Make Your Own Wall Decals!

Wall decals are a hot trend, especially for renters since they are easy to install and do not damage your walls, BUT they can be expensive!! Especially if you want to customize them to include your own subject matter.

For my master bathroom I wanted to add a little whimsy but not anything permanent or expensive so I could change out different elements as I felt like it. The answer was definitely decals, but at what cost!! I shopped around at different stores as well as on Etsy and found a common theme; all the decals I liked I couldn't afford, and all of the ones I could afford I didn't like! Quite a conundrum!

So, the obvious solution was to make them!

Here's how I made mine:

What You'll Need:

1. A roll of contact paper
2. A stencil of your design
3. Xacto knife/scissors
4. double stick tape
5. black glossy spray paint




Steps:

1. First you need to make your stencil! The easiest way to do this is to do a google image search, if you are doing an animal, searching for silhouettes works well. Try to keep it simple without a lot of small or skinny sections (like antennae for example - these are very tricky to cut out). I found this image of a snail, copied and pasted it into Word and made three different sized stencils. Then Print!
2. Cut out your images with an Xacto knife/scissors. I found an Xacto knife worked well for this step.

3. Next trace around your stencils onto the backside of your contact paper. *Important: since you are tracing onto the back of the paper your decal will be the mirror image of your stencil, so trace your stencils backwards!!!

Here is my image traced out, pen works well.

4. Now cut out your image! 

:)

5. The next step is to prep your decals for paint. In order to keep my images flat I adhered them to a plain piece of printer paper with double stick tape, like so:

6. Repeat steps 3-5 for all of your desired decals (I did 5 in all, one large, two medium, two small) Then its time to paint! Spray an even coat over each decal. I used Rustoleum 2X black glossy paint to imitate vinyl.  Let dry for at least an hour. 

7. Remove your decals from the printer paper. Then simply peel off the paper backing and stick! (its not a bad idea to clean your walls first, they will stick better to a clean surface).

Here's my family of snails crawling up my bathroom window! lol

Close-up! :)

*You don't have to use black paint, try other colors like bright glossy blue or red!

*Make larger decals by breaking your design up into sections (many large decals for purchase also come in sections)

*Try speciality spray paint like chalkboard paint! (not sure if this would work but it would be fun to try!)

Stay tuned for another d.i.y. decal project I have in mind :)

-Liz :)