Wellness has become a top priority in 2026 home design. This has been reflected through the shift towards biophilic design, warm toned, and the rise of the soaking tub.
Art seems to be catching on. If you’ve been online recently, you might have heard about the sensory walls, often an interactive and textured accent wall to calm a space.
If your home needs that touch of calm, here’s how you can bring it with this DIY project.
What Is A Sensory Wall?
Like any accent wall, a sensory wall draws attention to itself with texture, placement and interactive elements. The elements chosen depend on the design style of your home. Coastal sensory walls might use, rope, wicker or shells, whereas Glam sensory walls might use metals, marble, or resin.
Sensory walls are different from traditional accent walls because they’re not just about the visuals. Accent walls use colour, texture (e.g. lime wash paint), and light (e.g. accent lighting) to draw attention and often to present a statement piece (e.g. art). The sensory wall is art. It takes the canvas beyond its four corners, which is also what differentiates it from textured accent walls (e.g. slat wall). Sensory walls are textured to be touched.
Why Is It A Good Idea?
The appeal of this in a home is removing restrictions in a home. Unlike a museum or gallery, it can be healthy to make the art and design in your home a multi sensory experience and remove deep set beliefs about things that shouldn’t be touched in a home.
A DIY sensory wall is also a low-cost option for adding some personality to your home. You can use plaster of Paris to create flowers on your walls (similar to how piping flowers on cakes). Another way to create a sensory wall is to go scrapbook-style with a collection of different textured items (wrappers, fabrics, 3D objects) that can take you back with just one touch.
If you’re looking to stray away from prints and want to have something unique and sentimental, the sensory wall could be a good project to pursue this summer. But you’ve been warned: the project is never really done. And as with all passion projects, it isn’t meant to be.
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