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Paint may be a DIYer’s automatic go-to for updating walls, but wallpaper is trending as designers’ preferred pick for decorating walls, and its popularity is surging. According to research firm Mordor Intelligence, the global wallpaper market is expected to grow to $2.69 billion in 2030 from $2.26 billion in 2024. And an Apartment Therapy survey found that 9 out of 10 designers picked wallpaper over paint when it came to decorating interior walls.
For DIYers who want to embrace the trend of putting down the paint brush and picking up rolls of paper and paste, traditional wallpapering can seem like a complicated—and expensive—learning curve. But, is peel-and-stick wallpaper good wallpaper?
Professional designers are spilling the tea on their experiences with both peel-and-stick and traditional wallpaper, and they don’t hold back telling us when it’s best—and worst—to use both.
Peel-and-stick is better for temporary decor.
“I feel like peel-and-stick is more for temporary spaces like a children’s room or for trying something new,” says Zoe Grant, a designer with DBD Lifestyles in New England. Interior designer Kim Hutton, who is based in Carlsbad, California, agrees: “Peel-and-stick is fine for kids’ rooms or a rental.”
While the temporary nature of peel-and-stick is great for spaces that will almost certainly be re-decorated, like kids’ bedrooms as they grow older and their tastes change, or for apartments and dorm rooms that aren’t permanent residences, it also means that it’s a solution that might not perform over time, even if you want it to last.
“Peel-and-stick, eventually it comes off. So in my opinion, peel-and-stick is great for a quick fixer upper, but obviously not long term,” says Colleen Bute Bennett of CBB Design Firm and Mimosa Home. “With peel-and-stick, I would use it just for a quick fix, knowing that you’re going to change in a few years.”
Traditional wallpaper is more durable.
If you are looking for a long-term wall treatment, traditional wallpaper is a better bet. As Grant explains: “Traditional is more for when you’re looking to make more of a commitment.”
“I find that it’s more durable. Real wallpaper, glue, all of that will last much longer,” says Bennett. “You can see wallpapers that have stayed up for 20 or 30 years. ”
While it’s a benefit that traditional wallpaper adheres more permanently to walls, and bonds so strongly, it’s also a double-edged sword: It can be tough to remove from drywall if in the future you decide a decor change is needed. Since it can last decades, think of wallpaper as a more serious decision than adopting a cat or dog. You’ll be living with that wallpaper decision for a lot longer.
Peel-and-stick wallpaper isn’t as easy to install as you may think.
Peel-and-stick might sound like a giant fun sticker that anyone can do, but it requires some practice. “People think it’s easy, and they ruin it blaming the seller and the manufacturer,” says Matthew Finan, director of marketing at Ash Showroom. For example, the sticky part touches itself and then the finish, or color, comes with it when they try to pull it off. It can also stretch out of shape.
Finan, however, still uses it at his house: “Personally, we have used it in the interior of a closet in our second home,” he says, adding that he’s considering using peel-and-stick wallpaper in a flip house he’s working on.
Traditional wallpaper attaches to textured walls better.
Peel-and-stick wallpaper is typically thinner than traditional, even less-expensive, wallpapers, so it can translate the surface it’s covering very well. That’s not what designers and homeowners want from a wallcovering.
“Traditional wallpaper is more forgiving when it comes to an imperfect wall,” says Jeanne K. Chung, interior designer and retailer with Cozy Stylish Chic and Jeanne K Chung Interiors in Pasadena, California. Grant agrees that “traditional works much better on textured walls than peel-and-stick does.”
Peel-and-stick has a DIY reputation.
Among interior designers and wallpaper installers, there’s a general consensus that traditional wallpaper is for pros and peel-and-stick is for DIYers. But, it’s slightly misleading to put peel-and-stick in a DIY category without qualifying that it requires practice and patience to install it correctly.
“I’ve used peel-and-stick all over my house,” says Kymberly Glazer, director of marketing and sales for the Decorative Plumbing and Hardware Association. “I chose peel-and-stick because I wanted something I could install myself (with my husband). I also wanted something that we could easily change out if we wanted to change the vibe.”
Still, it doesn’t have the same in-person elevated poshness as traditional wallpaper. As Hutton points out: “It always looks like peel-and-stick. And the seams are always visible,” says Hutton. “Once you’ve seen and used quality wallpaper, peel-and-stick looks cheap. I don’t use it personally nor offer it to clients. It’s too ‘low brow.’”
Traditional wallpaper is more difficult to repair.
When there’s an issue with traditional wallpaper, it can be difficult and expensive to repair. Common wallpaper issues and damage like bubbles, rips, and loose seams can require the finesse of a trained wallpaper specialist to achieve the ‘never-been-damaged’ look. DIYers can attempt these repairs, but when you’re dealing with expensive wallpaper, it might be a better investment in the long-term health of the wallpaper to allocate a budget for pro assistance.
