Happy Thursday friends! I’ve been meaning to write this post for SO long. Last year, I got the itch to create some non-permanent and super fun accent walls in several of the rooms in our house and just went on a huge peel and stick wallpaper kick!
My first attempt was a modern black and white wallpaper in the small gym area we were creating in our home office. Let’s just say that was a learning experience (which ended up turning out well). My second peel and stick wallpaper addition was a feature wall in my daughter’s nursery. And then, lastly, I added wallpaper to one wall in our playroom. It definitely got easier each time!
I actually got the itch again and just picked up another couple peel and stick wallpaper rolls to do the water closet in our master bathroom! [You can see all the details on what I’m planning to do in that space in this post].
So, let’s get on with my top 3 tips for using peel and stick wallpaper!
#1. Pick a Forgiving Pattern
Some wallpapers and patterns are just easier to work with – plain and simple! For example, the modern pattern I used in our small gym nook had a verticle line running down it – which made it a lot easier to line up! Of course, this was the first time I ever attempted peel and stick wallpaper and it took me SEVERAL rolls to realize how I could use this paper to make my life easier!
I will say this wasn’t exactly the highest quality paper but I made it work! At first, I just stuck it up on the wall and didn’t lay out my pieces first [another tip – lay your pieces on the floor and line them up first]. Slowly, I noticed the rolls weren’t the same. There were different amounts of paper overlapping and it ended up being a disaster. Eventually, when I was frustrated, my husband suggested cutting a small piece off the edge of the paper so that the black vertical line was the end on every single piece. This would make it SO much easier to line up! So, I ripped down a whole wall that I already done, ordered more, and started over. And, it went up so much quicker and easier! Probably not what the manufacturer intended, but it worked out amazingly! If not for the pattern, I wouldn’t have been able to do that!
Below you can see a progress picture and how it turned out – I’m obsessed! Especially for the price point of this paper [also why I wasn’t too upset I had to rip down half a wall and buy it again!]. Read more about our small gym space in this post!
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#2. Let Go of Your Perfectionist Tendencies
This one is a must. It’s not going to be perfect! And that’s ok. Most likely, no one will even be able to notice (but you). This was definitely really hard for me as… if you couldn’t tell… I have a super type A, some might say OCD, personality.
There are little bubbles here and there on all of my walls. I tried my best to get them out but they are there. There are some larger ones on this particular wall below in the nursery and I had to point them out to my husband, even though they are constantly glaring at me!
Your pattern most likely won’t line up perfectly (see tip #1 above). Unless someone is looking at the pattern really closely, they won’t even be able to tell!
The wallpaper I used below in my daughter’s nursery is from Rocky Mountain Decals and they have some GORGEOUS options. This was definitely high quality paper and I used the smoothing tool they provided for all of my other walls too! You can check out my original nursery reveal here and my plans when we made this more of a “toddler” room here.
#3. Consider Starting with a Half Wall
We have really large walls in our house – 10′ ceilings on the first floor and 9′ ceilings on the second floor. It’s really easy with peel and stick wallpaper to start off straight and about 2/3 down the wall, realize you are completely crooked. Once one piece goes crooked, they all go crooked, and you can’t line them up properly. That’s where you get into trouble! It’s pretty difficult to keep everything straight for 10 feet in a row.
It would have been a breeze for me to apply to peel and stick wallpaper if I was only doing the top 1/3 or even 1/2 of the wall. For your first time, I would consider possibly doing some other type of detail on the bottom half of the wall, like wainscoting or board and batten. This works great in a nursery or dining room! Once you get the hang of it, it will be easier to do a full length wall!
Below you can see the accent wall I did in our playroom with a Magnolia Home peel and stick wallpaper. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this paper! For more of our playroom details [and to see the difference the wallpaper makes], check out this post.
I hope my tips help when you’re considering if you want to add peel and stick wallpaper anywhere in your house! With all that said, I LOVE all my accent walls and would 100% do it again [not sure if my husband would agree, but I could say that about a majority of my design/decor choices, lol!].
Obviously, since I’ve done a few different rooms now, I spent a good amount of time looking at different wallpapers. I wanted to share some of my favorites below!
Phew, that was a little bit long! What questions do you have?! Check my Instagram stories here today to see some videos of me in action putting up the wallpaper! I will hopefully also detail my process a little bit more there!
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