Wallpaper | the decor I never thought I'd have!
Want to know which wallpaper is the easiest to apply? Let me give you a tour of the wallpapers I used in my most recent makeovers and which wallpaper I think it best after using a few different ones.
Pro/Cons list for each wallpaper type/brand at the end + links! So if you are here for those scroll on down but if you want a little story and details on each feel free to read through.
Remember the geese wallpaper and the geese in bonnets decor that our grandma’s had in their kitchens? I, like many, had the assumption that wallpaper was only reserved for those who wanted to put farm animals on walls. Because of this I said I would never put wallpaper up in my home…or maybe it was the not so pleasant memories of helping my mom put boarders up in all the bathrooms when I was young. Frilling florals that made me say no way to any flowers on my walls…little did I know what my future self had in store!
Either way, I knew I didn’t want wallpaper in my house…until I did, haha! My first hand of wallpaper was in small bathroom off my husband and my bedroom. It was yellow, plain, and expensive! I got it from Sherwin Williams. I didn’t even know that wallpaper was still a thing (turns out it never actually went away with the geese in bonnets decor like I thought). I went into the paint store to get paint for our basement and I was dumbfounded at all the options for wallpaper I found myself drawn to. I was sucked in and after AN HOUR (or maybe it was more, I don’t know. Time seems to stand still when you a looking through the thousands of swatches) of looking I settled on a yellow print of “ripe” dandelions, as my now 13 year old said they looked like. Oh man! I couldn’t find any pictures of the bathroom but I did find the swatch of yellow on Sherwin-Williams website in their Essentials Bathroom Collection. Who new they still made it!
We kept this wallpaper up for years until I was finally sick of the yellow. In hindsight, I can’t believe I ever went will yellow as it is not a color I normally gravitate towards. But it was a “safe” and somewhat neutral print that I thought wasn’t too crazy. Plus, at the time, the “make a wish” tattoo of the dandelion seeds being blown away was a thing, so I guess it was “in” at the time.
Then, years later, when I wasn’t looking I stumbled upon a newer wallpaper site I was shocked at how many beautiful options they had!
Insert Wallblush wallpaper! And it was PEEL AND STICK!! What?! I think I looked at different prints for hours before settling on a large floral print to replace the yellow. I loved the feminine feel this Wallblush print gave off and, hello, it was a peel and stick! That had to be faster to put up than the yellow one I had to use paste with, right?
Well, the peel and stick definitely went up faster than the paste and put up did. However, when it didn’t line up, and had to be pulled back off the paper tended to stretch and make the lining up even worse. At one point I wanted to throw in the towel. It was in the corner above the closet door and I finally did give up and ended up cutting a big flower out of the leftovers and using that to cover the patch that didn’t line up.
Once it was all up you couldn’t really tell that there was an extra flower “sticker” stuck up in the corner. I called it a win!
It wasn’t long after I got this put up that my niece asked me to makeover her room. I was pretty excited about this because when I was planning on redoing my bathroom I debated another floral print that I decided had too large of a scale for the small bathroom that I knew would be perfect her room!
This floral wallpaper was also from Wallblush. At this point Wallblush didn’t make their lux line, so peel and stick was picked again! And though this larger scale print was easier to put up than the more intricate pattern I used in my bathroom we did run into the same issue of the paper stretching a bit when needing to peel it back off and reapply. But once it was up I couldn’t help but love how the colors blended with the board and batten wall we placed on the opposite wall.
After my niece’s room, my sister in law asked me to help her design her master bathroom water closet. She was leaning towards wallpaper and I was hooked on how much it transformed spaces. So I was obviously in! We then had this funny exchange when she sent me the wallpaper she was thinking.
Yep, great minds do think alike! Haha! Out of the hundreds of wallpapers she could have gone with she chose the same one I had put up in my bathroom. And since we knew there were some issues with stretching to the paper when trying to reposition the peel and stick I opted for the new Luxe traditional non-pasted that at the time was the same price (not sure if that is still the case!).
I have to say, for not having to pay more the Lux was a bit of an improvement over the peel and stick from the same company! It did take a bit longer because you have to roll paste on the paper and then on the wall before applying but there was more give when it can to repositioning. Which was less frustrating to me! I would definitely opted for a little longer in time for less aggravation.
