My First Time Installing Wallpaper! Spoonflower’s “Prepasted” Paper FTW (Introducing Our Sweet Laundry Closet)

Like many design projects before this one, this laundry closet was super boring and yet kinda daunting to fix so it fell down the priority list in life, with no guilt. I knew that eventually I wanted wallpaper in here, I dreamed of a fun pattern and color that delighted you when you opened the doors. I ordered a ton of samples from Spoonflower (their inventory is incredible), but what I didn’t know was that I could install their “prepasted” wallpaper myself. AND NOW IT’S ALL I WANT TO USE IN MY HOME!! It was SO easy, not scary, was so fast, and needed only a few very basic tools. My team blocked off three days for this project (to shoot the content, too) and it took under 6 hours. Sold.

Where Is This Laundry Closet?

The laundry closet is on the landing of the second floor near both kids’ rooms and the guest room (seen above when we first moved in, Oscar shaming me for this basic rug). We have a larger mudroom with a smaller capacity washer/dryer downstairs, but this is where the bulk of the laundry gets done (it gets thrown in the guestroom where we tackle it all on Sundays.). It was pretty basic, with the cutest vintage doors, but the inside was super boring which made it a perfect place for me to do something fun (and do it myself, a very low-risk space).

Spoonflower has an incredible inventory of wallpaper patterns and colors, many customizable. They’ve even got an inspiration page just for laundry rooms. They work with thousands of artists who design patterns of every style and every color. You can also choose between traditional unpasted, prepasted (what we did and I’m never going back), peel-and-stick, or metallic paper (which we used in my niece’s closet). Plus, all their patterns come as fabrics as well if you want to go full ‘Garden State’ and match your curtains to the walls. Everything we ordered got here within 2 weeks and I was pleased as punch.

Wallpaper

The install was so easy, they created a video that shows you how to install prepasted wallpaper here and we produced a reel here with some basics (but their video has a great step-by-step). Essentially, the glue is already on the back and you use a basic spray bottle with water to activate it. Then you book it on a table (fold over the sides), wait 5 minutes, and hang it vertically (starting from the top and, of course, being mindful of repeats). You use a squeegee to get the bubbles out and wipe off any excess glue or water with a rag or sponge. The paper is so forgiving and easy to take off and reposition. There are a ton of tips to think about which they have outlined, but trust me that it was so much easier than predicted. We made a reel about it here.

Again, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to do it ourselves (the hardest part was taking out the washer and dryer). I even thought about buying the same yardage in fabric and figuring out how to cover the fronts of the washer and dryer (which I quickly decided was a totally unnecessary and wrong idea).

Wallpaper | Washer + Dryer | Switchplates | Laundry Basket (vintage) | Rug (similar) | Vintage Door Paint Color

I know that our washer/dryer look a bit old school/dated and that’s because they are not fancy or designer. Welcome to our Speed Queen, aka the incredibly basic, efficient, high capacity, industrial strength, durable, and never breaks down washer/dryer machine. And yes, top loading FTW. If anyone has a genius (but not super extensive or expensive) way to make the dryer vent look better let me know. It doesn’t bother me enough to think about it but sure, I’d rather it not be in my pretty shots Read More