Hanging Prepasted Strippable Wallpaper

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Hanging prepasted strippable wallpaper is easier than it seems. Hopefully, when the removal day comes, it’s just as easy to remove as promised!

Hello and happy Friday, friends!

Today, I’m going to share all about the prepasted, strippable wallpaper I used in our “morning” room. Well, it’s no longer designated as that, but I haven’t decided what to call it yet, the “lounge”, perhaps?? lol
Anyway, I swore I’d never put wallpaper on a wall of my house ever again!! And here we are. ha!

I’ve done our half bath downstairs with peel-and-stick. (so easy!) You can see it and read all about it here. “How To Hang Peel and Stick Wallpaper”
The wallpaper is beautiful and I highly recommend it. It’s been a year and a half, and it’s holding up so beautifully.

Now, the wallpaper I am sharing today is not peel-and-stick; however, it is removable.

It’s prepasted, strippable wallpaper. Which basically means you wet it, apply it, and when you are tired of it, you simply (haha, we’ll see!) peel one corner, and the sheet is supposed to come off in full. Then all you have to do is wash the remainder of the residue off your walls, and you are good to go. Honestly, that is the only way I’d ever consider installing wallpaper again because, hey, I know me! lol I will most definitely want to remove it at some point, I am quite sure. (I like change!)

Let me show you how I did it. By the way, I am no expert, so this is not a “tutorial” really.  (and why I named this post the way I did…no “how to” in the title, lol) So keep that in mind as you follow along below.

Hopefully, it will be of help if you are interested in adding wallpaper to your home, though.

Hanging Prepasted Strippable Wallpaper

Just as a reminder, this is the wallpaper I chose. This also most accurately shows the coloring. The lighting in the room throws it off a bit in the rest of the photos. It makes it hard to see the blue shade.

wallpaper sample

Here is the link to the wallpaper.

To begin, I measured for my first piece so as to keep the paper level and even going around.

using tape measure to measure wall

I marked the size of the wallpaper in several spots.

Then, I used a level to ensure it was level and even, and drew a line to go by.

using level to make straight line

And then I decided to start on the other side of the room. Haha!! Seriously, but I did the same over there before I began.
I will say, this was a tedious but relatively easy job.

This continuous, pump hand sprayer was a must. It worked so well to really saturate the paper easily.

using sprayer to wet back of wallpaper

I cut the wallpaper to the size I needed with a little overhang on each side. Then I laid it out on my island and used the pump sprayer to saturate the backside of the paper.

Next, I folded the paper over itself several times. (See my Ryder boy sleeping on the job again?)

folding wallpaper over on itself

folded wallpaper

And then let it sit for several minutes to activate the paste.

folded again wallpaper

And then I did that over and over and over again!

first piece of wallpaper is up

second piece of wallpaper is up

Be sure to slide your paper around to even up and match the pattern as you go around the room.

pointing to the seam

Use the smoothing tool to smooth it out, remove air bubbles, and any excess paste from underneath.

using smoothing tool to smooth wallpaper

When you are ready to cut (don’t wait for it to dry; do each piece as you hang it), use a putty knife or cutting tool and a box cutter or X-Acto knife to cut away the excess.

using putty knife and razer to cut excess

With SHARP blades. You’ll need several to do a whole room.

pulling cut paper off

cutting bottom excess off

As a reminder, we are removing the wainscoting and installing shiplap a bit above where the wallpaper comes to an end here.

showing progress wallpaper on half of the room

Corners are no fun. I tried them several ways, but in the end, I wrapped the next-to-last corner around instead of cutting it. (That is a no-no, apparently, for multiple reasons, but I went with it after trying the other ways on the other two corners.)

showing wallpaper in corner

For this corner, I did the overlap method. I flowed this piece around the corner and then overlapped the next piece on top, matching the pattern.

showing how to wallpaper corner

Then I did a double cut down the corner with my putty knife and box cutter. I lifted the paper again, removed the cut pieces, and then laid it back down. I have to be honest, I didn’t love this method.

So on the last corner, I simply kept it rolling! lol I wrapped it right around and onto the other wall. Now, I had to be SUPER careful and make sure it was straight and level. That is one of the issues with trying to do it this way. Plus, it tends to pull away from the corner, which you also do not want. I just made sure to keep working it into the corner very tightly, and it worked out very well. Probably best to cut it, but hey, do as I say, not as I do, right?? haha

showing finished wallpaper corner

That corner is nice and tight and perfectly level, so all is well.

We have lots of windows and door openings in this room, so there were lots of little pieces.

couch with puppy and window with wallpaper half done above

(spy my other cutie?)

