Week 1 of the One Room Challenge–a quick turnaround room makeover challenge hosted by Linda of Calling It Home and media partner Better Homes & Gardens–is officially over. As I mentioned last week, things are a bit different this time around due to Covid-19 (what isn’t different right now?!), so the challenge was postponed, and I started working ahead a bit in April. This week, I’m talking about the GORGEOUS wall mural generously gifted to me by Vinylic Stickers Shop. Hopefully the tips and tricks I discovered about how to install a wall mural will help you out too!

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase after clicking on a link, I may receive a commission, but at no additional cost to you. Some products may have been gifted, but all opinions are my own. See my full disclosure here.

Arabella’s room started out with white walls, white trim, and virtually no furniture, other than her bed (a custom made piece from Skyline Furniture, but other direct to consumer pieces can be found here)… Basically a completely blank slate. I knew I wanted to make a major statement on her bed wall, and when we found the mural from Vinylic Stickers Shop, it was game over. Bonus that it was the first wall treatment both Arabella and I liked!

The overall bedroom design plan includes the following list of “to do’s.”

• install mural
• turn old bookshelves into built ins
• install crown molding
• install chair rail
• install picture frame molding
• choose paint color
• touch up molding with nail hole filler and caulk
• prime built ins
• paint built ins
• paint crown
• paint baseboards
• paint walls
• source art and accessories
• source bedding
• paint nightstands (possibly)

Installing the wall mural seemed the most logical place to start, so I gathered the materials I needed.

Tools to Install a Wall Mural:

• utility knife
• paint tray
• wallpaper paste/adhesive
• wallpaper or mural
• roller/paintbrush
• wallpaper brush/squeegee
• painter’s tape
• craft paint brush

If you want to skip the nitty gritty and just jump to a step by step list of how to install a wall mural, that’s at the end of this post.

Before we dive in to install, I recommend that you order the mural slightly larger than the actual dimensions of your wall, a couple of inches on both sides if possible. In all of my DIY projects over the years, I’ve never come across a perfect wall, so it’s safest to allow a little extra so the mural can overlap and you don’t end up with gaps between seams if the walls are bowed at all.

To start, I carefully unrolled the four panels and laid them out to make sure they were in the correct order. Vinylic Stickers Shop shipped them in sequence, but I was nervous that I’d mix them up, so I quickly numbered them on the white border (to be trimmed off) to be safe.

I was obviously very excited to dive in! If you’re at a loss on how to install a wall mural, I’ve found that working from left to right and top to bottom makes the process easier.

I rolled some wallpaper adhesive at my starting point to give a sticky base to place the mural.

On my first pass, I didn’t have enough adhesive to really hold the mural in place, and as I tend to be a solo DIYer, I wanted to figure out how to do everything without assistance.

I quickly discovered that painter’s tape is a mural installer’s best friend. 🙂 Floor to ceiling wall panels are a little cumbersome to deal with, so if you roll up the bottom half, it gives you a lot more mobility when determining the correct placement for your panels. If you followed my first tip, you should have a few inches of extra mural in each direction to account for uneven walls. Using extra strips of tape to hold the mural in place before the adhesive dries allows you to roll adhesive down at your pace too. I found that it dries very quickly, so it’s best to work in small sections.

Once you have your first wall mural panel lined up, smooth it out using a wallpaper brush and squeegee. Tiny air bubbles can get trapped under the surface, so this is a crucial step that you don’t want to skip. Hold the squeegee at an angle and apply light to medium pressure, working from the center of the paper out toward the edges of the panel. The murals from Vinylic Stickers Shop are thick and durable, but especially with thinner materials, be careful not to tear the piece. Ripping and tearing is more likely once the adhesive has been applied, as it softens up the paper.

And, a quick break to show the silly little ham who gets this beautiful bedroom once it’s done. I had my tripod set up to take pictures of the process, and of course she saw that as the perfect opportunity to snap a few photos of her cute self.

She is such a character.

Always keeping me on my toes!

And of course big brother needed to get in on the photography action too!

Then she pretended to help for the camera. It’s probably best that she was only pretending, as having an eight year old “assistant” would definitely have complicated the mural installation process.

It can be difficult to get wallpaper adhesive applied evenly, especially at the edges of the mural panels, so another tip for how to install a wall mural is to paste along the edges of the mural panels with a craft brush to make them extra secure (and flat). I use the brush to apply the paste directly to the vinyl, instead of to the wall.

This tip can also be helpful along the top and bottom of each panels, but I would recommend scoring those places with a utility knife before applying the extra adhesive to avoid tearing. Use the flat edge of the wallpaper squeegee as a guide between the mural and the wall to score the edge of the paper.

Once your first panel is in place, repeat the process with the additional panels, continuing left to right, top to bottom. For the second panel, I rolled the bottom up for easier mobility (and so I didn’t feel like I was being attacked by wallpaper).

Make sure there is a slight overlap of each panel (between 1/8 and 1/4 inch at most), otherwise you will most likely end up with tiny gaps in between panels where the walls dip and bow.

Before you apply a ton of adhesive, make sure the left edge lines up exactly where you want it.

Continue to slowly work your way down the panel, double checking that the edges are in the proper place as you go.

It’s also fun to step back every so often to admire your progress! This gives me the excitement and energy to keep going.

I like my seams to lay extra flat, and oddly enough, I’ve found that a seam roller does little to accomplish that. I had better luck going back over each seem both over and under the vinyl with a craft brush dripping with wallpaper adhesive, and then running my finger along each seam to flatten it. About ten minutes later, I wiped the additional adhesive on top of the panel off with a wet rag.

So in summary, the steps for how to install a wall mural are as follows:

1. Order your mural a few inches larger than the size you actually need.
2. Ensure your panels are in the proper order and number them (left to right).
3. Place the first panel, visually checking to make sure it’s in the right spot.
4. Working left to right, top to bottom, apply adhesive directly to the wall. Work in small sections, as the adhesive dries quickly. Painter’s tape to hold the panel in place, as well as to roll up the bottom, can make placement a lot easier.
5. Smooth out any air bubbles, working from the center out to the edges of the panel.
6. Score the top and bottom of the panel using a utility knife and the flat edge of the wallpaper squeegee. I recommend doing this without a lot of adhesive on the panel, as that can cause tearing. If you have outlets or windows you are working around, you’ll need to cut out a space for that. I used a combination of my utility knife and a scissors.
7. Apply a bit more adhesive to the edges (top, bottom, left, and right) of the panel using a craft brush, and make sure everything is laying flat.
8. Place the second panel with a slight overlap (1/8-1/4 inch) to the first.
9. Repeat steps 3-8 until done.
10. Add more adhesive over and under seams with the craft brush.

I hope these tips and tricks for how to install a wall mural have been helpful!

Don’t forget to check out the other participating bloggers’ One Room Challenge spaces! You’ll never find more gorgeous home inspiration in one place! And if you missed my other Spring 2020 One Room Challenge posts, you can find them below.

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8