Can we give a hand to that painted slat wall?! I just love how this whole look came together!!
It wasn’t too much longer after this project we found out we were expecting baby number 6! So that meant a room makeover for Liam and Elliott as we combined their room. Which gave me an opportunity to try out wallpaper in a new way…
..on the ceiling!!
Putting wallpaper on walls is definitely easier than on the ceiling! Gravity has a big part to play in that. Aside from that you really do the same as you would for applying to a wall. We opted for this peel and stick wallpaper because I just kept coming back to it as I loved the colors!
My husband will still claim that this was a silly project but he did come around from thinking wallpaper on the ceiling was completely insane. He was gracious enough to scrape the popcorn off the ceiling for me to do this project. But I do wonder how helpful he would have been had I not been 7 months pregnant, haha!
After the girls room was put together and baby #6 was in our arms for a couple months I got a phone call from my sister in law with a request for help with turning an office into a guest room. You can see all the details for the entire room here. This phone call put me into creative mode and thus on the search for the perfect wallpaper! That wallpaper ended up coming from a company that I had heard of but had never used, Spoonflower.
Putting up this vintage vibe wallpaper was my fave thus far! We opted for the non pasted option this time around. Spoonflower had the most options as far as different options to apply (traditional, prepasted that you activate with water, peel and stick, grasscloth). We went with the traditional non-pasted pebble one because even though it was a bit more cost wise, it has a matte finish to help hide any imperfections on the wall, plus this type hides texture better if you have orange peel walls. I loved the overlap of this wallpaper!
Now let’s talk pros/cons!
I have used a total of 5 different types of wallpaper/brands and I have to say I have loved how all have turned out but I definitely have a favorite! So let’s break down each so you can decide which route to go.
Sherwin Williams
Pros | instructions were great, there were a lot of options to go with as far as types (peel and stick, traditional non-pasted, pre pasted, grasscloth, cloth), order time was quick, personal experience with the traditional held up well over several years and was easy to take down
Cons | higher price point, must order from a store, may take longer to apply depending on the type you pick to purchase (peel and stick vs traditional)
Wallblush-peel and stick | my bathroom link | | niece’s bedroom link |
Pros | great instructions, if you pick a mural style the rolls come pre-cut and numbered to keep in order, quick to put up as it goes up like a big sticker, often run sales, has a 1/2 in overlap so no gaps, repositionable, lots of choices to pick from and styles
Cons | the material stretches if you need to pull the sticker off and reposition leading to potentially misalignment, higher price point when not on sale, higher price point when not on sale, order time was a bit longer than others
Wallblush-Luxe Traditional | SIL bathroom water closet |
Pros | great instructions, if you pick a mural style the rolls come pre-cut and numbered to keep in order, often run sales, easily repositionable
Cons | rolls do not overlap so when the past dries there a tiny gap where they meet that seemed to be unavoidable when following the directions, higher price point when not on sale, order time was a bit longer than others
Rifle Paper Company | daughter’s bedroom ceiling |
Pros | the best instructions, peel and stick did not seem to stretch much or at all when repositioning, depending on the the pattern there are a couple options for type of paper, decently priced, overlap, have lots of hues of same patterns, faster receiving time
Cons | very neat patterns but there are other sites that have a broader variety
Spoonflower | SIL guest bedroom |
Pros | there were a lot of options to go with as far as types (peel and stick, traditional non-pasted, pre pasted, grasscloth, cloth), order time was quick, TONS of options, can upload your own design to have recreated into wallpaper but also fabric and other products, lots of matching products to the wallpaper, variable styles to fit your price point, 1/2 inch overlap
Cons | can be overwhelming because there are so many options
MY FAVORITE: Spoonflower, traditional, non-pasted, pebbled - I found this to be my favortire to put up because the traditional style that needs to be pasted is easier to reposition + it had the overlap that the traditional Wallblush one did not, leaving a tiny gap when paste dries.
Money saving tip: If you plan to do a accent on the top half like I did in my SIL guest bedroom, play around with the length you want. We decided we would go 36 inches down and their roll number generator said we needed 5 rolls. BUT when opted for 35 ins it recommended 3 rolls. Huge savings on cost!!