Hang Peel And Stick Wallpaper – Like A Pro!

Hang peel and stick wallpaper like a pro! All the rage for awhile now and it’s been a minute since we’ve hung wallpaper! Now that we’ve gotten our feet wet with this glorified contact paper I’m hooked! So much easier and faster than all the prepasted that we’ve hung in the past!

Laura Ashley wallpaper in a room

This took us back to our first home that we wallpapered extensively with Laura Ashley patterns. Oh how I wish that I had photos of the blue and white floral paper accent wall! It was similar to the above. But then we moved to our current home. There was foiled and flocked wallpaper everywhere! Again, this was prior to the iPhone or even digital camera age and I have no photos other than in my memory. And memories of the days spent steaming and scraping to remove that ugly stuff. My husband swore that he would never want to have anything with wallpaper again. Ever!

I’ve been just itching to hang wallpaper again for years.  I extolled the virtues of temporary paper to him and he finally caved. Yes! Happy wife! We have been updating our beach home and I recently posted the powder room renovation. See that post here.

I have done the  designing and he does the work. A pretty good partnership indeed! This powder room is room that is close to all of the action at the beach house. It was a great place to dabble and hang peel and stick wallpaper. I found this pattern of blue cherry blossoms that is subtle and has that Chinoiserie inspired look I’m going for.

Chinoiserie inspired blue cherry blossom wallpaper

Here’s what we already knew about hanging wallpaper and what we learned with peel and stick!

How To Hang Peel And Stick Wallpaper

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

• Remove anything that is on the wall, such as mirrors, artwork, shelves, light fixtures, electrical plates, etc. *NOTE* switch off the power to the area before removing anything electrical!
• Just like with regular wallpaper, make sure that your walls are clean and dry. If you have heavily textured walls my husband (who is a general contractor) recommends floating the wall first. Use drywall compound and allow to dry for at least a day. Sand the wall and wipe off the dust. Then prime the wall with a good primer paint and allow to dry completely. Then you are ready to apply the wallpaper!

Tools Needed (Everything linked at the bottom of this post)

• Peel and stick wallpaper
• Level
• Tape measure
• Ladder
• Utility knife – we recommend a break off knife like this one
• Drywall knife or a straight edge
• Plastic wallpaper smoothing tool

Plan Your Pattern Placement

Using your level, draw a vertical line 20 inches from the left hand side of your wall. It’s important for it to be plumb. When you hang peel and stick wallpaper on an accent wall, start in the center. This should ensure that you won’t have any small strips on the ends that are difficult to hang. Cut the bottom of your wallpaper if you are installing on a half wall, as we did here over beadboard.

Hang Your Peel And Stick Wallpaper

We were applying the peel and stick wallpaper to an accent wall, so we opted to start in the center, as mentioned above. Apply the first sheet of wallpaper adjacent to your plumb line. Leave a small amount of excess to overlap the ceiling. Work from the top to the bottom and pull the backing away as you evenly press the wallpaper to the wall. Be sure that your paper lays straight and flat! One of the big advantages to peel and stick wallpaper is that you can reposition several times if necessary. We used THIS PAPER

Use your hands first to push out any air bubbles from the center of the paper outwards. Next you should go over the paper with a plastic smoother to make sure that the wallpaper adheres to the wall. Apply your next sheet of wallpaper in the same way and keep applying your sheets until the wall is covered. As you hang your peel and stick wallpaper cut out for any switches, light boxes, etc that are on the wall. You’ll feel where they are located and use your utility knife to cut them.

The final step would be to trim along the top & bottom of all of your wallpaper pieces. Use a straight edge & sharp utility knife to trim.

Reinstall any outlet covers and light fixtures and you’re finished! It’s really not very difficult and if you change your mind you just peel and remove. So much better than the old days of scraping and sweating…yes!

NOTE…I decided not to wallpaper the entire room (less is more) but I am looking for a specific piece of art for the side wall shown. Will update you when I find the perfect piece!

Find it all below!

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