Dining Room Accent Wall Ideas for Thanksgiving That Still Look Good in January

The dining room gets more attention on Thanksgiving than on any other day of the year, and the wall behind the table is in the background of every photo. It is also the room that most often has one blank wall doing nothing. An accent wall is the fastest way to make the room feel finished, but the trick is choosing a pattern that looks like a design decision in November and is not embarrassing in February. Here is how to pick the wall, the pattern and the colour, starting with a dining nook one of our customers just finished.

The short answer

Put the accent wall behind the head of the table or behind the sideboard, whichever you see from the doorway. Choose a pattern with a seasonal feel rather than a seasonal motif: a deep art deco leaf, plaid, a dark floral, a linen or wood texture, or a warm stripe. Keep the colour in the same family as your chairs and rug. Peel and stick goes up in an afternoon and comes down in January if you want it to.

The one we would hang first: Elegant Modern Leaves in Peacock

This is a customer photo, not a render, and it is the best argument we have for going dark in a dining room. The pattern is Elegant Modern Leaves in the Peacock colourway: a stacked, art deco leaf that reads as texture from across the room and as a print up close. They ran it around a bay window and through a corner, which is the hard version of this job, and the crisp white trim does the work of framing it. A mid-century starburst clock, woven leather chairs and a red table top sit in front of it without fighting it, because the pattern is tonal and the colour is doing the talking.

Why it works for Thanksgiving specifically: deep teal makes warm food, candlelight and wood furniture look richer, and it photographs beautifully under evening light where a pale wall goes flat. Why it still works in April: there is nothing seasonal in the motif, so it is simply a good dining room wall. It comes in Beige, Sage Green, Peacock and Brown, in our vinyl or fabric peel and stick or traditional unpasted, and it is a single-roll repeat, so every roll matches the next.

Which wall

Stand in the doorway your guests will use. The wall you see first is the accent wall. In most dining rooms that is the long wall behind the table, and in a room with a sideboard or bar cart it is the wall behind that, because it is where the wine and the pie end up and where people stand. Avoid the wall with the window if you can: the pattern gets chopped up and the light works against it. If the window wall is the only option, do what the customer above did and wrap the corners so the wallpaper frames the window rather than stopping at it.

If the wall behind the table has a large piece of art you want to keep, wallpaper anyway and rehang the art on top. A patterned wall behind a framed mirror or a simple canvas looks intentional and expensive.

Other patterns that work for Thanksgiving and still work in spring

Plaid. The most Thanksgiving of all the options, and it stays right through winter. Our Cozy Plaid in beige and grey reads as a cabin or a tailored jacket rather than a picnic blanket. Take it down in March or leave it; a soft plaid is a neutral.

A dark floral. Florals on navy, forest green or black are the designer answer to dining rooms right now, and they make white plates and candlelight look brilliant. Midnight Floral is the one to start with; the rest are in the floral collection.

A linen or plaster texture. If you want the room to feel warmer without adding a print, a texture-look paper is the answer. Linen Look Stripes gives you a woven feel in a muted palette; the surface and texture collection has plaster, wood and brick looks. These are the safest choice if you are nervous about pattern.

Wood or brick. Brown Wood behind a farmhouse table or Whitewashed Vintage Brick behind a modern one both photograph well and hide a wall that has seen better days.

A herringbone. Herringbone Solid in beige is quiet enough for every day and structured enough to feel dressed up. Good in rooms where the table is the only furniture and the walls have to carry the room.

Colour: match the room, not the holiday

Thanksgiving colours are already on the table: the food, the linens, the centrepiece. The wall does not need to be orange. Pick the wallpaper colour from something permanent in the room: the wood of the chairs, the rug, the curtains. Warm neutrals, deep greens, teal, navy and terracotta all read as autumnal without being a costume. If you want the seasonal hit, add it in things you can swap: a garland over the sideboard, amber candles, a runner.

Scale for the room

Small dining rooms can take a bold pattern on one wall as long as the other three stay plain. The nook above is small, and the dark leaf pattern makes it feel cosier, not tighter, because the repeat is tight and the colour is even. Large open-plan rooms need a bigger repeat or a mural so the pattern does not turn into visual noise from across the room. If you are unsure, order the 24 x 24 inch sample, tape it up, and look at it from where you will sit. Look at it at dinner time, under the lights you will actually use.

Timing

An accent wall takes an afternoon. Rolls are printed to order and take about a week to arrive, so order by mid-November for Thanksgiving. If the wall was painted recently, wait 30 days before hanging peel and stick. The full schedule is in our Thanksgiving countdown, and the roll math is in how much wallpaper do I need.

Styling the wall for the day

• Hang one large mirror or one large piece of art on the accent wall, centred on the table, not on the wall. It should be roughly two-thirds the width of the table.
• Keep the sideboard styling low so the pattern shows above it.
• Use warm bulbs. Cool light flattens plaid and makes dark florals and teals look grey.
• If the accent wall is behind the head of the table, that is where the host sits and where the photos get taken. Clear the floor in front of it.

Frequently asked questions

Should a dining room accent wall be behind the table or the sideboard?

Behind whichever you see from the entrance. If both are visible, choose the table wall; it is in more photos.

Is dark wallpaper a mistake in a small dining room?

No. A small room with one dark, evenly patterned wall feels intimate rather than cramped, as long as the trim stays light and the other walls stay plain. The customer nook above is proof.

What colour accent wall makes a dining room look bigger?

Light, low-contrast patterns on the far wall. Thin vertical stripes lift a low ceiling; a pale texture-look paper adds depth without shrinking the room.

Can I use peel and stick wallpaper in a dining room?

Yes. Our fabric and vinyl peel and stick both wipe clean, which matters on a wall that gets chair backs and the occasional splash of gravy.

Will it look dated after the holidays?

Not if you choose a seasonal feel rather than a seasonal motif. Art deco leaves, plaid, dark florals and texture looks are year-round patterns. Turkeys and pumpkins are not.

Every pattern in this article is in our new dining room wallpaper collection, or send us a photo of the dining room and ask for two or three suggestions. Samples are $5 and ship the same way rolls do, so there is time to try before you buy.