Can you wallpaper a textured wall?

Growing up in India, wallpaper wasn’t a concept I was familiar with. After moving to the USA, I was so fascinated by all the amazing wallpaper designs available! I mean a wallpaper print can transform a room into a work of art, far more than a painted wall.

So here I am jumping into the wallpaper boat! The reason I have been hesitant to jump into this boat until now are the textured walls in my home. We have sand textured walls in the house, and I have heard it is less than ideal to wallpaper such walls. Anyways, I’m not listening and trying it out.

I bought this gorgeous peel and stick wallpaper for this One Room Challenge Toddler room makeover from Etsy, click here for the link.

And this is what I have learnt:

1. Use a thick wallpaper on textured walls

I used a simple peel and stick wallpaper on the walls. While they did adhere on and remain on the walls, the wallpaper doesn’t quite stick too well onto the texture. If you press too hard on the wallpaper, then the texture bumps out on the wallpaper and potentially affect the print on the wallpaper as well. Using a thicker wallpaper helps create an illusion of a neater and even surface after application.

Now having used a peel and stick wallpaper, I think the next time I would use a more traditional wallpaper with me needing to apply glue on the walls. I feel this would stick better and last a bit longer on the walls.

2. Use a kitchen napkin to press on the wallpaper instead of a smoothening tool

After reading several blog posts, we bought a basic wallpaper smoothing tool to apply the wallpaper. But instantly realized it was a bad idea. Since our walls have a sand texture on them, using the smoothening tool created friction that chipped away at the wallpaper, causing small white bumps to appear. I guess the print started to peel off. So, we immediately switch to using a regular kitchen napkin to press on the wallpaper and make it stick. It definitely worked and created a better result. It also allowed our 3 year old daughter to be involved in the process without any worry.

Anyways, I have zero regrets at this point. This is my first attempt at wallpapering, and it wont be my last. Onwards to crazier wilder designs next time 😊

I think going forward, when I have the time and energy to do so, I will redo this peel and stick wallpaper with wallpaper adhesive. I feel that would give me a bit more confidence of the wallpaper adhering to the textured walls.