But once I got to the final corner, which I planned for this corner specifically. (less conspicuous) Well, the patterns don’t always match up at the end. So, since I’ll be having a curved glass china cabinet on this wall (the coffee bar is going out to the new room once it’s done), I decided to end it here.

wallpaper corner over coffee bar dresser

I could have probably double-cut around some of the large elements and made those whole. Leaving the smaller ones as-is. This way, it would not have been very noticeable. It’s a very busy pattern, so it’s a little harder to do. I wasn’t that concerned about this corner, though, since the large cabinet will be there.

showing last corner and how it came together

If you have more simple or larger elements in your wallpaper, I recommend overlapping the papers at the end and doing a double cut. In other words, instead of a straight line, cut around the large elements in a way that makes them less noticeable. Does that make sense? (and best to not do that in the corner)
In hindsight, I probably should have matched the corner and then done the unmatching end piece, in the double-cut method, right above the doorway, as shown in the photo below.

red mark showing where I should have ended it up

Or even better, right here, which will forever be under a curtain.

circle showing where the best place to end it would've been over window

Hey, it’s strippable (removable), and I have leftover wallpaper. If it bugs me too much, I’ll do just that. (I won’t, lol)

Anyway, that is another option, a better one. But like I said before, do as I say, not as I do, haha! I told you at the beginning, this is not a “tutorial” post, but a “here’s how I did it” one.

Here are a few photos of how the room looks now with the finished wallpaper. (I should’ve removed the ottoman, it’s large and not staying, but we are using it for the time being)

wallpaper with white couch and blue curtains

finsihed wallpaper in corner with leather chair and lamp

finished wallpaper with furniture and blue curtains and painted ceiling

white couch with blue curtains and wallpaper

I love the painted ceiling and the new wallpaper: such a fun, fresh new change.

OH, and here’s a quick shot of the cabinet that is going here.

wood and glass cabinet with shelves

There’s my sweet Ryder again.
So, this cabinet will be getting a bit of a refresh. I think I am going to change the wood tone (not paint, I don’t think), and I might either paint or add wallpaper to the inside back. Stay tuned for it.

Hanging prepasted strippable wallpaper is easier than it seems. Hopefully, when the removal day comes, it's just as easy to remove as promised!

Have a wonderful weekend, sweet friends!!

xoxo


16 Comments

  1. It’s beautiful! I have wallpapered before. It’s a workout, but so worth it–usually. Ha ha. And yours certainly is! Thanks for the how-to tips. I might have to re-paper my hall bathroom now. Lol.

  2. It’s gorgeous!! I don’t mind that corner that is off at all and I know your plan is to replace all the moulding panels with shiplap, but it looks amazing with those panels! XOXO

  3. I love that wallpaper!! And I like it with the panels you already have. And one more “and” that final corner match up isn’t even noticeable. Well done!

  4. The wallpaper looks really really nice, you did a great job. Still not sure why you want to go shiplap in that room; the wallpaper looks great with the wainscoting.

    1. Thank you, Mary! I agree, it does look very nice but our home is very open floor plan and it’s not really matching the style/design components of the rest of our home. We remodeled/updated our home in so many stages over the last 20 years so as our style changed, so did the those features. Every other room has a coastal feel with shiplap and/or board and batten features. This is more of a traditional look so I would prefer to keep it all somewhat similar. I hope that makes sense! :) Hope you have a wonderful weekend! xoxo

  5. Oh, Nancy- I absolutely love your choice of wallpaper! It looks fabulous!
    Question: is it washable? I’d love to do that on my sink wall in the master bath. Does the paper company send tiny samples? I’d need to make sure my blues match up.

    Although I probably should’ve done it BEFORE having a painter paint the said wall, haha. I do way too much bass ackwards. Heh heh.

    Love it – room looks amazing.

    1. Thanks, Michele! Yes, it is washable. This would look great as a feature wall like that! They do send samples of each one if you’d like. It’s a great way to get a feel for the colors in person. And yes, definitely, but oh my gosh, you sound like me!! haha!!
      Thanks again (and sorry for the late response, I missed your comment somehow!) xo
      Nancy

  6. It looks fantastic! Thanks for the how I did it, (not tutorial), haha! Honestly thought it was too busy of a wallpaper but as always you nailed it! Beautiful!

  7. Love your wallpaper. How did you prepare the walls prior to hanging wallpaper? Did they have texture on them? Did you sand them down? I’m so glad wallpaper has made a comeback and II want to try some but my walls have orange peel texture.

    1. Hi Beverly! I didn’t really do anything to them. Our home is older and so some of our walls do have a slight bit of texture but I wouldn’t say it’s like the orange peel type. I would think, as long as the orange peel texture is not too large or pronounced, that this type of wallpaper would work just fine. I would not, however, attempt a peel and stick with any kind of texture. You could get a sample piece and see how it looks/adheres. You can always remove it if you don’t like it. (this type I used in this room is strippable, so you’d be able to peel it up in one piece and then just wash the remaining glue from the wall) Hope that helps! :)

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