Peel and Stick Wallpaper: easy, affordable accent wall

We recently moved into military housing for the first time in 10 years. I typically repaint, even in rentals. Leaving walls blank just isn’t something I know how to do! So when I found out that we only had four wall colors to choose from and would have to pay $200 to repaint each wall when we move out, I decided it was time to try peel and stick wallpaper.

This project took me about 2 hours from start to finish. It was a little bit of a pain, but totally worth it! The wall had three outlets to work around but no corners.

Peel and Stick Wallpaper Application

Step one: The first thing I did was measure the walls before I even ordered the wallpaper.

Step two: Everything I’ve read says to leave the wallpaper in the room for 48 hours before you put it up.

Step three: Clean the walls. I used a vinegar and water mix.

Step four: Measure from ceiling to floor and add an inch for good measure.

Step five: Peel back roughly six inches of the backing and line up the top of your wallpaper with your first corner. Remove the backing as you go, smoothing out the bubbles in each section.

Step six: Line up the next piece, peel back six inches of the backing and repeat step five.

Tip 1: Lay the wallpaper out on the floor. Measure and line up the patterns.

Tip 2: Make sure the pattern lines up from top to bottom. The first cut I made, lined up at the top, but not the bottom.

With three of these to work around, I decided it was best to lay the wallpaper all the way down and cut around the outlet with an exacto knife. It wasn’t perfect but the plate covered up the imperfections!

The wallpaper was pretty easy to adjust, but not without its difficulties. As I went, I ran into a couple of spots where the seems didn’t line up toward the bottom but they did on the top. I just cut the the wallpaper and lined it up on the bottom. The seems overlapped at the top. Surprisingly, it worked really well!