Hanging Peel and Stick Wallpaper in the Bathroom

When we purchased our cabin 12 years ago, I loved the additional space it provided to our family. However, every single wall is white and that not so attractive orange peel drywall texture. Since it is our 2nd home, it is always been fun to come up for a long weekend, then lock it and leave. One summer, many years ago, I paint two bathrooms~one a sage green and the other a cranberry color (what was I thinking?). Now after spending weeks here, I decide to try wallpapering the master bedroom water closet.

The Before

This is a small space, 3.5 feet by 5 feet, as it only holds a toilet. There are no windows so unfortunately most of my photos are under icky lighting. Yes, this is the sage green bathroom, but a slight upgrade from the stark white one.

All the trim is a natural wood as is the sliding pocket entry door. Ceiling is white. Flooring is 16″ square neutral ceramic tile~a pretty basic water closet.

Across from the toilet on the opposite wall is a mahogany 5 shelf etageré from the 1950s I picked up at a thrift store. I think the entire small room is rather depressing and fortunately it’s not a space where one spends a great deal of time.

Selecting a Wallpaper

Quite honestly, I didn’t shop around much. I really like Spoonflower and their wide variety of styles, patterns and types of wallpaper (and fabric). Being a cabin in the mountains, I am leaning toward nature patterns in nature colors. However, I do want something a bit brighter. One single overhead can light and no additional outlets in this space needs a bit lights and cheering up.

I choose William Morris ~ Willow Bough 2′ x 9′ Peel and Stick panels. Surprisingly for this room, their wallpaper calculator indicates I need 9 rolls.

The last time I wallpapered anything was with my mother, using the wallpaper paste and a long table. Since I have never used the Peel and Stick wallpaper, I am hoping it adheres to my not so smooth walls. It better as this wallpaper is non-returnable.

Prepping the Room

I remove the etageré, waste basket, toilet brushes, pictures, toilet paper holder and shelf above the toilet. After clearing out the room, I wipe down all the walls and begin.

Hanging the first Piece

Starting is always the most difficult, but I choose to begin at the far left side of the room, where the light switch is located. The edge wraps around to the door frame approximately 1.5″. You unpeel the backing from the paper about 6-10″ and affix the top of the paper. Then while easing the backing off, you push the paper onto the wall.

The first piece took a while as I need to cut out a section for the light switch…but I am not discouraged yet. Using a long level, I make sure the edge of the first panel of wallpaper is straight.

I continue around the room and by the 3rd panel, I’m feeling rather confident.

The Room is not Square

With each panel, you need to line up the pattern, which seems relatively easy to do. However, once I hit the next corner, the paper will not lay flat and the pattern, that matches at the top, doesn’t match at the middle and bottom. It’s due to the corner not being square. You can pull the paper off and try re-applying it, which I do several times to no avail. Now I think I have stretched the paper too much and I’m not happy with how it looks.

Since it is the least visual corner, I cut this panel close to the corner, and just get another panel that hasn’t been so manipulated. With a relatively busy pattern like this, I don’t think anyone will notice that the pattern, while matching near the ceiling, does not at the baseboard. Thankfully I have enough paper to make this adjustment.

Not only is this corner difficult, but I also am maneuvering around the toilet! As you can imagine there is a bit of cursing and working is this small room is just hot and challenging. The entire room takes 8 rolls and I have one complete roll leftover.

Finishing the Application

With a sharp knife, I cut the excess wallpaper at the baseboards and where necessary around the door trim, toilet paper holder and toilet plumbing.

The poor light doesn’t capture how pretty this wallpaper is and the fact it makes the room feel so much bigger. It looks busy in the photo but that’s not the case in real life.

Adding the Extra Touches

A bit of organizing needs to take place on the etageré. Small wooden boxes and a woven tray provide a pretty place for additional toilet paper, wipes, and a candle.

As you can see the wooden boxes have a fern pattern, but it’s light in color and scale and I don’t think it clashes with the wallpaper. They come in 2 sizes.

Between the mahogany shelf, etageré and toilet paper holder, they provide a few darker anchors against the wallpaper pattern.

What to Do with my Antique Prints?

Prior to papering, I have 5 antique prints hanging in the water closet.

The 1838 illustrations done by British landscape artist, William Bartlett are engravings with hand coloring. Bartlett drew scenes during trips to the United States. The subject matter is almost exclusively eastern United States landscapes, with most of them scenes of places in New York State.

I bought 5 of these from an antique shop and they are all the same size. The detail is beautiful and each print has a lovely sage matte and narrow gold frame.

It’s almost hard to punch holes in the wallpaper to hang them in the water closet now. Also, I think what I have in there is enough. I can easily find another place for these prints, but what are your thoughts? You can see how they look in the Before picture.

Summary

All in all, I am very pleased with how cheerful and bright (and bigger) this small space looks. Since Spoonflower recommends smooth walls to hang Peel and Stick paper, I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays in place.

There is another bathroom I would like to wallpaper. But I am going to wait to see how this project holds up over time. It took me approximately 5 hours to complete this job. Perhaps it would have gone faster with an extra set of hands, which Spoonflower recommends.

Has anyone else used this Peel and Stick wallpaper? Did it stay in place?

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