The Accent Wall

Jim, Jacob, and I painted the living/dining room of the condo this week. We have been discussing this for over a year now and were finally - for some unknown reason - motivated enough to tackle the job. The three of us pored over scores of paint swatches and samples until we found the perfect colors. We agreed on a medium brown shade for most of the room, applied a thick coat yesterday, and were very pleased with the result. We then chose a darker brown hue for the wall with our fireplace on it to serve as an "accent wall." Yes, we do occasionally watch HGTV, and, yes, that is where we learned the term "accent wall." (Jim and Jacob have also spent the last few days speaking with cheesy French accents each time I utter the words "accent wall" - as in, "Oui, oui, vee vill paint zee wall madam." So goes my life with wannabe stand-up comics.) We rolled the darker paint onto the fireplace wall this afternoon and waited patiently for it to dry. Nothing quite like watching paint dry. The supposedly darker shade appeared almost identical to the one on the rest of the walls. The paint swatches promised contrast, but there was little to be found. The "accent wall" looks lovely, as do the other walls. I just feel that people will think we ran out of paint or something, hurried back to the store to try to pick a shade similar to the other walls, then mistakenly came home with a color close, but not quite right. It doesn't really look like an "accent wall." It looks more like an "accident wall."