Peel and stick interior design products like wallpaper, tile, and paint have been around for ages. You’ve run into them before – maybe in your first apartment, a college dorm, or really any home remodeled circa the 1970’s, when it was one of the best ways for a pioneering young DIYer to stretch their dime just a little bit further.
These products were first marketed as an inexpensive shortcut for labor intensive wall and floor installations. Namely, the type that required expensive professional help. They were meant to be the next generation of interior design at a time when doing it yourself was becoming more popular and big box home improvement stores were popping up everywhere. More often than not however, they just came off as chintzy, sterile, and dated.
Fast forward a couple of decades and many of these same peel and stick solutions have come a long way in replicating the color, texture, and wearability of the products they’re meant to replace. You don’t have to go much further than your local internet connection to find an incredibly diverse selection of ornate wallpapers, textured paint products, beveled tile, and more. Many of them feel almost identical to the real thing, except they’re much easier for DIY fanatics to handle.
But will it look good in my home? Let’s dig in and see if some of these newer products are a good solution for you.
Why Use Peel and Stick Design Products?
There are a variety of reasons to use any of these peel and stick home design and decorating solutions; the most prevalent tend to be overall price, ease of installation, and well… you like doing things yourself.
Price
In almost all cases, peel and stick solutions offer an excellent price advantage over traditional materials. Depending on which type of product you’re working with, you’ll be able to cut out the paint
brushes and pans, grout, glue, and more. The one exception, in this case, might be wallpaper.
What you do or don’t save in actual product cost however, is either doubled or recouped when you consider the amount of time and money you’ll save in actual installation expense. When you add up the true cost of installing new tile, painting a room, or laying down wood flooring these products provide some major value.
Ease
In the case of peel and stick wallpaper or paint, you’ve eliminated the taping, floor cover, and scraping stray paint off the floor. Trying to get that new wood floor look? No more lugging heavy lumber up and down the stairs. Peel and stick tile eliminates the need for messy spackle work and grout.
In most cases, peel and stick products adhere to the same basic installation process.
- Clean Your Surface
- Measure Your Space
- Cut To Size
- Apply Your Product.
In the case of peel and stick products like TemPAINT, we recommend some light spackling to cover up imperfections, but that’s a relatively lightweight job.
DIY
The DIY (Do It Yourself) market has grown exponentially over the last twenty years. As new and increasingly high-quality products have become available to the public through stores like the Home Depot, it’s become easier to tackle those weekend remodels by yourself. Besides just being fun, peel and stick solutions are generally pretty family friendly, meaning that the kids can jump in and help without having too many lasting repercussions if things go wrong.
How to Decide if Peel and Stick Products are Right for Your Project
There are a variety of factors that go into deciding if a new peel and stick paint, wallpaper, flooring, or tile solution might work for your next project.
Getting Started
First, when considering a peel and stick product, always read the manufacturer’s “best practices” – ALWAYS. This is one of those cases where you can save yourself a lot of headaches right up front. They’re all a little different, but they’re generally posted in the item’s online, description.
Different manufacturers often use different types of glue. In some cases, the business portion of your product (that is, the side that’s doing the sticking) will be activated in different ways and require varying surface conditions to effectively grab hold. Make sure that your project meets the seller’s requirements.
For example, peel and stick wallpaper and paint tend to be more sensitive to textured walls. As long as it’s a smooth surface however, many products can be applied on top of existing paint and wallpaper, just fine. Floor tiles and faux wood flooring, however, use a more powerful industrial adhesive, as they’re prone to getting a lot more wear and tear and tend to be a little more forgiving.
Conditions
Consider where you’ll be placing your peel and stick product. Extreme heat, cold, and fluctuations between the two can occasionally pose problems for peel and stick products. This tends to be truer of new installations. Once the product is set, seasonal fluctuations in temperature should not affect it.
Peel and stick products do not perform well and should be avoided on home exteriors, directly around fireplaces, behind stove burners, and depending on the environment, in basements (where it can get very cold) or attics (where it can get very hot).
What’s Your Exit Strategy?
Some peel and stick products are designed to be easily removable. Others are not. Removable peel and stick paint can be an incredible solution for apartment and dorm room inhabitants, where traditional painting is not allowed or you’re not expecting to spend a significant amount of money and time in residence. Simply find and edge, get one corner loose and pull away.
Peel and stick tile and flooring can be a bit more difficult to remove.
When You Decide to Move Forward with Peel and Stick Products
Dirt is Your Enemy
Make sure that you’re working with a clean surface. The most common problem we encounter with new peel and stick wallpaper or paint installs is that the product begins peeling off of its own accord. This is almost invariably the case of a surface that wasn’t cleaned well. Even on seemingly pristine surfaces, non-visible dust, oil, and particulates can be present. This is why it helps to spend a little bit of money in getting this cleaned properly, just visit and get a nice cash loans to help finance your project.
When you appy peel and stick products to surfaces that haven’t been thoroughly wiped clean, the product grabs on to dust and not the wall itself. This can result in peeling. To clean, try using a light degreaser light dish soap mixed in with a bucket of hot water to wipe down. Ensure that you give the surface plenty of time to dry out and you’ll be ready to apply.
Measure carefully
The saying “measure twice, cut once”, is sound advice when it comes to peel and stick products. In the case of paint, wallpaper, and wall tile leave yourself a little extra room on both ends and you can simply trim off the edges with a sharp pen knife or box cutter. For peel and stick floor tile or wood, your best bet is to start in the most visible corner of the room and apply towards the least visible corner. This way, the pieces you have to cut, will be the least visible.
Please let us know if you have any other questions about peel and stick paint, wallpaper, flooring, or tiling and we’ll do our best to answer you within twenty-four hours. Good luck and we look forward to being a part of your next big DIY project.
