DIY Vinyl Wall Art

I live in an apartment and dig doing large-scale art.

Apartments, however, are usually a pain to paint and then paint to cover-up your awesome paint, and an especially big pain when you move around as often as I do.

I do like having bright, interesting spaces, so I was brainstorming on creating a large art piece that I could maybe mount on the wall, or other types of removable decor, and the universe smiled on my with inspiration from one of my favorite blogs: Nest did a neat post on using contact paper to make wall decals.

With contact paper as my medium, a Tim Burton-esque / Tokyo Plastic vision of swirls, and a hot afternoon (or AC busted that weekend with temps in the 90s!), I was ready to start doin' some art!.

This is my very first instructable, and I hope you enjoy it. Please send me questions. Thanks!

(Edit 1: Added pricing to supplies list. )
(Edit 2: Added bamboo close up images and peeling images.)
(Edit 3: 11/2009: Inserted step 10 describing successful removal, and updated maintenance description.)

Step 1: Stuff You Need

Hardware you'll need:

• ConTact paper (a brand of low-tack, self-adhesive vinyl, commonly used by grandmas as "shelf liners", has a very matte finish) or similar low-tack, self-adhesive, thin vinyl. 
• Tape (preferably easily visible and low-stick, like painter's tape or masking tape)
• Writing utensil (marker or pencil)
• Scissors
• Large sized scrap paper (like used news papers or newsprint)
• Plastic card (like a library card - this is not pictured.)

Software:

• An idea
• A plan

Costs: The only supply I had to purchase was the ConTact Paper: $30 with shipping, ordered through amazon, with awesome variety in colors, but you can find smaller rolls with different prints at local hardware stores for around $10

Comments

[klawrence]

okay... so the contact paper thing got me thinking and i love the checkered look, so that's what i did. just cut the contact paper into perfect squares and stuck 'em up. took less than an hour. i've only done the stairwell so far. here's a few pics but i'll do more throughout the apartment. :) thanks so much!

[britsteiner]

WIcked! I like it. Glad it worked so well for you.

[madpawn]

I found a roll of similar stuff at a Home Depot that they were getting rid of for two dollars or so. So I made this! (Sorry it's so close in concept to yours—I plan to make it grow larger and larger as the year progresses. Also, I took it in a more Lovecraftian/tentacular direction.) Wonderful stuff. Thank you so much!

[britsteiner]

Your design is lovely! No worries on similarities - I'm glad you liked mine enough to inspire yours :) Also, do you happen to still have the packaging for the stuff you found at Home Depot? Or a link to it on their website? Suggesting another brand might help other people find materials or even different color options.

[madpawn]

I'm glad you like it! The brand was "Magic Cover" by the Kittrich Corporation. It seems every store here has either it or the ConTac paper by Rubbermaid. I was particularly inspired by their neon orange. Hmmm...

[taraholenmyheart]

I did this too! I didn't realize there were any other tutorials on this\, I made a much less in-depth one about it on my site :). I'll add a link to think one for other great ideas!

to my tutorial

(hope the image and link worked, this is my first post!)

[ivanuska]

this is in my bedroom

[britsteiner]

How very elegant! I love the varied line weights in your design.

[rasidanks]

great iinstructable! below my pics

[britsteiner]

Neat! Makes me think of Dali paintings.

[sm007thie]

awesome idea. thanks.

i got bamboo patterned contact paper and made bamboo shoots in one of the corners of my son's room. it was a little tedious cutting all of the pieces, but i think the effect turned out nice.

[Kryptonite]

That's awesome! Brilliant job, very nice!

[TheChemist]

I couldn't find black contact paper at my local hardware store. All they had was this patterned vinyl. I put this up with my roommate and my friend in college on our door. we did the whole thing free form. If I could do it again, I would avoid the grass. It's a pain to peel and stick. Big pieces are easy. Stick with that.

[nthomson]

Okay this is a really old thread but I am wondering what people think about colouring the paper (like with a sharpie) before sticking it up? Want to make some little woodland animals for my baby's room.

[britsteiner]

Using a sharpie should work. The vinyl material isn't like paper where markers would be problematic; it's more like a thin-but-still-waterproof plastic. The contact paper brand vinyl I used wouldn't let the sharpie seep through at all, so I don't think it would leak through over time and hurt the walls. And a good sharpie should show clearly on the lighter vinyl colors easily. I think other people have posted about using paints on top of the vinyl as well, but your marker idea sounds easier to apply to me!
-Brit

[sbmile]

just so everyone knows.
Contact paper is Also Perfect for Car decals.
you can get White contact paper at wal-mart and hardware stores. I had these stickers on the window of my car for about 8 months (i will say, that is too long, unless your ok with all of the adhesive coming off the stickers and on your window)...
i had some others for about 6 months, and they came off like they weren't even there, with the exception of dirt outlines. and i Will also point out. they last Excelent through all weather conditions Except Winter, because, if ice or snow builds up on your window, you have to scrap it off...
i couldn't find black in a local store, so i had to buy it on line. and, i am in the process of testing it on the body of the car. so far, its working perfectly, it looks almost like its painted on, however, i don't know yet if it takes the paint off, but i kinda doubt it will.
the two side stickers (batman, and the joker) they took 2/3 hrs to make each. and i smashed the outline into the inside of the window, and it took about an hr to put them on the window.
(and for anyone wondering, the batman logo, it is Korean, for Batman :P and i made it in photoshop)

[authentic01]

This is nice!! Now did you put the contact on the inside or outside of the car? I did my husband design and placed it on the outside and it's starting to peel along the edges. I used the contact paper from Menards.

