Custom tone-on-tone accent murals, hand-painted in a premium gloss-on-matte technique, for commercial and residential spaces.
Currently Serving: Wilmington & Leland, NC + Surrounding Areas
20+ yrs
professional artist
2-3 Days
on-site, start to reveal
6 Colors
to start from

Hi, I’m Karoleen. As a professional artist for over 20 years, I partner with interior designers, and commercial, boutique, luxury, and wellness businesses to transform ordinary rooms into breathtaking spaces with custom tone-on-tone accent walls.
Using my premium gloss-on-matte technique, I build exclusive, stylized designs that shine and change beautifully as natural and indoor light shift throughout the day.
Your complimentary custom-requested design digitally hand-drawn by me and discussed via video chat
Painted with premium interior paints that don't fade
Professional application leaves crisp, clean edges and a smooth, gloss surface
Requires only 2-3 sessions in your home or business (for most projects)
Perfect for: hotels, offices, patient rooms, classrooms, nurseries, bedrooms, living rooms, dining areas, foyers, exhibits
Have you ever wanted to upgrade a room but didn't know what to do besides the standard options?
Typical interior paint lacks dimension and can feel underwhelming. High-end wallpaper comes with pricey installation, visible seams and peeling corners over time. All that time and money spent just to have something everyone else has.
Instead, I create a premium, hand-crafted alternative: an exclusively monochromatic, tone-on-tone style that adds a touch of elegance and taste in your space.
By painting an ultra-matte base canvas and overlaying your custom stylized design in an identical gloss sheen, the artwork appears to lift off the wall and shine as light changes in your room.
If you love an elegant coastal wave theme, a dramatic geometric pattern, or a bold botanical look, the art I create adds an interesting texture beyond the typical flat color without being too loud.

I focus on speed without sacrificing quality or precision. We’ll take your wall from concept to a gorgeous final reveal in just a few days.
Submit a Request • 15 Minutes
Home and business owners: you’ll share details of the room where you want the accent wall(s) painted, your color request, and any theme request you'd like (such as stylized beach waves, abstract arches, or clean ferns). Interior designers: you can share more about the type of clients you serve. Then email us photos of example wall(s) and room(s). Click here to get started.
I'll review your request and if your space is a fit, we'll email you to schedule a virtual room tour (for home owners) or in-person space tour (for commercial) or in-person chat (for designer and architects). Then, we'll discuss your idea, and further finalize your COMPLIMENTARY design together via email.
I arrive at your home/business with all supplies ready. Then, I apply the ultra-matte base layer in 1-2 coats. I leave your space perfectly clean while the base cures overnight.
I map your approved design onto your wall, scaled perfectly to size, with professional drawing and/or masking methods. Then I hand-paint the glossy details that will completely transform your space. After a quick portfolio photoshoot, your room is ready to enjoy!
Not sure what accent color to choose and you want to leave the choice to us?
Below are our six most requested tones that work beautifully in any space.
Navy Blue
A rich, sophisticated take on upscale coastal living
Beige
Minimalist, soft, high-end boutique luxury
Forest Green
Bold, organic, and deeply connected to nature
Teal
A light, airy, relaxing retreat-inspired tone
Classic Black
Deep, dramatic, and exceptionally modern elegance
Gray
A clean, structural, and timeless architectural neutral
Do you have a specific paint color that you need to match or another color you prefer? Custom color formulation is available for a small additional fee.
What kinds of themes, shapes and textures can be done with the tone-on-tone, gloss-on-matte style?
The images above represent what a digital mockup for my clients typically look like: a black and white digitally hand-drawn design, and the design overlaid on an approximation of the wall color. This is to show the placement of the art only.
How the gloss art appears on the colored wall will depend on how natural light moves through the room during different times of day, where the viewer is standing, and placement of lamps. Sometimes different parts of the art will appear darker than the wall, lighter, or disappear into the wall completely, causing an eye-catching "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't" effect.
My standard flat rate for a custom residential accent wall up to 100 square feet (about a standard 12ft x 8ft wall) is $4,800.
However, as I officially launch the studio’s local footprint here in the Wilmington and Leland areas, I am looking for five local homeowners or business owners to secure a Founding Client Portfolio Slot for a flat investment of $3,500*.
I am extending this $1,300 credit in exchange for permission to take beautiful photographs and videos of the process and finished wall(s) in your space. If you appreciate unique craftsmanship and want an exclusive feature in your home, I would love to work with you.
*For walls up to 100 square feet, first 5 clients only
Accepting new clients for projects starting Fall 2026
If you're an interior designer looking for a sophisticated and artistic way to up-level your clients' spaces...
