Options and materials for creating wall applications

What are wall stickers

Sometimes you really want to change the “mood” of the interior, to introduce something new. Undertaking repairs - even cosmetic ones - is time-consuming and expensive. Wall stickers can quickly transform a room or add accents. They are also called interior, decorative.

It's easy to decorate a boring wall

The name “stickers” is often used, since this type of decor is attached with an adhesive layer. Just like regular paper stickers. This is a good alternative to painting and stencils. Wall stickers are distinguished by ease of application (adhesive), a wide variety of themes, sizes and types.

What are decorative wall stickers?

First, let's talk about what stickers are. If we talk about the technical side, they are made from vinyl film (polyvinyl chloride or PVC). A pattern is applied to one side (this is if the image is multi-colored), and a layer of glue is applied to the other. There are two additional layers to protect the image and adhesive. The glue is covered with paper (bottom), the design is covered with transparent film. The film covering the pattern is more rigid than vinyl. It prevents the sticker from being pulled or torn during application.

Features of using stickers on walls in the interior

When you want to update the interior of your home, but for various reasons you can’t allocate a lot of money, then vinyl wall stickers or other types of stickers will come in handy. This is a budget option for transforming a room. Moreover, this type of decor does not require special skills or time.

Wall stickers are used to cover surface imperfections. You can close the shortcomings that were made during the repair. They can also be glued to glass, plastic, metal, wallpaper and other surfaces.

This is a budget option for transforming a room.

What are stickers like in use?

Before the first experience of sticking stickers on walls, questions arise about what surfaces they can be glued to, how they will behave, whether they will come off, whether they can be removed if you don’t like it or get tired of it, whether the surface will be damaged after removing the sticker, will there be any traces left? And so on. The questions are clear. Let's talk about all these nuances.

Wall stickers - a quick way to change your design

What surfaces can be glued to and how well will they stick?

You can glue on any surface that is not too embossed and not too soft and delicate. And not only on the walls, but also on the ceiling, furniture, doors, etc. So, what materials can stickers be applied to:

• For paint (including water-based paint).
• For wallpaper. They stick normally to vinyl and non-woven materials. On smooth surfaces it’s generally very good, on a not very textured surface it’s not bad. With a relief surface - you have to try it, as the result is difficult to predict. You can stick it on soft paper ones, but you will most likely remove it with a piece of wallpaper.

  
  As you can see, it sticks well to vinyl embossed wallpaper

• Furniture from any material. On painted facades too.
• On glass, mirror.
• Ceramic tiles.
• For metal (refrigerators).

In general, without question, stickers can be applied to any hard materials: smooth or with a not pronounced relief. The rest need to be checked. How? Some manufacturers include a sample sticker in each kit (DesignStickers, for example). In this case, glue this test sticker according to all the rules on the intended surface. Leave for 24 hours. After this period, check how the picture behaves. If it hasn’t fallen off in a day, the edges hold on, then in a year or two nothing will happen to it. If it comes off, look for another surface.

The best background is plain

But that is not all. You need to check if there are any traces left after removal. To do this, take and remove the test sticker. We remove it correctly: we pry up the top edge, wrap it and pull it down, and not “towards ourselves”. Usually, it comes off cleanly, without problems. If you are unlucky and some of the paint or fragments of wallpaper remain on the surface, look for another place.

What to do if there is no test sticker? Perhaps your wall decal consists of several pieces. Pick one small one, go through the whole process. Just do not remove the protective film (transparent). If it comes off without “wall fragments,” it can be re-glued. And for the third time. Maybe in the fourth... Depends on the adhesive composition and the strength of the film. But the walls must be clean.

Types of wall stickers

Generally speaking, wall stickers can be divided into several groups:

• mirror (acrylic);

  
  Mirror Acrylic Wall Stickers

• vinyl: monochrome (plain);
• colored;
• volumetric (3D).

Mirror stickers are made of acrylic. This material is coated with a special metallized layer. Externally, it also looks like a mirror, but not on glass. The accuracy of the image may be insufficient, but this is not a mirror, but a decorative element. This material is also called “flexible mirror”. Various shapes are cut out of it, glue is applied to the reverse side, which is protected with film. This sticker will not replace a regular mirror, but it can be an interesting interior design.

Types of Vinyl Wall Stickers

Vinyl decorative stickers can be plain or colored. Plain ones are most often black, but you can find gray ones. They are rarely found on sale in other colors; most likely, they will be made to order. Colored stickers can be ordinary - two-dimensional - and three-dimensional. The so-called 3D. You have to look at how well such a picture will fit into the interior, as they attract too much attention. If you need to distract this attention from something, then a 3D wall sticker is the best option.

Decorative wall stickers: how to care

There are several basic care and cleaning parameters, taking into account which you can preserve the stickers for a long time:

• Water resistance. Vinyl stickers are not afraid of moisture, which means they are suitable for wet cleaning with soapy water or cleaning agents, the main thing is not to use chemical solvents.
• Temperature changes. Vinyl stickers are not afraid of cold and heat - they can withstand from -30 to +40 degrees Celsius, that is, they are suitable for decorating a veranda or outdoor furniture. But when heated more, it loses its appearance, so you should not glue it to the stove in the kitchen, radiators, and so on.

