Do you like the look of wallpaper but can’t commit to installing any? Same here. A lot of the projects I do in my apartment have to be temporary because I rent, so I’m always trying to find inexpensive and temporary solutions to my design problems.

When I redecorated my living room earlier this year I knew I wanted to do an accent wall behind my sofa, and I knew I wanted it to be a pattern. I’d heard of people using fabric as temporary wallpaper before and decided I wanted to give it a whirl. I fell in love with a fabric that I ended up scoring for $6, and the other materials are really inexpensive, so it was no big loss if it didn’t work out.

For this project you need fabric (I used a light weight cotton), liquid starch, push tacks, an exacto knife, and a paint roller. For everything I paid less than $20 total!

Side note: I did this project on the rainiest day of the year, so please excuse the lighting in some of the images!

First, I used push tacks to hang the fabric up on the wall. I tacked at the ceiling line and sides.

Then I used a paint roller to apply the liquid starch to the fabric.

I started at the top, smoothing out air bubbles and wrinkles as I worked my way down. Make sure you saturate the fabric thoroughly so it sticks to the wall very well. I repeated the process for each piece, matching up the edges on the sides. This fabric had a label on one of the selvage edges, so I cut that off before applying it to the wall.

Let it dry thoroughly for several hours. I let mine dry over night.

Next, I used an exacto-knife to cut around the edges of the wall and around any details like air vents and electrical sockets. For any left over air bubbles, I just sliced them and re-saturated, then pushed any air out. 

That it! I was actually shocked at how much easier it was to do than I imagined. It took me a few hours but wasn’t as labor intensive as I anticipated. Here’s how it turned out!

I love it! 

To remove it all you have to do is set a corner with warm water and peel it straight off the one in one piece. I actually removed a piece and put it back up on the wall because I didn’t like the placement. The best part is this fabric can be laundered and reused whenever I choose to remove it! 

Clean up is also a breeze. Just regular soap and water will do! 

Have fun!