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Wallpapers VS Wall Stickers: Which One to Choose?

We all want to spruce up our space and make it reflect our personalities!

Researched, written by Amber & The Team
Updated on July 9, 2023

Room With Wall Stickers Home Decor

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Wall With Stickers Decor

We all want to spruce up our space and make it reflect our personalities.

But the most challenging part is to make excellent choices.

One such challenge is choosing between a wall sticker and wallpaper – typically, the two offer different benefits for your home design.

Not everyone likes to wake up and stare at blank walls, but choosing between wallpapers and beautiful bedroom wall arts is also not the easiest decision to make!

Let’s compare them and find out which one is better for your home.

 

Wallpapers VS Wall Stickers: 8 Things To Consider

 

1. Durability

 

Durability is important to consider if you want your interior decor to be long-lasting.

Most manufacturers of wall stickers make them for long-lasting purposes.  Typically, wall stickers have an outdoor lifespan of up to five years.  So, you can picture how durable the interior ones are.

On the other hand, well-tended wallpaper can also last for long (up to fifteen years!).

Overall, both the wallpapers and wall stickers can last for a considerable time, but we must emphasize the fact that wallpapers have significant potential in this aspect.

Wall With Wall Sticker Paper Birds

2. Cost

 

When it comes to expenses, it’s more economical to decorate your walls with stickers rather than wallpapers.  It’s because you can apply them without hiring design experts with a robust price tag.

So choosing wall stickers can help you to cut down your budget.

However, there are inexpensive options for wallpaper as well.

But the problem is that you may not get the value you want.

 

 3. Ease of Application

 

Depending on your skill level, let’s admit that it’s probably easier to decorate your walls with stickers.

It requires less time and effort and usually is focused on smaller areas than wallpapers.

How about wallpapers?

Unless you’ve done it before, you may find it challenging to hang wallpapers in your space.

The reason is simple.

Adding wallpaper requires more time, process, and effort.

You have to cover and fix the wall imperfections such as re-plastering, while for wall stickers, you only have to make sure that you have neat surfaces.  As if that is not enough, you cannot apply wallpapers in every part of the house.

If you hang them in damp areas like a bathroom, they may peel away within a very short time.

 

4. Ease of Removal

 

If you’re someone who likes to switch up your home decor regularly, take removal into consideration.

In this sphere, it seems like the stickers are winning again.

Because just as it is easy to apply stickers on the wall, it’s easy to remove them.

All you usually need for removal is soapy water, a blow dryer, or an adhesive remover.

Also, the stickers do not leave stains on your walls, so you don’t have to face rough surfaces like those after stripping off wallpapers.

Plus, you can permanently remove wall stickers without involving an expert.

However, it’s a bit tricky to strip existing wallpapers from the wall.

It requires patience and the proper devices.

While you can remove your wallpapers rather quickly using chemicals or stripping machines, you must not throw your caution to the wind during application – these tools can quickly damage your wall.

It would help to reach out to a home improvement store for application instructions.

P.S.

This post shares some tricks on how to remove wallpapers without chemicals.

 

5. Reusing

 

Can you reuse either of these decor options?

Let’s take a look.

Wallpapers are usually one-time stuff.

Once you’re done with them, they have to go – and there’s no way to remove them safe enough so they can be reused.

However, this is not the case for wall stickers, since you can use them over again as many times as possible.

So if you don’t like the original spot for your stickers, you can always move them to new places without a lot of hassle.

Polka Dot Wall Art

 

6. Maintenance/Cleaning

 

Which one is easier to clean?

Probably both, but it does come with a few exceptions.

It’s easy to clean the wall stickers.

You can clean stains on them with the right tools and if you’re not using any harsh chemicals, you won’t damage them either.

But you can also quickly wash good-quality wallpapers and maintain them too.

For instance, you can clean wallpapers made out of vinyl with ease.

Soapy, warm water can work great (vinyl wallpapers clean very quickly because of their water-resistant properties).

They are great options for places with children and pets.

However, you cannot easily maintain paper wallpapers.

If there are stains, they may become permanent, because, well, you can’t clean a stain from the paper without ruining it.

 

7. Season/Climate

 

The climate you live in also plays a role.

It would help not to apply wallpapers in cities that have moist climates.

The glue may lose its quality in such places, and the wallpaper will quickly come off.

On the other hand, while humid climates do not damage wall stickers, it doesn’t mean that they won’t fade faster in hot sunlight.

Most wall stickers do not have UV protection so it’s important to take that into consideration.

 

8. Variety

 

Both wallpapers and wall stickers offer a huge assortment of designs!

Most of these designs can range from hexagonal patterns to minimalistic shapes, to cute flowers – you name it!

In any case, they can arouse your imaginations.

For example, a person with artistic tastes may prefer wall arts that depict an ocean or a sunrise.

Cartoon characters and school supplies design can find their home in children’s bedrooms.

Idea: if you don’t know where to start, it’s a good idea to look at some bedroom wall art decors to fuel your imaginations.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Many people prefer to combine both wall stickers and wallpapers to create a colorful space.

And choices of wall art always depend on the lifestyle of each family.

However, this small comparison suggests that going for wall stickers might be an easier solution.

They’re eaiser to apply, clean and maintain.

They look stylish.

And it’s also a better choice if you want to save money.

Our vote goes to wall stickers this time!

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Co-authors at ShineSheets.com

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