Nine Must-Try Peel-and-Stick Wallpapers
In the summer after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, my parents used a portion of their insurance money—remittance for the many long cracks in the walls and the broken wedding china—to invest in some home upgrades. The 6.7 magnitude quake, which woke me and some four million others from our beds at 4:30 a.m. on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, was one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. My family was fortunate not to be injured, and our house was intact, so what that money meant for us was wallpaper.
The high-priced (and frankly, traditional as hell) rolls were installed in the kitchen, the bathrooms, the bedrooms, and even the laundry room. And by the time I became a teenager, wallpaper was out. I hung Ben Harper posters, leaned my surfboard against the dresser, and dimmed the lights in an effort to cover up the print my second-grade self had chosen—pink and floral and so not cool by the turn of the new millennium.
Today, wallpaper is back with a vengeance, but the stakes have changed. With so many quality labels putting out hip and funky designs in removable options, there’s not only less of a need to hire an expensive professional, but, unlike in my parents’ case, the decision doesn’t have to last a lifetime.
Whether you just want to add a pop of color to your powder room or are ready to cover your walls in designer patterns, this roundup is for you. From Target’s vibrant (and budget-friendly) Opalhouse, to Finnish design giant Marimekko’s newly launched collection, to Chasing Paper’s luxuriously textured panels, here are nine peel-and-stick wallpaper brands I can’t wait to try out in my own house.
Tempaper x alice + olivia
Forget-Me-Not // $125 per double roll // tempaper.com
Chasing Paper
Blossoms in Pink/Mustard // $45 for 2’x4′ panel // chasingpaper.com
Opalhouse
Floral in Blue/White // $34 per roll // target.com
Marimekko
Grey Pieni Unikko Peel & Stick Wallpaper in Pink // $56.99 per roll // wayfair.com
Rifle Paper Co.
City Maps in Mint // $65 per roll // riflepaperco.com
Jungalow
Peel + Stick Phoenix Wallpaper in Naturale by Justina Blakeney® // $175 per roll // jungalow.com
Wallshoppe
‘Stripes’ Wallpaper by Clare V. in Red/Shell // $58 per roll // wallshoppe.com
Livette’s Wallpaper
Rain Blue Oversized Wall Mural // $419 for 95″ x 108″ // livetteswallpaper.com