Make Your Own Faux Wallpaper using Indoor Removable Vinyl

See how easy it is to DIY your own faux wallpaper using indoor removable vinyl!

The design can be as intricate and colorful as you’d like, and no fancy cutting machine is required!

Make Your Own Faux Wallpaper using Indoor Removable Vinyl

I recently completed a shark-themed makeover in my boys’ bathroom, and a huge component of that project was creating and applying faux wallpaper!

The space was in desperate need of some color, personality, and a coolness vibe that could match that of my little guys, buuuuut I didn’t want to mess with applying any real wallpaper.

Too much measuring and math and aligning and bubbles and ugh.

My perfectionism just couldn’t handle all that.

So it was vinyl decals to the rescue, and this component of Operation Kids Bathroom Redo was the quickest and easiest part of the entire project!

DIY Faux Wallpaper Supplies

Here’s all it takes to make your own custom faux wallpaper:

Indoor removable vinyl
- Sheets or rolls
Something to cut the vinyl
- Cutting machine (like a Silhouette, Cricut, Brother, etc.)
  - I used a Silhouette CAMEO
- Paper punches
- Paper trimmer
- X-Acto knife
- Scissors
Optional, depending on your design and/or walls:
- Cleaning agent
- Transfer tape
- Scraper tool (like a credit card)
- Tennis ball
- Level
- Measuring tape
- Step ladder

If You’re New to Vinyl…

If you’re new to using vinyl, you’re in luck because I’m pretty much obsessed with my Silhouette CAMEO and have lots and lots of tutorials to help you on your crafting journey!

You can check out my Project Gallery for all of them as well as FREE cut files I’ve shared, but here are the basics to get you started.

Oh, and even if you have a Cricut or no cutting machine at all, these tutorials can still help!

Best Way to Store Vinyl Supplies
Best Way to Store Vinyl Scraps
How to Layer Vinyl & Make a Decal
How to Use Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV) on Fabric
How to Use Etched Glass Vinyl
Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl 101
How to Use a Vinyl Stencil to:
- Etch Glass with Etching Cream
- Burn Cork
- Paint on Fabric, Canvas, or Wood
- Use with Inkodye
How to Make a Sign Using:
How to Use the Text Tool in Silhouette Studio
How to Add a Monogram or Shape in Silhouette Studio
How to Make a Baby’s Footprint Vinyl Decal
How to Make a Greeting Card
How to Make Window Clings

The Boring Bathroom Walls: Before

So here’s how our boys’ bathroom looked before undertaking this sharktastic makeover.

A whole lotta blahness.

Beige. Builder-basic. Boring.

It needed to be brightened up and have some personality added STAT.

I decided this would be a perfect home improvement project to create my own DIY faux wallpaper using indoor removable vinyl.

Since this bathroom was going to have a subtle shark theme for my two little guys, I decided to go with a basic triangle shape in three different colors as a nod to shark fins, but not IN YOUR FACE.

They would be applied on the main wall above the sinks as well as on the two tall skinny walls inside the water closet that flank the toilet.

The Start of the Kids Bathroom Makeover

After removing the GINORMOUS builder-grade mirror (I still have flashbacks about what we found behind it…) and slapping on some new paint, framed rustic mirrors, and vanity light shades, the space was already looking brighter and less dreary.

Cutting The Indoor Removable Vinyl Faux Wallpaper

Now it was time to add some personality to the bathroom!

Enter some removable indoor vinyl that would quickly be turned into the coolest DIY faux wallpaper a kids shark bathroom has ever seen.

When using vinyl to make your faux wallpaper (or any wall decal), you want to make sure you’re using an indoor removable kind.

Otherwise, when/if you try to remove it, it might take some paint and even drywall off with it.

Yikes, indeed.

I always use the Oracal 631 kind of removable vinyl, and for this project, I grabbed three different colored 12″ x 24″ sheets from my vinyl organizer:

Geyser Blue (a turquoisey light blue)
Dark Blue (navy blue)
Gray

I fired up my Silhouette CAMEO and got my craft on.

A whole bunch of equilateral triangles that were roughly 2″ in size were cut out of the three different colors.

Paper punches of all different shapes and sizes (triangles, circles, diamonds, squares, etc., and even more intricate shapes) could also easily take care of this task if you don’t have a cutting machine, or even just a simple paper trimmer would get the job done.

Heck, a ruler and X-Acto knife would work here too. I mean, it’s just triangles. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Applying the Indoor Removable Vinyl Faux Wallpaper Decals

Now that my vinyl decals were cut, it was time to apply them to the walls and turn them into faux wallpaper.

Since our home was built in 2004 and the bathroom was just freshly repainted, the walls are in pretty good shape.

They also don’t have much texture to them.

Depending on the condition and texture of your walls, you may need to give them a good cleaning prior to vinyl application.

Also, some (or a lot of) elbow grease may be required as well to make sure the vinyl sticks to the walls properly.

First, grab an extra decal or scrap piece of vinyl and try applying it AND removing it in an inconspicuous location to see what you have in store, both for the application AND removal.

If the vinyl doesn’t want to stick even after giving it all you’ve got, OR if it peels away the paint or more, this type of project may not be the best for your space.

Nuts!

It was the perfect project for us though!

These vinyl decals are super easy to remove from their backing paper AND they stuck to our walls no problemo.

It’s just a lot of peeling and sticking, over and over, like a normal everyday sticker.

Peel. Stick. Peel. Stick. Peel. Stick.

Your design/pattern may require precise measuring before placing the vinyl decals, but pffft, I’m not into that. So I just stuck mine in a haphazard pattern.

And since it’s called removable vinyl, the decals can also be peeled off the wall and restuck in case you’re not happy with the original placement.

I mean I might have done that once or twice…or more than once or twice.

They peel away from the walls easy peasy and stick just as well the second go-round.

At least they did with my walls, but once again, test the condition of your walls first!

Also, depending on the condition and especially the texture of your walls (do I sound like a broken record yet?), you might want to grab something to help encourage the vinyl decals to really stick on there.

If your fingers don’t quite do the job on their own, a tennis ball works great too!

Some transfer tape and/or a scraper tool might be handy as well, once again depending on your walls and vinyl design.

Here’s how the bathroom’s main wall looked after the first color of vinyl was added to create the faux wallpaper.

So much more color and personality already!

I continued adding the vinyl triangles in all three colors, either pointing directly up or directly down (this is where the level came in to play), until I was pleased with the total coverage.