Paper, fabric and plastic stickers are much less resistant to moisture and temperature changes; wet cleaning should be minimal.

The most versatile of all types will be vinyl stickers, because they are suitable for all rooms and are widely available in an assortment for any design. Focus on the style of your interior, look at interesting ideas depending on the purpose of the room. Don’t be afraid to experiment, because this design will easily change the mood of the interior.

By purpose

The first and main task of stickers is to change the existing design. It only takes a few minutes, but the result is impressive. In addition to their direct function - to decorate the wall - vinyl stickers can have a special purpose:

Even the simplest stickers - like dandelions - make the interior more expressive

• Height meter. A useful thing in a children's room.
• Alphabet. Allows children to quickly master letters.
• For drawings with chalk. Black film stickers in the shape of various animals. You can draw on them with chalk many times. Can be used instead of a bulletin board, describing who needs to do what and when. If you solve school assignments on such a “board,” then a boring activity will turn into a game.

  
  Stickers can be used in different ways

• Calendar. There is a weekly one - from Monday to Sunday, there is a monthly one. This way all your tasks will be before your eyes. They say this increases efficiency.
• Use the map as a travel plan, or mark places you have already visited. A good way to improve your knowledge of geography.
• For the holiday. Create a festive mood using themed pictures - quickly and conveniently.

  
  Themed pictures for the holidays

These are the ideas that lie on the surface. Surely it can be used in other ways.

By topic

Choosing wall stickers is not as easy as it seems. Deciding on a color scheme is not very difficult. This is either monochrome black or colors that already exist or are planned in the design of the room. But there are so many drawings that you can’t even imagine where and what to look for. To make it a little easier, here is a list of topics. This will make it easier for you to search for stickers.

The first thing that will make the search easier is the specific room or object where the sticker is planned. You can separately search for stickers for the following objects:

• Toilet with bath: on the toilet cistern;
• on the toilet lid;

  
  Lots of interesting ideas for bathrooms

• on a glass partition (they are double-sided);
• on the wall.

In each of the categories there is room to expand, there are quite a lot of options in colors and shapes. But this division does not exclude the use of pictures from “neutral” categories, which are difficult to assign to any zone/device. Here are the thematic subsections you can search for:

• Abstractions.
• Vintage.
• Around the world: east;
• world maps;
• trains, planes, buses;
• attractions;
• ethnic motives.

  
  Vinyl car decals can hide scratches and dents, but not necessarily

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Just from the list of topics it is clear that there is plenty to choose from. And if you consider that many companies offer all or much of this, in different sizes and colors, it becomes absolutely clear that choosing will not be easy.

How to choose

In general, choosing the right sticker is not at all easy, because it should be part of the interior. Therefore, we select the type based on the task that the sticker will perform. If she is the center of the composition, then something bright and catchy can be done. Like a large drawing or even a 3D painting. But just remember that all other furnishings must match.

A certain sticker style dictates the presence of features of the same style in other objects and design

For example, you want to use a Japanese or Chinese landscape. Great. But this theme should also be present in the design of the room. This or a similar bright thematic picture will not look good in a typical average design. If you have an interior in the process of development, you can try to build everything around the found theme. In fact, it's not that difficult. But “attaching” a bright, large painting into an existing interior is almost impossible. The exception, perhaps, is the children's room. Here are bright pictures on the topic. The good thing is that vinyl stickers can be changed as the child grows and his tastes and preferences change. Make the background of the walls neutral, and the drawings may include characters from your favorite cartoon or images of a toy.

In the nursery and beyond, you can use stickers to combine everything into one ensemble. To do this, use the same type of stickers of different sizes. They can be glued to walls, furniture, ceilings. One of the techniques is to move from one wall to another, from a piece of furniture to a wall or to another object.

That's what we're talking about - one theme, stickers combine everything into one ensemble

For other rooms, the simplest and most versatile way is to use monochrome images. The most ideal and neutral option is inscriptions and silhouettes. They're easier to fit in. Patterns and abstractions are good in this sense.

The “calmer” and more neutral the picture, the easier it fits into the overall picture

Application on the walls

With the help of simple applications you can transform even the most boring room.

Besides paint, there is another way to apply patterns to walls. You can make wallpaper with ornaments yourself. To do this, draw a pattern on the back side of the wallpaper that has not yet been pasted and cut it out with a blade. The wall must be prepared in advance: paint it one color or make multi-colored spots and splashes.

You can entrust this task to the child so that all family members are involved in this important process. When the paint has dried, apply new wallpaper with an embedded pattern. Walls decorated in this way will look very beautiful and unusual.

If the wallpaper is already pasted, use available materials. You can paste pieces of other wallpaper, fabrics, photographs or various pictures directly onto the walls, from which you can create a wonderful collage. You can also buy special wall stickers in the store.

Coffee beans, cereals, buttons, ropes, beads, sticks, straws or even dried flowers will look very interesting and unusual. From these items you can create various compositions that will become a highlight in your interior design. To attach them to the wallpaper, it is better to use a gun with transparent hot glue.

