Does anyone else hate painting? It’s one of those jobs, no matter how many times you do it, you always underestimate the time and energy it takes. On top of that, if you’re a renter there’s a good chance you have to repaint the walls when you move out. HELLS NOOOOO! The thought of moving out AND painting sounds terrible. So instead of painting, we decided to revamp our kitchen with peel and stick adhesive wallpaper.
We partnered up with Wallpops to help give our kitchen a full makeover! Our prewar apartment building has some busted plaster walls. When we moved in, we were told cracks would be would be patched up and everything would be freshly painted, in true New York fashion-it wasn’t. We had planned to fix up, spackle and smooth out our walls before we began, however our super intendant and neighbor found out and told us we we’re not allowed to do so…not sure why, however we decided to wallpaper anyway!
For best adhesion Wallpops does NOT recommend using their product on-Textured Walls; Wallpaper; Brick/Cinderblock; Unpainted Drywall/Sheetrock or Plaster; Outdoors; Non-stick Paint.
We’ve had our wallpaper up for over a week and so far so good! (We will keep you updated if anything changes.) In some lighting you can see some texture, some bumps and lumps, but because the pattern is busy it erases most of the imperfections which is a total win for us!
What You Need
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Adhesive Wallpaper
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Level
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Pencil
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Ruler or Straight Edge
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Craft Knife or Utility Knife
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Step Stool
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Bucket
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Rag
Step 1: Clean your surface
Fill a bucket with warm water. Ring out a rag and wipe down your walls well. Use a clean damp rag and re-wipe over the areas making sure there is no left over residue on the walls. Let the walls fully dry before starting. Tip: Use socks or cut up an old t-shirt for a rag.
If you are hanging this product around sockets or switches, switch off main power, unscrew fixtures & clean out all dust prior to starting as this will negatively affect adhesion. If your walls are freshly painted-allow at least 4 weeks for newly painted surfaces to fully cure.
Step 2: Test run
Before starting cut a small piece of the wallpaper, peel it off and test it on a wall you’re working with. This way you can make sure it sticks while helping you get familiar with the wallpaper before tackling the big stuff.
Step 3: Draw a starting line
Before you hang your first piece draw a straight vertical line using a level. This is a guide for your first strip so make sure it’s straight.
Step 4: Put up your first piece
Peel about 12’’ of the backing away. Align the side of the paper with the drawn line and apply the sheet to the top of the wall allowing a bit of excess to overlap the ceiling (you will cut that off later). Work from the top and slowly press to smooth. Make sure you are still matching up with the line. If your sheet isn’t lining up, slowly lift and peel the backing away and reposition. Don’t try to stretch you sheet to line up correctly, this will cause gaps and bubbles over time.
After your first sheet, you really start to get the hang of it, don’t be afraid to peel back and try again, we did it many times and the outcome was still great. Better to fix your problems as they come up than later on.
Step 5: Keep on sticking
Apply your second strip the same way slightly overlapping and lining up the pattern to the first strip. Continue around your room.
Tip: Use a level to check your work as you go.
Step 6: Trim your edges
Once finished applying all your wallpaper, line up a straight edge where the wall meets the ceiling and cut the overhanging piece with a utility knife for a clean line. Repeat at the bottom. Be sure to smooth cut edges well to ensure adhesion.
New kitchen! Who dis?!
Upkeep
Wipe down walls with a damp rag, using strong cleaning supplies might remove wallpaper pattern.
Removal
Slowly pull edge from top corner directly downward. We haven’t removed anything yet, and probably wont for a while, but we will keep you posted if we do!
All in all we had a great experience! We would totally recommend it for the renter or homeowner who wants a huge impact with minimal stress. Our final tips would be work with a buddy, it’s not necessary, but it came in handy for sure. Our biggest tip would be take your time, our kitchen probably took us around 5 hours total.
Our kitchen looks completely different already and we’ve just started! Follow along our journey into turning this kitchen from cracked and sad to fresh and fruity!
Love our wallpaper as much as we do? Use our %10 off discount code LUMBER10