Or a business whose space can be elevated for a better customer experience...
I'd love to hear from you!
Fill out the brief design inquiry form below to share a bit about your project.
Common Questions
General Info
Our Founding Client portfolio rate ($1,300 off our standard rate) is strictly limited to the first five homeowners or businesses who fill out our design inquiry form, pass our quick vetting process, and place their booking deposit. Once those five slots are filled, our pricing returns permanently to our standard rate.
I partner with homeowners and interior designers across these coastal North Carolina areas: Wilmington (including Landfall and Porters Neck), Wrightsville Beach, Castle Hayne, Leland (including Brunswick Forest and Compass Pointe), and Carolina/Kure Beach. If you are further out, please fill out the form anyway and I’ll see if we can accommodate your area. Beginning in 2027, I will be available for travel to other cities within the US for installations.
Unfortunately, no. To maintain a reliable studio schedule and provide the highest level of focused service, all of our on-site installations are scheduled strictly on weekdays (Monday through Thursday).
You can email us at karoleen@karoleendartist.com. We try to respond in 24-48 hours.
Art Work
That is exactly why we use a digital room mockup. By projecting the artwork onto a photo of your actual room first, you get to approve the exact scale and look beforehand. Because I trace/mask those exact lines on-site, there are no surprises and there’s zero guesswork. What you see in your digital proof is exactly what you get.
If you are a brand or business, we can go beyond these 6 standard colors during a full consultation.
If you are a homeowner without a specific color in mind, these 6 help remove the guesswork. They've been hand selected by me because they've shown to achieve the tone-on-tone light-interactive effect very well. That's why I recommend my clients choose from this collection.
Each color's info page from Behr is linked below:
• Gray: "Silver City"
• Beige: "Dainty Lace"
• Teal: "Wave Top"
• Navy Blue: "Compass Blue"
• Forest Green: "Green Agate"
• Black: "Carbon"
Yes, however, it will incur an additional fee of $150-$250 depending on the color, amount needed and the design as these will need to be custom formulated just for you.
Yes. If it is more than one wall in the same room, or multiple walls in different rooms, you will be able to include that info in one form submission. Please note that all walls painted in an individual room must use the same color, but different colors can be used in different rooms.
If you are a business or brand interested in having walls painted across multiple locations, please specify this in the submission form.
Botanicals are incredibly popular. However, I also love working with clients to stylize all kinds of themes—from elegant, flowing ocean waves for a beach house to clean, modern geometric lines for a home office. As long as it fits into our clean, sophisticated, silhouette, tone-on-tone style, we can bring your vision to life.
As a professional artist for over 20 years, I’m able to paint most styles and subjects. However, my current focus for interior murals is the gloss-on-matte style as it's the most highly requested style due to its timeless look. Rather than a loud mural, clients often enjoy the subtle but sophisticated look of the tone-on-tone style.
If you have a different style/theme in mind, please send me an email at karoleen@karoleendartist.com so we can discuss a custom project.
Because gloss paint has a different sheen than flat/matte paint, light hits it differently. So when a gloss paint is on top of a flat paint of the same exact color, it creates a "now-you-see-it, now-you-don't" effect as light changes throughout the day, or as you move around the room viewing the art from different angles.
This means sometimes the art will disappear into the background, sometimes it will look darker than the background, and sometimes it will look lighter. The best part is that different parts of the art will appear differently depending on where you're standing. So you and a friend can both look at the wall and see the art in different ways. Playing with light by using different sheens is why we say the art "moves and dances."
The tone-on-tone style I apply requires both the base matte coat and gloss artwork to be the same color to achieve the subtle, light-interactive effect. If you are 100% sure of the paint brand and paint brand color used on your wall and you simply want the gloss art on top, we can accommodate this. The custom color will require an additional fee since it will need to be made. Keep in mind, my studio cannot be liable for any mismatch in the colors or if the intended effect isn't achieved.
However, if you're not 100% sure of the current color, I strongly suggest that you select one of our signature colors (see earlier question) or pick a new color that will include a new matte base coat to be painted in addition to the gloss artwork.
Logistics
No problem at all. You don’t need to prep or prime it yourself. Our professional process utilizes high-opacity ultra-matte paint as your base canvas. No color underneath will show through or affect the tone you select. The wall just needs to be clean and free of any holes or damage.
This technique works best on smooth, painted drywall. Ensure your wall is clean, and free of any damage and large holes. My team and I can spackle small holes but ideally your wall is ready for painting.
