The Abu Dhabi apartment had almost no colour in it when we first walked in — by design. Cream walls, oat linen sofa, brushed brass, oak floor. Beautiful, calm, and, according to the owner herself, "a bit too much like a hotel." She wanted the room to keep its restraint, but gain a soul.
The brief
Living room feature wall behind a low, floor-hugging sofa. The client didn't want colour — she wanted living room wallpaper that read as tone-on-tone, so guests would notice the wall on their second or third visit rather than the moment they sat down. "Warmth," she said, "is different to colour."
The design
We started with sepia — that warm brown-gold that photographs from the 1920s live in — and built the palette on top of it. Soft caramel palms rise from the left of the composition, taller than the sofa, arching slightly toward the centre. Behind them, a wash of pale bronze suggests light without ever committing to a sunset. Every frond was hand-drawn; nothing repeats.
The whole scene lives in a narrow tonal range — six or seven shades between deep amber and pale cream — which is exactly what gave the wall the calm quality she was after. Look at it once and it's a warm neutral wall. Look at it a third time and you notice the palms.
The install
Abu Dhabi delivery adds a day compared to Dubai, but the install itself is identical: paste-the-wall, non-woven vinyl, matte finish, two installers. The wall had a subtle skirting board that had to be respected — we adjusted the layout so no palm was cut awkwardly at the base. Standard practice, but the kind of detail that makes the difference between a wall that looks placed and one that looks installed on top of.
The details
- Client: private apartment, Abu Dhabi
- Wall size: 3.8 m × 2.6 m (≈ 9.9 sqm)
- Design: bespoke sepia tropical mural with soft golden palms
- Material: vinyl on non-woven backing, matte finish
- Lead time: 10 business days from design approval to installed
- Installation: 250 AED (below 15 sqm threshold)
Tone-on-tone is one of the hardest things to get right — it looks like nothing until it looks like everything. If you're renovating and don't want statement colour but do want a room with atmosphere, message us on WhatsApp with a photo of the space and we'll show you a mockup at your ceiling height.
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