Whether you’re looking for a retirement community for 55 and better, or your first home, decorating can be a challenge.

Some people have a natural gift when it comes to color.

The rest of us can’t even remember the color of our spouses eyes.

Here are some things to consider when thinking about accent walls:

Top five Accent wall decisions.

1. Is the room a main gathering point

If the answer is yes, then it can usually benefit from an accent wall. This can be painted, or wall papered, or tea-stained (which is really just another way of painting where you rub a glaze over a wall, usually a textured wall, then rub it off so it leaves a little dark accents in the texture.)

2. What color

This is where it gets tricky. If you don’t have a good sense of color, find someone who does. If you want to go it alone, that’s fine too, but don’t buy any paint until you’ve had a chance to do a little research.

Your painter may recommend a color, but I wouldn’t trust them either. They know what has looked good in one house, but may not look good in yours.

Start by comparing the rest of the colors in your house. Take a chip with your paint color to your paint store of choice and spend a good deal of time looking at each paint chip and how it will feel with your base paint. Keep in mind what your cabinets, countertops, tile, and carpet all look like too. I wouldn’t bring all those with you though. You’ll only get confused and end up trying to match a color when you should be contrasting a color, which brings us to number three:

3. Contrast

Don’t try to match colors. Try to match themes or ideas. This wall is called an accent wall for a reason. It’s meant to stand out.

Don’t be afraid of going bold. I have a very neutral colored house, but a brilliant purple wall in my front room, a sunburnt orange wall in my dining room, and a forest green wall in my living room all feel very posh and rich.

4. Decorate

Many of us color dummies are also decorating dummies. It has just not been a priority for us. But if you’re going to accent a wall, you’re making a statement that you have style. Don’t mess that up by forgetting the rest of the ambiance.

As I mentioned, I have a purple colored wall in my front room. To match this, I’ve put an refurbished green sofa from the seventies white painted wood in that same room with purple curtains to match. The greens and purples are complimentary and the added white gives the whole room a very elegant feel for anyone who first steps into the home.

5. Don’t clutter

This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. Just because a little foo-foo looks good, doesn’t mean that a lot of foo—foo is better. Usually it’s worse.

While many people will decorate beyond functionality, the main purpose of decorating is to establish a feel for that given room/environment. Do you want an impressive rich feel or a comfortable inviting feel. Some styles lend themselves to more playful rooms while others are designed for studies.

If you add too much stuff to the room, you run out of space for the activities that the room was initially intended for.

While many of us are perfectly happy with the standard paint jobs that come with a house, it might not hurt to explore what a single gallon of paint can do to brighten the feel of your home.

Decorating has often been a scary topic for many of us. But we all have our styles. Whether you’re playing with paint and porcelain, or mounting deer heads in a row, you are decorating. Accent walls are just one more thing to complete the whole feel of your room.