How To Hang Peel And Stick Wallpaper With Expert Results

Peel and stick wallpaper is a great alternative to paint. There's almost no prep and it's super easy to hang. And it's cheap. Win-win.

So if you remember, I started here:


My pantry was a worn and tattered mess in desperate need of an update.

The walls were faded and chipped and while I could've painted them again, I was looking for something a bit more dramatic.

I considered traditional wallpaper, and even though the products are a lot easier to work with today, I've been down that road before and wasn't up for a job that big and that involved.

Enter peel and stick wallpaper.

I'd heard about it before, but I'd also heard that it wasn't easy to put up.

Or take down.

However. This pantry closet has looked the same for the past 20 years. There was no way any paper would be coming down in the near future.

So that was one hesitation out of the way.

As for putting it up, I'm an expert contact paper installer and I figured it couldn't be much different.

So I hit click and ordered two rolls in a rustic stacked stone pattern <---This is the one I used.

And got to work.

{Peek at the completed and organized pantry!!}

How To Hang Peel And Stick Wallpaper

Ok, so before we get to the actual hanging, you have to order your paper...and to do that, you need to measure.

1. Measure Carefully

The manufacturer of the specific brand you choose will list the coverage on the package.

Simply measure your area, calculate your square footage and order enough rolls to cover.

Keep in mind you might need extra to line up patterns or make your way around cuts, so alway, always overestimate and order more.

2. Wipe Down The Walls

The walls need to be clean and dry before you can begin, so we didn't wash ours down. 

We just removed all the shelves and painted the ceiling and shelf supports.

Once they dried, we vacuumed the walls with a brush tool and then we wiped them down with a rag. 

Our goal was to remove any dusty, crumbly debris that would get caught in the adhesive and create a bump or prevent the adhesive from gripping well.

However, if you have a greasy spot that would prevent the wallpaper from sticking, you need to wash the walls using warm water only.

Of course, then you would need to wait until they were fully dry before applying the peel and stick wallpaper. 

3. Draw Guide Lines

With fresh paint and clean walls, it was time to map out our project.  We started by measuring the width of the paper.

Then, using a measuring tape and a very long level, we drew vertical guide lines on the pantry walls that corresponded with the paper measurements.

This ensured that our pattern would be straight and square when we hung it up. 

4. Peel and Stick

With a grid on the wall, it was magic time. 

We peeled the top part of the paper backing away about 12 inches, placed the paper next to the lines and stuck it to the wall. 

We made sure to leave a bit of overhang at the top, that we would trim away later, since our ceilings are old and not square.

Then we carefully pulled the rest of the backing paper away as we applied the paper to the rest of the wall, using our hands to smooth it down as we went.

5. Smooth It Out

While the wallpaper was mostly smooth at this point, we did use a plastic putty spatula to make sure there weren't any air bubbles lurking. 

The flat pressure also helped to really stick the paper to the wall. One tip, our walls aren't perfect, like I said this house is old.


There are bumps, so we were careful to move gingerly around them, because if we scraped over them, the paper could rip. 

6. Matching Patterns and Seams

Of course, our pantry needed more than one sheet. We had to repeat this process several times. However, once the first one was up the others were easy.

The toughest part was matching the patterns and creating seams. The instructions recommend a very slight (1/32in) overlap. 

Our pattern was extremely forgiving and we had the shelf supports separating sheets. That eliminated the need for an exact match. 

7. Trim

The last part of the wallpaper application was a tedious one. We had to trim the tops and bottoms of each sheet and cut in around each of those shelf supports. 

To do this, placed the plastic spatula along the edges, as it provided a sturdy straight edge and an exacto knife to cut.

We made sure we had a lot of replacement blades on hand, since a sharp tool is what ensures a perfect cut.

When the walls were done, we tackled the shelves adding the sweet, cottage style contact paper patterns. 


The trimming here was a little more involved.

In places where we needed to cut against the new wallpaper, we used two scrapers.


One was placed between the wall and the contact paper, so the knife wouldn't cut into it the new wallpaper, and the other served as the straight edge.

It honestly only took us about an hour to put up the wallpaper. The shelves took another few days, since I had to order more contact.

I recently found some very pretty floral contact paper at Dollar Tree. Too bad I didn't know that back then.

I also had to order some new baskets and supplies to organize the space. 

But it was totally worth the wait, because when I was done, I had the most gorgeous cottage style, stacked stone, flower clad pantry.


And all I had to do, was peel and stick.

How fabulous.


Have you tried peel and stick wallpaper?