Changing the Color or Material of a Single Wall in Home Designer

Reference Number: KB-00071
Last Modified: October 24, 2023

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?

Bedroom that has different wall materials


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 Wall Specification dialog

  1. First, use the Select Objects  tool to select the wall, then 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. On the Materials panel of the Wall Specification dialog that displays, select the Wall Surface component that you would like to change, then click on the Select Material button.

    Select a material for an interior wall surface.
  3. In the Select Material dialog, 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.


  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.


  5. Take a Camera  view to see the results.


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 if it's not already open.


  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 make sure that the material painter is set to use the component mode.

    There are a variety of different Material Painter modes available in Home Designer. To learn more about the differences between each mode, please see the Related Articles section below.


  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, then click on a wall to apply the selected color or material to that 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 can be accomplished by breaking the wall into separate segments.

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 Add Break  edit button located in the Edit toolbar, then click at the location where you want to place the break.


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


  3. After you have placed the break points on the wall to create separate wall segments, 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.


To restore the default wall material

  1. On the Materials panel of the Wall Specification dialog for the wall that you'd like to restore the default material to, click on the Select Material button.  

    You can also select the Material Painter  tool in a 3D View.


  2. In the Select Material dialog that appears, check the Use default material box, then click OK.

    Use default material box checked

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