NEWS: Doing It With Tara: Contact Paper Décor

CULTURE: Doing It With Tara: Contact Paper Décor

by Tara Diane

I really love this project, contact paper décor, because it’s great if you’re renting or living somewhere short term and want to jazz up the walls.  If you’re renting you probably don’t want to paint, since you’ll just have to paint over it when you leave, and probably don’t want to spend a bunch of money on vinyl wall decals that cost a fuck-ton and aren’t reusable.  These aren’t reusable either, but they only cost $6 worth of contact paper and an hour of your time.  So… on with the tutorial!



What You’ll Need:

• A roll of contact paper.  I used a black faux leather one because I’m classy as shit.  And, more importantly, because they were out of solid black at Home Depot.


• An exacto-knife or other razor cutter, with a new blade


• Scissors


• Various circled things to trace (I used a crappy album, a CD, and a coaster)


• A surface to cut on that you don’t mind messing up

Roll out the contact paper and start tracing circles, then cut them out with your razor cutter.  I made seven album-sized circles, then a bunch of small and medium circles (too lazy to count, see last image if you need to).



Now, we’re going to go back to second grade for a minute.  Remember making snowflakes out of coffee filters?  If not, your childhood was terrible.  But, just in case, here is a video to refresh you.



Ta-dah.  I only cut the “snowflake” shapes into the large circles, the small and medium circles were left alone.  I don’t really think they look like snowflakes, more like decorative circles.  Maybe?  Hopefully?



Once you’re done cutting them all out, peel the adhesive backing and start sticking those puppies to the wall!



And, you’re done!  Enjoy your mildly cool looking and incredibly cheap new wall design.

:]

Really? Maybe it's listed under shelving paper. If in doubt, places like target and even some grocery stores might have it.

When I was in Highschool I used clear contact paper over my reject photo prints on my bathroom floor. Came out pretty cool and was pretty durable.

I did this in my apartment and it was up for about a year. When I peeled it off it didn't effect the paint at all. The glue in contact paper (the specific brand, con-tact) is pretty weak, so I feel fairly confident saying it won't hurt your paint. I can't vouch for other brands though!

I thought about making pinstripes on my wall. No go? haha

oh, that sounds like a cool idea! I've been wanting to do something neat to my bathroom but don't really know what to do.

Or buy it on amazon .

I saw that! I was a little confused though, the way they described it on the wrapper made it sound like it was actually really thin metal, and I didn't want to try and cut it. Good to know it's not though .

Yessss, I covered my laptop with the woodgrain paper! You know, for when you want your computer to look even more hipster :-/.