Wallpaper and paint color may be some of the most critiqued items during a walkthrough or open house, and yet so easily remedied. If you don’t think so, then pull up a few pictures of homes for sale and see if you can get through them without commenting on it. Then show it to some friends and family and see what they say as they skim through those same photos.
“That color makes me want to vomit.”
“Great. That’s nice. What do you think of the hardwood floors, though?”
Of the two, a fresh coat of paint is probably the easiest fix to a room, but wallpaper doesn’t exactly require a sledgehammer for removal.
(Although fun side story: A friend of mine purchased a flip a few years back and found seven layers of wallpaper while scraping it away. He was probably better off with a sledgehammer…)
You’ll find your grandmother’s wallpaper is few and far between in most contemporary homes, but I will occasionally see wallpaper used as an accent wall in a kitchenette or kid’s room. But *insert intimidating movie voiceover* This isn’t your grandmother’s wallpaper.
Thankfully, most modern day use of wallpaper is peel and stick. I think this is great for a number of reasons, mainly in that it’s not permanent to the point where it requires a putty knife or chemical removal (by the way, vinegar and warm water can do the trick, too).
Of course, some added benefits include the ease in which you can swap it out for a different pattern, or simply take it down without damaging the wall if you choose to put your home up for sale.
You may want to read up on some best practices with peel-and-sticks, though. Applying it to a flat paint may cause the paint to peel when you remove it, and placing it over a textured surface (a stucco wall, for example) can result in the removal coming off in pieces and/or sticking to the wall.