A few days ago I had peel-and-stick wallpaper professionally installed on about half of a small bedroom. The total cost was around $1,300–$1,400, including wall prep and priming. On the first day I was really happy with how it looked, but within just a few days I started noticing shrinkage and the panels separating slightly at the seams, along with some minor peeling at the edges.
I’ve since read that with peel-and-stick wallpaper, a very slight overlap is often recommended to prevent this, but my installer butt-jointed the panels edge-to-edge. I’m not sure whether overlap is something installers normally account for with peel-and-stick, or if this is just considered normal behavior that I shouldn’t have expected them to prevent.
The wallpaper is from Photowall, which seems reputable, so I’m unsure whether this is a material issue or an installation issue. For comparison, I previously installed peel-and-stick wallpaper myself from Etsy (also near a window), used a slight overlap, and it’s never peeled or separated.
At this point it’s already installed, so I’m wondering if there’s anything that can realistically be done to stabilize it, or if this is just something I’ll have to live with. Any insight would be appreciated.
by brooke_157
2 Comments
I’ve never installed the peel & stick substrate from photowall. Most professional paperhangers I know won’t install peel & stick, for many reasons. The nonwoven substrate from Photowall is great. That said, if they overlapped this, it wouldn’t match the pattern. Some peel & stick is provided a 1/2” pattern selvedge to overlap without having a mismatch.
I don’t think there’s any feasible way to stabilize the material. I’d go through with some watercolor pencils and paint in the white seams to make it look better. Gray tones will work well for this. Just use the pencil and some water and a small artists brush to push it into the open seam and then gently wipe the face of the material with a microfiber cloth to remove any excess paint
Shrinkage is super common with peel and stick wallpaper, and it’s one of the many reasons professional installers won’t work with it. If you try to match the pattern perfectly with no overlap, this is often the result. Best you can do is try to fill the gap with a marker, so it’s less noticeable. Maybe a silver Sharpie?