Surprise!! We’ve been busy in the playroom the past week! And it’s looking like a really cheery space. But before I write any more of this post, I should let you know–this post doesn’t end well. We were really pumped about the playroom and the direction and the progress we’ve made and now? Now things are different. Haha! But let’s get back to happier times. Like when we finished painting the cabinets and were nearly done hanging the wallpaper and I unrolled the new rug 3 minutes before snapping this photo (hence the wrinkles…yes, that’s foreshadow).
Life was sunny then and my only worry in this space was what color I was going to paint the baseboards–a yellow to match the cabinets would be so fun, but white is feeling fresh too! Speaking of the cabinets–I painted them using the exact same tutorial as we shared when we painted our kitchen cabinets last year. The color is HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams “Restrained Gold.” (We shared all the real time details here)
I also swapped the knobs for wooden ones that I painted the same color and the color just really sings in here!
We wasted no time starting to hang the peel and stick wallpaper from Chasing Paper. I was so excited to see it next to the cabinets and even though it would have been 100x easier to paint the baseboards before installing the wallpaper, I really felt like I could make a better decision once I saw it in place. The first few panels, there was a learning curve. But then we started to get into a rhythm.
We got about this far on day 1.
And on day 2 when we returned, although it was completely smooth when we left — it started bubbling. Chasing Paper recommends installation on a smooth surface, so we knew there was a risk to installing this on textured walls but proceeded with caution thinking we could smooth it out as we went.
I smoothed it all out again and we put on another panel and the previous ones started bubbling within minutes! Again, we cautiously proceeded as we were so in love with this paper. We’ve used Chasing Paper in other projects so we know we can rely on the quality of the product.
I guess I’m stubborn because we sunk 3 more hours into it, continuing down the hallway that meets Greta’s room before I turned around and saw the nightmare wrinkles again. I started admitting this wasn’t going to work when there were only a few panels left–typical. The worst part–we were SO IN LOVE with how it was looking. In the end, I think the orange peel texture of our walls were just not a match for peel and stick wallpaper unfortunately.
Can you tell Chris was feeling defeated, too?
Where do we go from here? I don’t know to be honest. I’m mourning this wallpaper loss. I know that I could paint something similar ( boy oh boy would that be time consuming) or go the traditional paste the wall wallpaper route (which worked well in Greta’s room!) which Chasing Paper does offer. The perfectly imperfect stripes of this wallpaper are what I love so much…not to mention I painted the cabinets to coordinate!!
Sometimes DIY projects don’t go as planned. We took a risk installing on textured walls and unfortunately it didn’t work – I think that’s just part of DIY. and I think that’s just part of DIY. You have to account for that percentage of it not working out even if you really really want it to and I guess we were due. The wallpaper is all wrinkly again, but it’s still up until I can figure out what I’m going to do next. It’s not the end of the yellow striped walls–THAT I KNOW!!
Have you thought about trying wallpaper liner? We had a stucco-ish wall in our last house that would have been a major mess to sand– not to mention the hours… we used this stuff under wallpaper. It worked wonderfully! https://www.homedepot.com/p/Patton-Prepasted-Wall-Liner-Paper-Strippable-Roll-Covers-55-sq-ft-LPP-2/308769189
Can you try a paste-on wallpaper liner for the first layer and then do the peel and stick over the top? That way you get the best of both worlds and the orange peel texture would not be as visible.
I’m so in love with the design plan for this room. How disappointing that the wallpaper just doesn’t want to cooperate. I do hope you find a solution but throwing out a crazy idea just in case. What about taking the peel and stick wallpaper and using it on the cabinets door inserts? Perhaps then using the same cabinet paint color (or a slightly lighter version of the beautiful yellow paint) for the walls. I know you will come up with a fabulous solution and the room is going to look stunning.
Since you like the irregular stripes on the paper I am sure you could hand paint stripes on the wall.
Most of the peel and stick wallpapers advise not to use on less than smooth walls. I don’t remember if those walls were recently painted, but one needs to wait (usually 6 weeks) for the paint to cure before papering. This is because any off-charging while drying interacts with the “paste” on peel and stick wallpaper. This has been my experience with regular pre-pasted wall paper as well. Sorry as the paper you chose is quite pretty in the room.