[painters_song]

This is so badass, it brought tears to my eyes...

[dwoythal]

Im just wondering, do you know if this is legal to do in the US? New York to be specific.

[mbrown2]

This is amazing. Great Job! I love this. <3 Batman and Joker are my favorite.

[dhull-1]

hi i am working on my car and my them for my car is the dark night and i was woundering if there is anyway you can make me just the joker one for my window and i am willing to pay you can get a hold of me on face book or or on my cell my name is .... Drew Hull .. 724 516 8381 or 724 216 7645

[D00M99]

Whoa. Nice job!

[Dollydagger]

I love this tutorial. And I love seeing what the rest of the commenters have done with the general idea.
I just moved into a new apartment that needs some spice on the walls. Once I get my arse in gear I'll be showing everyone what I've come up with.

[rmacdonald3]

I m actually doing a "psycho"(the movie) themed bathroom(blood red walls, shower curtain with bloody hand prints and bathmat with bloody foot prints both purchased from think geek.com) I am doing a wall stencil of a composite image from the movie in black on my wall..mine is going to actually be painted but I am going to use the vinyl to make the stencil do to the fact its rather large and has some small detail cutting and using a paper stencil will not work/too difficult because of certain parts of the stencil will be floating so this vinyl idea is perfect thanks much. I attached an image of what the image will look like..obviously I will have to do the stencil in a "negative" format as the wall is red and the black parts will be painted. Hope the attached image works.

[rmacdonald3]

whoops image didn't work first time

[britsteiner]

Neat! You may want to check on a test run pulling up the vinyl after putting down paint. Especially if the paint areas are small, you may need to gently score the dried paint along the vinyl edge before pulling the vinyl up, or it may pull up more paint than you expect.

[Fader4D8]

I love this idea... NICe!

[curious youth]

http://www.bureauofchildprotection.com/gov%20logo.png

adding that to my wall as soon as i track down some coloured contact paper. hard to find around where i am :(

[quinncan]

This is awesome! I am renting a room with all wood walls, but it's like plastic wood or something because it's so difficult to hammer a nail in and hang my paintings up. I've been trying to think of an alternative way to "dress up" my walls without creating any damage & THIS.IS.PERFECT! Thank you for sharing! [:

[curious youth]

I WANT YOUR TALENTS. that is all

[Cyndal]

I love how you like to creep your designs up onto the ceiling as well. Very well thought out and chic

[xla]

Here is the wall art project I made with brown cotac paper and some greeting cards that were lying around. I cut the leaves from there and used putty to hold up the leaves!
I will try to take some better pics with my cam and post it here too!

[swally]

Heres some bricks i Made too

[rmeister1]

here's my project.

[swally]

I've been looking for some sort of decal for my apartment and when I saw your bamboo I took that as inspiration for my asain themed room.

[BeckyY]

Cool wall decals. Here's a picture of two I put up in my hallway. I got them from Easy Decals.

[MadeinItaly]

Would love your advice----want to brighten up brown,knotty pine, varnished cabinets in kitchen with removable decor that won't damage. Wanting to use the contact paper idea in an ivory color as a rectangular shaped background to go over the cabinets.. Would love ideas for easiest way to print scripture on the ivory contact paper in black script with lettering about 2-3" tall.

[britsteiner]

If you're worried about drawing the letters (or any other image, actually), you can print out your phrases on regular paper at the size you want, then lay your printout on top of the contact paper. Tape it so it doesn't wiggle, and then press firmly with a pencil as you trace your image on the regular paper. Remove your printout you'll see an impression on the contact paper (which is really just thin plastic anyway) and use that impression as a guide to cut the words out easily.

[proud_army_wife_n_mommy_to_4]

Can these vinyl art things that we are making be taken off the wall and re-used?? If so, how to we go about doing that! I love this idea, and LOVE that there is a way to make them on your own! Awesome! Thanks for this!

[MadeinItaly]

Thx, Brit. I'm thinking it would be so much easier if i could just print it out rather than doing a lot of tracing.I'm planning on doing quite a few of these and my hands unfortunately have an inherited tremor.): They'd be hard to trace and cut out in the script I want to use also. I might use a printable clear decal paper. Thx for your input! Great instructable!!