However, peel-and-stick doesn’t require the careful and expert hands of a pro. “Peel-and-stick wallpaper is also much easier to repair, as you can simply remove the damaged piece and replace it with a new piece,” says Nick Masengarb, a virtual handyman expert with Frontdoor.
Peel-and-stick can end up being more expensive than traditional.
At retail, rolls of peel-and-stick cost less, which can be an enticing reason to choose it for your home. If you are experienced with it and plan to DIY, then it’s probably a good investment. However, if you want to hire a pro to hang it, they will charge more for installing the cheaper product than the more expensive product. Typically more expensive products are designed with more care and make installation easier, so it will take longer and require more hand-hours installing the cheaper option.
Furthermore, according to Arren Williams, co-founder of Casa Cubista, hanging peel-and-stick requires additional labor. “My installers quote it higher than traditional, since they always say it needs two people to install well.”
Traditional wallpaper can be easier to install.
While both types equally have their installation challenges, there’s another reason why traditional wallpaper can end up costing less overall to purchase and install. Pros prefer to deal with the devil they know than the devil they don’t know. Experienced wallpaper installers have developed a rhythm and flow to working with traditional papers, and many don’t want to try something new.
“Wallpaper installers I have encountered can be divas,” says Chung. “They want a slam dunk and predictable results when installing, and a peel-and-stick can sometimes lead to not so desirable results: peeling corners, bubbles, stretching.”
Peel-and-stick is not made for humidity.
This might be obvious to many, but it’s worth putting a spotlight on it. Since it’s peel-and-stick, humid environments can be hostile situations that hinder its ability to stay on the walls.
Florida homeownerJenna Gaidusek tried peel-and-stick on her textured walls. “It immediately fell off,” she says. “Lesson learned: humidity and textured walls don’t exactly play nice.”
Traditional wallpaper is preferred by pros.
When interior designers were asked why they don’t specify or suggest peel-and-stick to their homeowner clients, the response was very consistent:
- “None of our wallpaper installers will hang it,” says Chung. “They won’t install it because they are used to the results they achieve using a traditional wallpaper, and are not able to achieve the same results using a peel-and-stick.”
- “Installers mostly seem to hate it,” says Brownlee Currey, CEO, Currey & Company, a wholesale home furnishings showroom with multiple locations. “On the other hand, we’ve used traditional paper for years and years with no issues whatsoever, aside from installation expenses pushing ever upwards.”
- “My wallpaper installer won’t even do peel-and-stick,” says interior designer Kimberly Jane. “He said he’d rather install grasscloth all day every day for the rest of his life.” (An inside designer joke that references the difficulty involved in using. If you’ve worked with grasscloth, you’ll find that humorous, too.)
Peel-and-stick doesn’t require as many supplies.
If you’ve attempted or mastered wallpaper installation, you know there’s a list of supplies needed that adds to a DIYer’s expenses and extends the length of the project. Unlike the pro who has refined the tools and materials over the course of a career, a DIYer needs to take the time to research and shop for these supplies. The quality of installation depends on it.
But, peel-and-stick doesn’t have a long list of supplies. “If you are doing it yourself, peel-and-stick doesn’t require the extra supplies that come along with installing with paste, so that is also appealing to the DIYer,” says Chung.
Not all traditional wallpapers are the same quality.
For this article, the comparison is based on the law of averages: the middle-of-the-pack quality of each type. It is possible to choose a high-end peel-and-stick or a low-end traditional wallpaper that can create some nuance in the comparison, but it doesn’t change the fundamental characteristics of each type of wallcovering. And, like everything else, you get what you pay for.
“I’ve wallpapered nearly every room and, through trial and error, figured out which papers and techniques work best,” says Jenna Gaidusek, designer at Jenna Gaidusek Designs in Charleston, South Carolina. “I’ve had surprising success with budget-friendly wallpaper options from Amazon and Wayfair—especially in the entryway. But I also tried out some luxury wallpaper from Aria Home, and let me tell you, it was a dream to install. The paper’s quality was fantastic, and it went up like a breeze.”
Peel-and-stick can be ideal for design accents.
I’m also a home designer, and have used peel-and-stick in order to quickly modernize an antique display cabinet by placing it inside as a background for the treasures on the shelves. I’ve also used it inside drawers like drawer liners, along the vertical part of a dropped ceiling, and on a series of accent diamond shapes on a feature wall.
When the area is as small (or smaller) than the wallpaper roll is wide, there’s no worry about seams. Plus, the self-adhesive backing cuts down on installation time, and I end up with a pop of color and visual interest in a matter of minutes. The trick I found is to peel the paper backing off slowly and at a low angle, similar to peeling the back of a screen protector and slowly adhering it to the face of a mobile phone. So, if that task isn’t for you, then peel-and-stick likely won’t be the best choice for you, either.
