A fresh application of wallpaper can improve the mood or ambiance of a room. But people who have textured walls may mourn the fact that they cannot have wallpaper on their walls.
But can you actually place wallpaper on textured walls?
With the right preparation and wallpaper, you can place the wallpaper on textured walls. Because of the texturing of the wall, not all wallpaper styles will look good on the textured wall, so you’ll have to experiment.
Textured walls are not as common anymore, so it would be a good idea to hire a contractor to smooth out the walls before you seal the wall with wallpaper. We highly doubt texture walls will come back into fashion soon.
There are some homes today that look beautiful with textured walls, but the textured walls are specific to that architectural style. Modern homes have clean, smooth walls, open areas, and high ceilings, and this trend isn’t going away.
Types of Textured Walls
It will be more difficult to install wallpaper on textured walls, but there are some types of wallpaper designed specifically for the job. If you cannot find textured wallpaper that suits your needs, use regular wallpaper.
But applying regular and textured wallpaper to textured walls is time-consuming, and you’ll need some patience. Here’s what you should know about wallpapering textured walls.
First, there isn’t just one type of textured wall!
You may be the most familiar with popcorn walls or ceilings, but there are other types of textured walls:
- Stucco texture
- Orange peel
- Brick
- Stone
- Comb walls
- Slap brush knockdown texture
There are many other types of textured walls, but the ones above are the most common.
The knockdown texture looks like someone spilled a bottle of glue and it splattered everywhere.
As its name suggests, the orange peel texture resembles the peel of an orange. This texture is soft and almost unnoticeable, as it blends well into light colors. It is not jagged or pointy, like knockdown or popcorn walls.
Placing wallpaper on an orange peel wall is easier and faster than other types of walls. If the texture of your walls is pronounced and jagged, smooth them out with sandpaper or a sanding machine.
Try Muddling to Smooth the Textured Walls
After washing the walls, apply a primer to the textured wall. This will help fill in some gaps that the texture creates, which will make a wall smoother. This practice is known as muddling.
What To Watch For When Installing Wallpaper on Textured Walls
Unless you plan on installing wildly colored tie-dye wallpaper to your textured walls, the texture underneath the wallpaper will come through and will be visible through the wallpaper.
One thing to take note of is humidity when you’re applying wallpaper to textured walls. If you live in an area with high humidity, moisture can get trapped underneath the wallpaper.
Because textured walls are not smooth, you may not notice if there is humidity or small droplets of water trapped behind the wallpaper.
Whether the room you are installing wallpaper in has smooth or textured walls, seal the room completely, place a dehumidifier in the room, and allow the machine to run for 24 hours.
If you’re in the area that you live in does not have high humidity, then this won’t be an issue!
Since most people wash their walls, they leave moisture on the walls after washing them. Don’t leave droplets on the walls.
Depending on the weather, the moisture may not dissipate into the air. Leave the walls to dry for an hour or two and then wipe the walls thoroughly.
We also have the option of turning on the heater to warm the air or blowing the walls with a blow dryer.
Tips To Set Wallpaper On Textured Walls
Here are a few tips on how to place wallpaper on textured walls:
- Dry the walls thoroughly after washing them
- Plan to spend more time installing the wallpaper on the textured walls.
- If sticker wallpaper is available in the colors you want, then choose the thick wallpaper instead of the regular wallpaper.
- Buy a test sheet of wallpaper. Since you’ll be wallpapering the walls anyway, it’ll be fine to apply a test sheet of your preferred wallpaper. By using the test sheet, you’ll be able to see how much texture is viewable through the wallpaper, whether the texture is more pronounced or less pronounced, and if you should choose a wallpaper in a darker or lighter color.
- Do not place wallpaper over wood paneling. We recommend removing the wall paneling instead.
- After setting up each sheet of wallpaper, use your fingers to smooth any jagged textures and press down on air bubbles. This is why it takes so long to apply wallpaper to textured walls, then it is for smooth walls. When you place wallpaper on smooth walls, it is easy to see if there are air pockets. But with textured walls, any bumps, grooves, and uneven lines are not as obvious.
Shaving an Interior Stucco Wall
If you want smooth walls instead of stucco walls so that you can apply a gorgeous wallpaper that matches the decor in the room, your time has finally come!
All you need is a smoothing trowel, sandpaper, and a smoothing filler.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Remove everything from the room that you can carry. Stucco creates a lot of dust. Any item inside the room will be coated with a fine white powder at the end of the day.
- Any large objects that you cannot carry, wrap them in tarp and then secure the bottom of the tarp. By taping it down, you’ll reduce the amount of dust that will fly underneath the tarp.
- When using the trowel, be careful not to dig the trowel at an angle into the wall. You want to keep the travel as flat as possible so the stucco can be scraped off and all that will be left is a smooth, evenly finished wall.
- It is important to sand the wall after you remove the texture, but sandpapering the wall will not remove poorly angled scrapes and scratches.
- Wear a mask while scraping the walls, as you do not want to breathe in the dust. Continuously vacuum all the small stucco bits that fall off the wall.
Conclusion to Putting Wallpaper Over Textured Walls
You definitely can put wallpaper over textured walls, but it’s important to do so carefully and make sure you take the right steps before starting.
The most common types of textured walls are brick, cement, slap knockdown walls, slap brush walls, knock down walls, stucco walls, and orange peel walls. Wallpaper made for texture walls will produce a smoother finish than regular wallpaper.
