prepasted strippable wallpaper

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Prepasted strippable wallpaper — a quick note to anchor this piece for readers.

Prepasted strippable wallpaper: Quick notes

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?)

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.)

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.

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

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.

(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.

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.

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.

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

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)

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.

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.