesion to a design scheme. A stylized floral sofa in a dusty blue, such as Brockhampton Seaweed Parchment, or a plush armchair in an emerald green, such as Marinella Chippendale Green, would create a harmonious design. Similarly, a creamy white sofa in Bowood Almond would match Gooseberry's neutral background, placing the wallpaper’s blues and greens at centre stage.

Evidently, a feature wall can either fit into, or assert a design scheme for a room, whilst offering a more subtle statement than wallpapering all four walls offers. This gracefully facilitates the creation of multiple design narratives within one room, without too much contrast. The result is a bold yet balanced composition.

Scale

A feature wall of wallpaper also presents an inspiring opportunity to play with scale. Whilst having a bold wallpaper on all four walls of a room can create a cosy feel, placing a large design, particularly one with horizontal emphasis, on one wall creates an illusion of expanding the eyeline. The room, consequently, feels bigger and more majestic.

Our Storks design offers both a wide repeat and a horizontal-based pattern due to its candy-floss pink clouds stretching across the baby blue sky. Its semblance to never-ending skies takes a room beyond its physical parameters, ultimately providing an advantageous design tool, especially for creating spaces with an aim of grandeur and opulence.

Original late 19th Century hand painted ceiling in Queen Mary's bedroom at Eastnor Castle.

The design’s roots further explain its ability to play with scale. It was born from our recent collaboration with Eastnor Castle. Built between 1810 and 1824 for the second Baron Somers, John Somers Cocks, the castle was later inherited by the third Earl Somers, Charles Somers Cocks. Charles, inspired by grandeur and indulgence, purchased most of the castle’s decoration throughout his travels around Europe, ranging from nineteenth-century Italian Medici inspired furniture and statues, to Iranian carpets. He was well acquainted with the pre-Raphaelites and the fashionable proto bohemianism in the mid-nineteenth century, and he had a lot of custom furniture made. It was his adoration of splendour that created such an inspiring archive for us to explore; in the absence of a vast fabric and wallpaper archive, we drew upon creative inspiration from the castle’s decoration, such as statement tapestries or ornate detailing on furniture. Our Storks design, for example, forms a replica of the late nineteenth-century hand painted ceiling in Queen Mary’s bedroom.

By embracing this history, but for a more toned down effect, utilising the design in a more understated way, such as for a living room wallpaper feature wall, would help translate the castle’s grand scale into a more everyday setting. It alludes to the castle’s indulgent, royal history whilst acknowledging a sensitivity to the design’s new home. Feature walls’ ability to modify the scale of rooms, without creating an overstated design, therefore offers expansive design opportunities.

Spatial Planning

Finally, the placement of feature walls can create an allure of features that a room may otherwise be lacking. In April this year, Architectural Digest published an article about the ability of feature walls to ‘liven up your home’, and they accredited this to their ability to bring the outside in; interior designer Lindsay Rhodes spoke to them about the ability of nature murals as feature walls to create the effect of ‘a window to another world’. The correct placement of a wall mural can brighten a room that lacks bountiful fenestration, or perhaps even faces an uninspiring view.

Our Lancelot Leaves mural, for example, offers a light and airy depiction of luscious vegetation, instantly transporting the mind's eye to fresh expanses of nature. Used as a feature wall, it creates the allure of a wide-stretching window overlooking a vibrant and refreshing scene. It creates an illusion of light and space, therefore expanding the room beyond its physical limitations. It ultimately expands design potential.

Lancelot Leaves feature wall, complimented by Hampstead Verdure furnishings.

Photography: Alexander James

Furthermore, creative placement of a wallpaper offers a unique way to drench a room in character. When the beloved twentieth-century author Agatha Christie requested the ceiling of her London flat to be wallpapered, she raised a few eyebrows.2 However, her hark back to the Victorian era’s grand interior style - during which sets were sold together to wallpaper ceilings and their corniced features - was pioneering. Today, wallpapering the ceiling is becoming, as described by Elle Decoration, the ‘new decorative frontier’.

The concept of decorating a room’s ‘fifth wall’ is becoming a new buzz term in interior design, with interior designers such as Pandora Taylor commending its ability to inject personality into refined spaces. Utilising the ceiling as a feature wall can harmonise the room in a cohesive yet innovative and inspiring way.

Paris’ Cafe de L’Alma’s 2022 re-decoration illustrates this ability. Using our Jardin d’Ussé mural as a custom ceiling created a distinctive interior that envelopes its guests in a tranquil, luscious setting. Its innovation sparks conversations and helps create an unforgettable dining experience. Inspired by 17th-century tapestries from the Château d’Ussé, the Jardin d’Ussé design holds a rich history that brings depth to a space. Its luscious foliage, intricate flowers, and softly rolling plant forms permeate a space with nature’s tranquility and romance. Using the ceiling to display this design envelopes the whole space in a timeless elegance.

Jardin d’Ussé custom ceiling in Cafe de L’Alma, designed for  Gilles & Boissier 

Ultimately, through its ability to play with colour, scale and spatial planning, using wallpaper for feature walls offer an expansive design opportunity. It offers an accessible tool to infuse a space with character, whilst creating harmony with the rest of the interior. It both bolsters and reiterates an interior’s beauty, and offers a unique way to interact with interiors and expand a room beyond its physical limitations. Therefore, whilst questions regarding feature walls’ parameters offering exciting design questions, wallpaper remains the presiding interpretation of the design tool.

Written by Molly Wraith