Peel and Stick Wallpaper Bedroom Makeover: Tips + Tricks + Maximalist Decor Inspo
We used peel and stick wallpaper to create a major statement wall in our small bedroom, and it was quite the adventure! It was fun, it was difficult, and in the end, it was probably the most beautiful interior styling thing I’ve ever done.
In this video, we’re showing you the whole peel and stick wallpaper installation process from beginning to end. So if you’ve been contemplating putting up renter friendly wallpaper in your apartment, this video will help you decide if it’s right for you!
If you’re looking for bedroom styling ideas, maximalist decor inspiration, statement wall ideas, and dark decor inspo, you’re in the right place!
✩ We bought this wallpaper from the Esty shop TapetShow, and I highly recommend it! High quality, beautiful, and they were very responsive to messages/questions. Here's the link! (that's an affiliate link!)
Video Highlights + Tips
See this empty wall behind my bed?
This empty wall is about to be magically transformed… And by magically transformed, I mean we are going to be putting wallpaper on it!
I'm personally very excited and very nervous about this because I've never done wallpaper before. It's a big statement and it could go horribly wrong…
But I’m also a sucker for big, bold decor statements, so I think it’s worth the risk!
If you've ever considered doing a big statement wall with peel and stick wallpaper, watch this video through to the end and you will see what the whole wallpapering process is like, and decide if it's right for you. (And decide if it's potentially worth risking your damage deposit for. 🙃)
And before we dive in, I wanted to let you know that you can now watch my free workshop, "Decorate Your Dream Apartment Without Spending Money on the Wrong Decor For You" whenever you want!
In this FREE, 1-hour workshop, I’ll teach you how to…
Discover your personal style so you can decorate a space that feels like YOU
Create mood boards to help you visualize what your apartment could look like before buying things
Shop for decor in a way that will save you money and allow you to buy things that actually fit your space and your personality
If all that sounds like exactly what you need to create the dreamy apartment you’ve been yearning for, click here to watch the workshop!
Now here are the wallpaper tips from the video! Watch it if you want to see whole process unfold.
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #1:
Take Exact Measurements
Before you start sticking the wallpaper to the wall, make sure you measure out the following:
Width and height of the wall
Width and height of each individual wallpaper panel
Width and height of all wallpaper panels together
Amount of wallpaper that needs to be trimmed off in order to fit the wall
Once you have all of these measurements written down (yes, write them down so you can keep referring to them if need be!), use an X-Acto knife to trim away any excess wallpaper.
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #2:
Clean the Wall
If your apartment is anything like ours, every square inch of it is coated in a layer of cat hair. And even if you don’t have a cat, your walls gather dust particles and all kinds of air gunk that can potentially affect how well the wallpaper will stick.
So it’s good practice to prepare the wall by cleaning it!
I just did a quick Swiffer job over it, which did the trick.
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #3:
Unstick a Decent Amount Off the Back Before Getting Started
Peel and stick wallpaper is basically like a giant sticker. And we learned the hard way that if you don’t peel the back of the “sticker” down far enough before starting to put it up, it’s kind of a nightmare.
With the first wall panel we put up, we only peeled down a few inches off the back. This made it extremely difficult to stick the paper to the wall because the un-sticky part was very much in the way.
If we had simply pulled back more before we got started (at least a couple feet), we would have saved a ton of time and spared ourselves the headache.
This may be the most important tip I have for you in this post, haha. Seriously, learn from our mistake!
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #4:
Invest in Quality Wallpaper
We LOVE the wallpaper we used (that’s an affiliate link!) for this statement wall. Not only is the design just exquisitely beautiful and definitely fits the dark decor vibe I love to go for, but it’s also very high quality.
The material feels so nice - almost more like cloth than paper. This made it very malleable to the touch, so whenever the inevitable bubble formed, it was very easy to smooth out with our hands. The bubbles would disappear almost like magic!
Since a statement wall makes such a big impact on a room, I think investing in quality in this case is very worth it. For the size of our wall, we spent about $300 on this wallpaper, and I have zero regrets!
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #5:
Floral Patterns Are Easier
Putting up wallpaper is very precarious business, and little flaws here and there are inevitable.
That's where a floral design is really helpful because flowers are organic, and therefore they inherently have flaws. Their petals are flawed, their stems are flawed. So any flaws that appear on the wallpaper are more likely to blend with the natural flaws of the flowers.
On the side of the spectrum, a geometric wallpaper print is going to be less forgiving because when you're dealing with straight lines and mathematically perfect shapes, that's when imperfections are going to be much more noticeable.
So if you don't trust yourself to make things perfect, I would go with a floral print like we did. It's just a lot more forgiving!
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #6:
Know When to Stop
We had initially planned on finishing the entire wall in one afternoon. Oh, how young and naive we were… lol.
The first wallpaper panel was so difficult and took so much time because of the learning curve of getting started, that we eventually realized that we had bitten off more than we could chew for one day. We were definitely not going to finish it all.
And I’m so glad we knew when to stop! It’s important not to rush this kind of thing. Give yourself plenty of time. If you don't get it all done in one day, it's better to stop and come back to it later.
Hanging wallpaper takes so much precision, attention to detail, and dexterity that you really need to be on your mental a-game. An exhausted mind is more likely to make mistakes!
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #7:
Don’t. Use. Scissors. Ever.
When it comes to trimming your wallpaper - whether it be around wall sockets or for overall sizing - seriously, DO NOT USE SCISSORS. Use an X-Acto knife, always!
We had a very close call when we made the silly decision to try to trim around a wall socket with scissors, which you can see in the video.
Just keep the scissors far away. They’re not as precise and effective as an X-Acto knife, trust me.
Peel and Stick Wallpaper Tip #8:
Go Bold
If you're stuck in a rut when it comes to your interior styling and you feel like no matter what you do with your decor, it ends up feeling kind of blah... My advice is to do something bold like a wallpaper statement wall.
Challenge yourself to really make a bold statement in your space, whatever that actually means for you.
Sometimes all you need to do is make one big bold statement in a room and then everything else falls into place. That's what I want the takeaway of this video to be!
Go bold and watch the rest of your decor click together.
Now here’s the final result of our wallpaper adventure!
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