HOW TO WALLPAPER AS A RENTER

Hey there

As I’m nearing my 25th birthday *gasp* I can almost physically feel myself growing and because of that, I’m spending most of my hours trying to figure out my next quarter century around the sun. This has led to me really trying to cut my spending although proving very, very difficult because I’m a definite shopaholic.. but.. I’m really trying. My makeup and skincare purchases have all but ceased as I attempt to use up everything I already own (which is a lot)

Fret not. I am incoming with posts involving products I already own and have experience with which, if you are like me, is really preferable when it comes to determining whether or not to buy a product. I can’t afford to buy into the hype anymore— I need to know this will be something I will use all the way to the final drops

Additionally, I’ve embraced my future homemaker status and really put all of my devoted spending dollars into my cute little apartment that I can only imagine leaving when I decide to quit the DC lifestyle completely and move far away

Starring in this post is that cute little apartment that I mentioned.. well, a wall of it.

I recently installed some removable wallpaper as I am not yet a homeowner and plan to leave this apartment at some point (future Bailey here– I did leave this apartment because I finally quit the DC lifestyle altogether like previously stated and my landlord liked this wallpaper so much that he asked me to keep it up! Score.) I have eyed removable wallpaper for a long time because of the obvious style it adds to a space that is probably lacking it (if you’re renting) BUT man, the prices on some of this stuff is truly insane. Thankfully our BFF Target sells a very good brand, Devine Color, who has many different designs and patterns of this wallpaper. They aren’t as quirky as some of the brands you’ll find online but if you’re looking for something simple, they should be enough.

I was torn between their white brick and their white shiplap patterns. I was fully leaning towards the white brick but my live-in boyfriend (future Bailey: now fiancé) plus both my sister and mother all preferred the shiplap. I didn’t want to be trendy but since I take over the design of our place already, I figured I needed to give Charlie the option he hated less.

This brings me to Target! I purchased two roll for my 7’4″x6’7″ wall and it was juuuuuuuuuuustbarely enough. I have some kind of air vent jutting out on the top of my wall and if that weren’t there, my wall would be average sized and the two rolls would not have been enough. One thing I learned while researching this stuff was to make sure you buy all that you think you need and MORE at the time of original purchase so you can ensure you are purchasing the same LOT #. You can find the lot number at the bottom of the back of the packaging. This will ensure your colors are all uniform which apparently is a big deal according to the angry customers in the comments on the product pages on Target.com.

I got my wall covered in about 45 minutes. It’s suggested that you purchase a squeegee to make bubble bursting quick and simple but I had issues with my squeegee shedding its rubber on the texture of the wallpaper so my personal recommendation is to get a putty tool to use instead. Target sells them in the same aisle as the wallpaper so you shouldn’t have any problems finding them. I own these.

What was initially difficult was lining up the roll STRAIGHT on the wall. I determined that my walls just aren’t 90-degree angles and had some gaps I fixed at the end. I pre-measured the length of my wall and cut the rolls prior to getting them up on the wall to allow more flexibility while positioning. The shiplap pattern is very simple to put up because you only have to match up the lines— however, some of the distances between the lines are not uniform. Weird. It’s okay, though! You just have to cut the shiplap in the middle of the “piece of wood” and overlap a bit. The wood grain helps camouflage any signs of inconsistency in pattern.

Once I got my wall covered (for the most part), I used the little bits I had left to piece over any gaps. Again, the wood graining helps hide any spots that you do this on. I pieced over a LOT of gaps and you absolutely cannot tell and the wallpaper has not bubbled or peeled off on those pieces at all. Just be sure you are doing this project over a glossy or satin paint as the wallpaper will not stick on matte finished and you will risk ruining your paint job if you attempt to do so anyway!

I made this to act as a visual of what kind of “piecing” you may have to do with this wallpaper. This doesn’t represent the exact gaps I filled (I had a looottttt more than this) but just know that it won’t be perfect from the get-go.. you’ll have to do some extra work at the end to really perfect the application!