Emily Flores
We’ve all walked into a room where one wall seemed to stretch endlessly, blank and bare, silently demanding attention. These big walls can feel intimidating, almost as though their emptiness weighs on the entire room. Yet for designers, they are never a problem to be solved but a canvas waiting to be filled. Big walls, in short, are bold opportunities—and designers approach them with strategies that mix creativity, function, and emotion.
Start With One Bold Anchor
When faced with a large stretch of wall, many designers choose to make one bold move rather than clutter it with many small ones. A single oversized artwork, whether a painting that spans nearly the entire height of the wall or a dramatic black-and-white photograph blown up to life-size, immediately draws the eye and gives the room direction.
This is not just about filling space but about commanding it, about saying something with confidence instead of hesitating with scattered choices.
Tell A Story Through A Collection
Another equally powerful approach is to see the wall as a place for many voices to sing together. That’s where gallery walls come into play, bringing photographs, sketches, paintings, or small artifacts into conversation with one another.
The magic lies in the fact that you can keep shaping it, rearranging it, and letting it mirror the life that unfolds in the room. Just like that, an empty expanse of drywall becomes a living scrapbook, layered with meaning and connection.
Let Texture Do The Talking
Sometimes filling a wall has nothing to do with hanging anything at all. Designers often turn to texture to make the wall itself speak. Think of plaster walls with their soft, hand-troweled finishes, limewash that creates delicate variations in tone, or exposed brick that brings character and history into a space.
This strategy turns the wall into a living surface, something that isn’t static but responds to the rhythms of the day. You don’t need frames or canvases; the wall itself becomes the artwork, subtle yet deeply powerful.
Use Color As Emotion
Color is another way designers fill vast spaces, and its impact is immediate. A deep navy wall can calm a living room, pulling the entire atmosphere downward into quiet intimacy, while a fiery terracotta warms the space with energy and hospitality. Designers use bold color to reshape mood, but they also use it strategically.
Just like that, the wall becomes a backdrop, a stage where daily life plays out with vibrancy. The power of paint, after all, lies not just in filling space but in shaping how people feel within it.
Build Function Into Form
Big walls are not only about art or decoration—they’re also opportunities for function disguised as design. Many designers see them as perfect locations for floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, for modular storage systems, or for integrated seating that becomes part of the architecture.
What makes this approach powerful is the way function and beauty intertwine. A wall filled with books feels warm and intellectual, while a wall of plants feels fresh and nurturing. Rather than simply filling emptiness, these solutions create purpose.
Shape It With Light
Light is perhaps the most overlooked way to transform a wall, and yet it can be the most magical. Designers use sconces or hidden LED strips to carve brightness and shadow, shaping the wall into something far more dynamic than paint or paper ever could.
In short, lighting is not about objects—it’s about atmosphere, about the way a room makes you feel when you step into it at night versus during the day.
Turn Emptiness Into Experience
Big walls are never just surfaces. They are the places where rooms declare themselves, where the energy of a space either falls flat or rises to something unforgettable. Left untouched, they swallow light and echo silence. So why play it safe? Step closer, imagine what could fill that silence, and make the move that converts a room from ordinary to unforgettable.