If your drywall has never been painted before (such as in a newer build), it will need to be primed first. This can be done by my team and I for an additional fee and will require at least an extra day with more time to dry before applying the matte coat.
Furniture must be moved at least 4 feet from the wall(s) to be painted. I/we will bring drop cloth to cover as much of your personal belongs as possible.
In the form, you'll also specify whether your wall currently has matte/flat or glossy paint (it's ok if you don't know), as that may require extra prep to ensure the new paint glides on well.
Unfortunately this gloss-on-matte style cannot work on textured walls such as in the image below. If your wall has a texture and you're not sure if it qualifies, please feel free to send an image to our email: karoleen@karoleendartist.com before filling out the form and we can let you know whether it's possible to proceed.

I, Karoleen, do all the artistic painting so you can be sure you are receiving high quality artistic execution. However occasionally, I may have an assistant participate in prepping the base coat. Additional assistants will not affect the estimate.
For residences, at least one adult must be present to allow me access to the home/business and must be present on the property while I am there. If there are kids or pets present, I typically close the door of the room I am painting in to ensure there are no accidents. For businesses, we can discuss the proper time to work on installation and what personnel is required to be on-site.
In most cases, yes. To ensure the chemical and visual bond between the ultra-matte base canvas and the high-gloss overlay cures perfectly, the process must be done over consecutive days (Day 1 for the base canvas, and Day 2-3 for the art installation). Large commercial projects, multiple walls or highly complex art may require additional days or more time between steps.
A typical ~100 square foot wall will require approximately 2-4 hours on Day 1 to paint the base coat, and 4-5 hours on Day 2 or 3 to paint the gloss design (depending on the complexity of the design and the tracing/masking needed to be done in preparation). I always try to have the wall finished in 2 business days. Large commercial projects, multiple walls or highly complex art may require additional days. If you would like to have more than one wall painted in your home/business it will require separate weeks (1 wall per week).
We understand that life happens! Because we immediately lock down your calendar dates, turn away other clients, and begin building your custom mockups, your 50% booking deposit is non-refundable. However, if you need to postpone, we are always happy to reschedule your project to a future weekday that works better for you, provided you give us at least 7 days' notice. Please keep in mind that rescheduling may lead to your project being moved multiple weeks out as I only execute 1-2 client installations per week.
Once paint hits the wall on Day 1, the full project rate is locked in, as materials have been used and your custom design has been prepared. If you decide on Day 1 that you actually prefer the solid ultra-matte base coat without the gloss pattern overlay, we can absolutely stop there! However, the remaining 50% project balance will still be due upon completion of Day 1. In addition, my team and I will not be able to re-prime your wall to a different color in this situation.
Yes. Behr paints are safe for application. Also during the process, even though the fumes are not bothersome or strong, I will have a fan blowing out an open window (if there is a window) to ensure air is circulated.
Yes. Because each wall is a custom, hand-crafted art piece, documenting our process and finished work is a standard part of the overall project. In respect of your privacy, we never share your name (only your first name if you allow it), address, or identifying personal information in our portfolio. We also never record other parts of your home, or any personal items like family photos that may be in the room—we only showcase the artwork and transformation of the space.
After Completion
Not at all. We use commercial-grade interior sheens from Behr that are highly UV-resistant. Unlike cheap wallpapers that yellow, our tone-on-tone walls will retain their crisp contrast and rich color for years to come.
Very easily! Because we use premium finishes, the wall is highly durable. If you ever get a smudge, simply wipe it down gently with a soft microfiber cloth dampened with warm water. Avoid harsh chemical cleaners or abrasive scrubbing pads, which can alter the delicate contrast between the matte and gloss sheens.
This art is easy to reverse if needed. Unlike wallpaper, which requires destructive steaming, scraping, and chemical removal that can ruin your drywall, this installation is 100% paint-based. If the next buyer wants a plain white room, a local painter can simply prime and roll right over the mural in a single afternoon for a standard, minimal cost.

Hey there! I'm Karoleen—an international-selling artist creating abstract and figurative paintings and drawings. My work has been featured in galleries and exhibits in the U.S and my original works are owned by collectors around the world from the U.S. to Spain to Singapore.
I currently live in Wilmington, NC and frequently travel around the world. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and received my B.A. in Art from UC Santa Barbara in 2008. After college I lived, worked, and created art in NYC for 10 years while working as a UX/UI design leader. Alongside my art, I'm also a business growth consultant and certified trauma-informed personal development coach.
Creating murals and accent pieces in people's home has been one of my favorite ways to share joy through art, add energy or tranquility to a space, work with my hands and heart, and paint BIG. It would be an honor to help you transform your space!