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Small spaces and old places can be a real challenge to decorate! When you have a home or apartment that has older walls it’s not easy to hang art or paint and sometimes it’s just not allowed. But wall stickers are a great solution to this problem and look wonderful in small spaces. Read how Nan or “Aunt Nan” as she’s known to the Goins family used the Birds and Tree Branch Wall Sticker Kit to create a work of art in her bathroom.
My Wonderful Walls: What product did you purchase?
Nan: Birds and Tree Branch Wall Sticker
MWW: For whom is this mural intended?
Nan: The Birds and Tree Branch stickers were used to add interest to a tiny condo's tiny bathroom.
MWW: Where did you create this mural?
Nan: Michigan
MWW: Tell us a little about why you choose this theme and how is this mural a good fit for your personality and interests?
Nan: This bathroom had overpowering dark gray-green-taupe tiles, and all I had was yellow paint that I was determined to use up. The stickers, with multi-color leaves and birds, were a perfect way to create harmony between the tiles and the paint.
I had searched the internet for shower curtains that would fill the gap between yellow, and the dark tiles, with no luck. I didn't want to add framed artwork in the bathroom, either. The walls are old-fashioned lath-and-plaster, so drilling holes and inserting anchors was just a little too much work to jazz this space up.
The Bird and Branch mural just took my breath away. I stared at it, and got a huge smile on my face along with a feeling of pride and amazement that such an easy addition could be so stunning.
MWW: Why did you choose stickers over stencils?
Nan: I chose stickers because although I had never done stencils, I'd done plenty of wallpapering and I knew that using paint in a careful, detailed way was going to be past my interest to make a beautiful bathroom.
MWW: How long did it take you to complete the mural?
Nan: 15 minutes
MWW: Describe your artistic comfort level.
Nan: I can paint, I can wallpaper, but I'm pretty conventional when it comes to art. I liked that the Birds and Branches mural looked sophisticated and graceful, without me having to try to be artistic.
But once I got the mural up, my curiosity was aroused and I wondered if I could move pieces around.
MWW: What did you enjoy about the mural making process?
Nan: I was surprised that applying the stickers was so easy. I'd expected the scenario that we've all encountered: you pull out a long piece of packing tape, and immediately it folds in on itself. You try to unravel it, to no avail, and you end up throwing the piece away. The stickers did not do this.
When I carefully pulled off the long branch and held it by the top, I used my thumb to firmly press the beginning of the branch into the corner of the wall. I thought the raveling and sticking might start at that point, but it didn't. The sticker seemed to "want to" stick to the wall in its original shape--it knew just where to bend itself and stick to the wall. All I had to do was gently, gently press the branch to the wall. It was so simple, that the experience became actually delightful to see the scene unfold before my eyes.
MWW: Did you add any personal touches to your mural?
Nan: I started out with the entire scene on one wall of the tiny bathroom. Directly across from the empty wall, was a wall with a bathroom étagère, and empty space above it. "Hmm," I thought. "I wonder if I could take one of the branches that came separately from the big branch, and just put it over above that étagère?"
This was a test of my creativity and a test of the ability of the stickers to be taken down and put elsewhere--and still maintain stickiness. As advertised, it worked perfectly. Then I wondered if I could actually cut a small branch off of the main one and add it to a different area. Yep! It worked!
The feeling of satisfaction that comes from (a) putting the mural up, and having it look beautiful, and (b) customizing the mural to match what I needed...that feeling was great, and every time I walk into the bathroom, I smile because it gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and a feeling of pride because "I did this myself!"
MWW: Do you have any helpful tips for those using our wall stickers for the first time?
Nan: I think the stickers would be perfect if you've got limited time, and you've got small kids who take up a lot of your attention during the day. This bathroom project took me literally no more than 15 minutes.
MWW: Anything else you’d like to add?
Nan: I was especially happy to use stickers, because this condo is NOT constructed of today's studs and drywall. It was built in 1945, and it does have studs (not 16" on center as they are today) but instead of drywall, it has laths (thin narrow skinny pieces of wood laid flat and nailed against the studs, and then slathered over with cement-like plaster. These plaster walls are HECK to hang anything on, because the plaster is so dense and thick that stud-finders cannot find the studs. Plus, if you try to put in a plastic anchor to hang something...well, the plaster is honestly like cement, and I've actually torn up the plastic anchors trying to drill them into the wall...it's so difficult.
I didn't want to hang up a lot of items that take nail holes or screws because it's a big pain. It had never occurred to me (DUH!) that stickers are the perfect solution.
And when I unrolled the sticker sheet the night before (because you know, if you're hanging wallpaper, it's helpful to have wallpaper that doesn't want to roll up on itself), I took it to the room the next morning and to my surprise, unrolling, rolling...it made no difference because the stickers came off their sheet easy and they seemed to help me apply them to the wall. It couldn't be simpler.
Thank you for sharing with us about your experiences with the Birds and Tree Branch Wall Sticker Kit, Nan! You don’t have to be family to get the great service and high quality wall décor that we offer our customers. If you have a room big or small that needs a little “ahh”, let us help you get the same feeling of accomplishment that Nan experienced. Visit My Wonderful Walls for wall decals, wall stencils and accessories or shoot us an email at Info@mywonderfulwalls.com if you need a little help deciding how to create the mural of your dreams.
Blog post written by Tara