Related article: How to lay laminate flooring with your own hands: wooden, concrete floors

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How to stick

Pasting vinyl stickers is not difficult, but you must follow certain rules. Firstly, the room must be warm. Temperature not lower than +15°C. Secondly, humidity is normal, walls or any other surface must be dry and clean. There should be no dust, no grease, no dirt. If possible, the area under the sticker should be treated with a degreaser (solvent).

How to apply vinyl stickers to a wall - step by step photos

To work, you will need a small plastic spatula, which can be successfully replaced with an old plastic bank card. If you don't like working with plastic, try a dry, clean, soft cloth. These devices will help expel air bubbles from under the film.

We glue a large picture from vinyl film

The area for work has been prepared, the next procedure is as follows:

• Let's take the sticker apart and see how it will look. Very often it is a set of fragments. We take fragments and assemble them into a picture. We fasten them with pins or stationery tape in the intended place. Let's go away and take a look. If you are happy with everything, let's start gluing.
• You should start from the bottom and move up. First, the central fragment is glued, and the others are joined to it. So it turns out that you will have to move in two directions - from bottom to top and from the center to the edges.

  
  At first it’s not clear what and how

• From the bottom of the fragment we peel off a small section of the backing that protects the adhesive layer. Apply to the work surface. We try to glue it evenly, but if it doesn’t work, it’s okay - peel it off and try again. After the “start” has been glued correctly, we take plastic or a rag. Peel it off, folding a small part of the protective paper and gluing the strip. Peel off the protective paper again and stick it on. Moving up and to the sides we glue the entire fragment.

  
  When sticking, do not remove the protective film from the front part

• We looked, the fragment was glued evenly, everything was fine. Remove the protective film from the front part.
• We repeat the operation with the next piece of the picture. But now we still need to join the parts. The slightest discrepancy will be visible, so don't rush. We glued it, checked it, and removed the protective layer from the front part.
• We glue all the parts in the same way.

That's all. A few notes on the process. It is important to try to expel the air from under the vinyl film. Therefore, we move slowly, without allowing any omissions. Then there will be no bubbles. If the peel-off backing is in the way, it can be cut off.

We remove the film that is pasted on the front side after the fragment is completely pasted and all the air is removed. At the same time, you cannot leave it on the part when the next one is glued - the seam will be visible.

Features of a small picture

Above we described the process of gluing a large picture, consisting of several pieces that need to be joined to each other. But such complications are not always necessary. Some images are a set of elements that can be arranged relative to each other in any order. Such elements are usually glued on one sheet. They just need to be removed from the backing and pasted on the wall.

It’s easier to glue small fragments: popular butterflies and cartoon characters (Kitty)

But even in this case, in order not to make a mistake and not to re-glue the fragments from place to place, cut them out together with the backing. It is not necessary to strictly follow the contour; you can capture free areas of the substrate. Now distribute these pieces over the surface as you imagine, using pieces of masking tape. Evaluate the result. You may have to move something somewhere, change places. When you are satisfied with the result, start gluing.

How to remove an annoying vinyl sticker from a wall

The good thing about wall stickers is that they can be removed without harming the coating. Usually this is not difficult. You pry up the edge, wrap it and pull it down. Please note, not “at yourself”, but down. Then the paint and wallpaper remain in place.

This is how to peel off a wall sticker

If the vinyl film has become too good friends with the surface, you will need a knife to tear off the edge. This happens with smooth, even materials - glass, ceramic tiles, plastic, etc. In the most difficult situations, you can use a hair dryer. Warm up the film and pull it down. So, gradually, you remove it. Usually everything goes away without a trace.

Drawing with paint

This method involves the use of paints to create a unique pattern or ornament on the walls of the room. It is not necessary to tear off the wallpaper and plaster the walls. Modern wallpaper is good because you can draw on it without any problems, and if you get tired of the drawing, you can easily repaint it . Vinyl wallpaper and fabric wallpaper lend themselves well to painting.

Even in ancient times, the ceilings and walls of palaces and temples were painted with frescoes and paintings. Today you can borrow this idea to decorate your own home. If you are good at drawing, you can use your talent to paint wallpaper. To do this, you will need water-based paints, preferably acrylic or latex, brushes and imagination. If in doubt, draw the outlines of your future masterpiece with a pencil or practice on old wallpaper.

You can apply paint to the wallpaper using a special spray paint can.

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For those who do not have special artistic talent, you can use stencils. What is needed for this:

• cardboard;
• image of the pattern;
• scissors or stationery knife;
• brushes;
• paints;
• masking tape.

Find a design or pattern that you like on the Internet and print it on paper. Then glue it onto cardboard and cut out along the outline. Use masking tape to glue the cardboard to the wallpaper and start decorating. Then let it dry a little and carefully remove the stencil. You can also simply trace the stencil with a pencil and paint the pattern without a stencil, but only if you are sure that you will not go beyond the outline of the drawing.

To cover the walls with a continuous pattern, you can purchase a special roller. His video is covered with bumps depicting patterns: animals, plants, abstract ornaments. All you have to do is dip it in paint and run it along the wall.

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