Contact Paper Wall

Since we moved into our new house, I have slowly been decorating and painting. I've been wanting to do striped walls for two years now. I knew that I could paint them, but since this home is still only a rental, I didn't want to spend all that time painting them, only to have to paint over them when we move. The other issue is that we have textured walls. A lot more goes into painting stripes with textured walls. 

(Here is a tutorial on painting stripes on textured walls.)

So for all you renters out there, or textured wall folks, or people who just aren't up to the task of painting stripes, I give you The Contact Paper Stripe. 

Supplies you will need:

-Contact Paper

(I purchased mine from Walmart but you can find any color or design online. Check out DYW or Amazon) 

-Xacto Knife

-Pencil 

-Scissors 

-Dowel Rod (Optional)
-Painters Tape (Optional)

First pick out your Contact Paper. 

I chose crisp white

18"x24'

I purchased 3 rolls for around $5 each. 

Choose the height of your contact paper. They come in varying heights. This will determine how tall each stripe is and how many you will place on your wall. 

Measure the length of your wall as well. This will determine how many rolls you need. This also depends on how many stripes you will do. I used 3 rolls of contact paper. 

Next measure the height of your wall. Then divide the height of your wall by the height your contact paper. 

I chose to do 5 stripes on my wall with 3 of them being the contact paper. 

 Next use the height of your roll of contact paper to measure and mark on the wall with a pencil where the stripes will be. 

Next just place a piece of painters tape on the wall where you want the contact paper stripe to go. This is just so you don't get confused as to what stripe is the wall and what stripe is contact paper. 

For the next step, simply peel the backing away from the contact paper and stick it to the wall. 

As you roll the contact paper down the wall continue to pull the backing away slowly. 

(Important: Measure as you go! You don't want to have to rip it down because of crooked lines!)

As you come across "obstacles" such as outlets and light switches, simply roll right over them, then go back with the Xacto knife and cut around them.

When you come to doorways or the end of a wall simply use the molding to create a straight line as you cut the Contact Paper with the Xacto knife.

As I added stripes higher up the wall, I found it hard to keep the stripes straight as I pulled the backing away from the contact paper. I used a small curtain rod (or you could use a dowel rod) to use as a stabilizer to hold the roll up as you go along the wall. 

The third and highest stripe was certainly the hardest. My husband kindly assisted me with this last stripe. Being that he is 6'2, he was very helpful. If you plan on doing stripes high up on your wall, I would suggest finding a tall friend to help you.  

I had to go over three doorways. I rolled over the doorway with the contact paper, and went back with scissors and an Xacto knife to cut the excess paper. 

Trim it up, again using the molding as a guide.

Smooth out any wrinkles in your paper. You  may need to pull the paper back in certain areas to get rid of all the air bubbles. 

Last step, because my walls are so textured, I did need to place a few staples in my wall to prevent the paper from peeling off the wall. The contact paper itself is not that sticky so it needed a few staples to make sure it was securely fastened to the wall. You really can't see them, but white out, or a sharpie could probably hide them well.

(You may or may not need to to do this step depending on your walls and how sticky your contact paper is)


The finished product!

Total cost of this project: Under $20
Time: I did this project over a few days but depending on the size of the wall, it could take a few hours with a helper!

I love the statement it makes on an otherwise, pretty long boring wall. So happy I decided to do it!