Changing the Color or Material of a Single Wall

Reference Number: KB-00071
Last Modified: September 18, 2020

The information in this article applies to:

Home Designer Professional or Home Designer Architectural or Home Designer Suite



QUESTION

I want to change the color or material of just one wall in my room to create an accent wall. How can I do this?

Wall material has been changed to panel material


ANSWER

Changing the color or material of a single wall is easy to accomplish using either the Material Painter or by accessing the Wall Specification dialog.


To change the color or material of a single wall using the Material Painter

  1. First, select View> Library Browser  to display the Library Browser.


  2. Select 3D> Create Camera View> Doll House View  so you can see the wall you wish to apply a material to.
  3. Select 3D> Material Painter> Material Painter Component Mode  to set the material painter to use the component mode.
  4. In the Library Browser, search for and select the color or material you wish to apply to a single wall, bring your cursor into the 3D view, and notice that it changes to the material painter .


  5. Click on a wall to apply the selected color or material to that wall.


To change the color or material of a single wall using the Wall Specification dialog

  1. First, use the Select Objects  tool to select the wall and click on the Open Object  edit tool.

    Note: You can select a Wall in either a 2D floor plan view, or in a 3D camera view, to open its specification dialog. If you are in a 3D camera view, and the entire room highlights first, click on the Select Next Object edit button, or press the Tab key on your keyboard to select just the individual wall.

  2. Go to the Materials panel of the Wall Specification dialog, select the Wall Surface you want to change, and click on the Select Material button to display the Select Material dialog.

     Select a material for an interior wall surface. 
  3. Navigate to the material or color you want to apply to the wall.  

    Choose the material or color you want to apply on the wall.

    Notice that a display of the selected material displays to the right in the dialog if you have the Preview and Selection panes active.  


  4. Once you have the material that you want to use selected, click OK to close the dialog and OK again to apply the chosen material or color to the wall. 

In some cases, such as when an exterior wall runs the length of several rooms, you may not want to change the material of the entire wall. Alternately, you may want to apply different colors to several different sections of the same wall to create a striped effect.

This dollhouse views shows how you can get a striped effect on your wall with materials.

If you are in a 3D camera view, return to your 2D floor plan view for the following steps.


To change the color or material of a section of wall vertically

  1. To apply a different color of material to just a section of a wall, you will first need to place break points on either side of the section that you want to change. To do this, Select the wall you'd like to break into separate segments, click on the Break  edit tool located in the Edit toolbar, then click at the location where you want to place the break.

    In Home Designer 2020 and prior program versions, navigate to Build> Wall> Break Wall  instead and click where you want one of the edges of the differing material to be at.


  2. Follow the same procedure to place additional break points as needed.


  3. After you have used the Break  tool, use the instructions above to change the material on just that section of the wall.  

    A floor plan view showing where the break wall tool was used

    Note: The break tool applies a break in a wall. Once a wall is broken, the two wall segments are separate walls that can be modified independent of each other.  

    • If a wall break is placed near the intersection of two walls, the break is positioned at the center of the intersection. 

    • Walls separated by a break can be rejoined. Select one of the segments, then click on the end edit handle located at the break and drag it a few plan inches (mm) away from the break.