16 Accent Wall Ideas That You'll Start Seeing Everywhere In 2025

Accent walls, sometimes called "feature walls," are a fun idea to introduce a little more creativity in your home design. Traditionally, an accent wall can be a great place to play with a bolder wall color that would otherwise swallow the room if applied throughout. Some may argue that this once-popular living room trend could now be dating your home, but accent walls are taking on a fresh new look in 2025. Instead of highlighting plain designs that draw the eye with color alone, we'll be embracing more walls that create interest through texture, shadow, line, and shine. In short, this year's accent walls will be earthy, confident, and artistically inspired, using materials that artisans might work with, such as paint strokes, limewash, grasscloth, wood, geometric shapes, and three-dimensional forms.

While their appearance may ebb and flow with the trends, creating an accent wall will always be a classic way to amp up your home's interior design. Whether you're thinking about an adventurous splash of paint, a renter-friendly wallpaper, or a total texture transformation, this year offers no shortage of creative wall concepts to explore. Here's a closer look at some of the accent wall ideas that are sure to steal your attention in 2025. 

Fresh and energizing, geometric designs will be a major accent wall trend in 2025. Whether they're in the form of a geometric wallpaper, stick-on vinyl cutouts, or painted on, designers and homeowners can take inspiration from architectural shapes like arches, triangles, squares, and more. Some accent walls may even feature colorful, overlapping shapes that mimic stained glass or mosaics. Draw the design first on paper then map it with a stencil or painter's tape. You can even use a projector to scale and trace the shapes!

Why settle for one accent wall color? If you find yourself torn between hues, consider dabbling in all your favorite shades through color blocking. This trendy accent wall idea is easy to pull off with some carefully placed painters tape. Fill in blocks of color on the wall, changing paint colors where the shapes overlap. To avoid a tacky, clashing accent wall, choose colors in complementary shades or similar family tones. Don't forget the corners! Having a block of color wrap from one wall to the next will tie a whole room together.

In truth, solid accent walls will always be in style, though the colors themselves may change. If you're a fan of this classic accent wall look, embrace this year's rising aesthetics through rich yet earthy tones. Think dark plum, soft terracotta, juicy seaweed, or charcoal black. These earthy colors — especially in neutral shades like deep taupe or dark brown — are the calming paint trend that's replacing outdated bold accent walls of years past.

For 2025, shake up your standard accent wall with a thick textured wallpaper. Textured wallpapers will be all the rage this year, especially in natural materials like silk or grasscloth. While a whole grasscloth room can feel a little too busy, this material is perfect to dress up one accent wall in a bedroom, bathroom, or any other space where you want to evoke an easygoing, eco-friendly vibe.

For more earth-inspired accent walls with a cool edge, materials like concrete, Venetian plaster, putty, limewash, and microcement are a trendy choice for accent walls in 2025. Sometimes a whole limewash, plaster, or concrete room can feel too cold and dusty, but an accent wall is one of the best creative ways to use limewash paint to transform your home, toughening up the room just enough. Try a concrete-like wallpaper to instantly capture an industrial look without the need for any major renovations.

Far from the fussy and dizzying floral prints of decades past, patterned wallpapers in 2025 will more closely resemble abstract works of art. For an on-trend accent wall, look for wallpapers with casual details like wide brushstrokes, stenciled patterns, or complementary and monochrome color palettes. This artsy designs will look especially good in a dining nook or recessed wall area where they can be "framed" by their surroundings.

Wood slats and wood panels have been trending for some time now, but they aren't going anywhere in 2025. For a modern yet timeless touch, consider using wood to span your entire accent wall — or even just a portion of it. In general, wood slats and panels are moving away from dark, rustic, and distressed finishes. Instead, imagine more polished and natural-looking options in 2025. Consider combining the wood trend with others by hanging slats diagonally or in a herringbone pattern or geometric design.

Another trending wall concept for 2025 is the three-dimensional accent wall. Depending on the design complexity, these walls can look almost like a sculptural art piece has been installed. Featuring materials like wood, tile, or acrylic, these touchable accent walls are a great way to play with depth and shadow in a room, especially as lighting angles change throughout the day. You can even use felt tiles for some bonus sound-dampening! A three-dimensional accent wall can make a bold statement in living rooms or boost creativity in your home office.

We might notice them in decor, but metallics aren't usually a texture you'd expect to see on a wall. That's why they're the perfect touch for accent walls in 2025. For a more subtle shine, look for wallpapers with a pearlescent sheen or silver, bronze, or gold leaf patches. You can also purchase your own metallic paint to highlight details on the wall or create your own designs. Besides lending a luxe look, metallic accent walls can help to bounce more light around the room, making them a smart choice for recessed walls and dark spaces.

If you love a classic print, go big or go home in 2025. This year's accent walls will feature supersized patterns with crisp, clean lines and moody colors. When it comes to the ever-popular floral or nature-inspired prints, a good rule of thumb may be to look for flowers larger than your hand. Extra large patterns are a great way to amp up the drama in a room and even turn your space into a wonderland-like garden. 

Along the same lines of supersized wallpaper patterns, murals are an excellent choice for dressing up a plain wall. Unlike wallpapers, which come pre-made, a hand-painted mural allows you to choose exactly which colors will go on your wall, as well as the depth and scale of your design. Whether you hire a professional muralist or pick up the paintbrush yourself, murals featuring natural scenery, classic artworks, or detailed scapes are sure to keep your eyes entertained. For those seeking fast or budget-conscious options, explore the peel-and-stick wall murals you'll want in your home.

Tile accent walls are most commonly seen in splash-prone areas like bathrooms and kitchens, but they can work brilliantly in other spaces, too. Another creative trend for 2025 is to cover an accent wall in tiles, either ceramic or a more contemporary material like clear acrylic, glass, or marble. For a mosaic look that's totally unique to your home, consider combining tiles in different colors and styles. Double up on the trends with earthy hues or geometric patterns.

Gradients where one color fades slowly into the next are a gorgeous way to include two or more hues in your accent wall. To create the look yourself, try using a stippling technique to blend colors gradually across the wall, from top to bottom, or radiating out from the center. Even combine the trend with gradient painted wood slats or a gradient tile layout. If you're feeling impatient, you can also opt for a wallpaper to instantly add blended color to your wall.

Among other natural materials that are trending in 2025, stone, brick and other materials commonly used outdoors can bring loads of interest to an accent wall. If your home doesn't already have some stone or brick that your can reveal behind the drywall, you can still easily mimic the look with a veneer or a printed wallpaper. For a more sophisticated feel, try marble or painted brick in a clean, neutral color. 

Stripes are undeniably in vogue for 2025, but even the most dedicated stripe lovers may find this pattern too dizzying to use around a whole room. No matter; an accent wall is the perfect place to play with stripes, whether you go bold or narrow, colorful or subtle, or vertical or horizontal. This powerful pattern also has an academic side, so it'll look great in cozy reading nooks, hallways, offices, and even bedrooms, so long as the stripe style isn't too energizing. 

For an ultra-modern accent wall style, explore clever ways to use LED light strips to brighten up your home and make the wall enjoyable at night. This can be done through hidden puck lights, strip lights, or other light-up elements in a three-dimensional design. By floating wood slats slightly away from the wall, you can easily add lights between the slats. Consider color-changing lights to quickly switch up the mood as needed. For those who love this idea but want to avoid finicky electronics, dress up your accent wall with glow-in-the-dark paint or blacklight-reactive artwork.