It’s strange. It happens to everyone you walk into someone else’s bathroom and instantly think, “Wow, this person totally has their act together!” That happened to me recently when I visited my friend Sarah at her flat, and it wasn’t due to marble countertops or a rainfall shower. It was the wallpaper. A single wall covered in the most beautiful navy blue and gold botanical print I’d ever seen, running from floor to ceiling behind her vanity.
For months I had been looking at my own beige bathroom walls and wondered what I was missing. I felt like painting the walls felt like committing to something forever (what if I made a bad choice?) and I knew I couldn’t afford to tile. But wallpaper? That I could live with. Or so I thought.
My first experience with putting up wallpaper in my bathroom was… educational. I purchased a beautiful William Morris-inspired pattern from a local shop without giving much thought to whether or not it would withstand moisture. In less than three weeks the edges began to curl next to the shower and I had to remove it like old Band-Aids. I learned my lesson quickly bathrooms are essentially tropical rainforests, and your wallpaper should be prepared for that.
I did my research the second time around. Vinyl wallpapers are your friends when it comes to bathrooms they’re virtually water-proof and can handle steam without getting upset. I purchased this amazing textured grasscloth-look vinyl that cost about £35 per roll. Not cheap by any means, but definitely cheaper than re-tilling. I needed four rolls for the accent wall behind my toilet, which seemed like a manageable task both financially and in terms of skill level.
What I wish someone had told me before I started working on my bathroom was that prep work is far more important than having perfect application. I cleaned, sanded down a couple of areas that were rough and applied primer specifically for vinyl wallpaper. Boring? Absolutely. Worth it? Night and day. The wallpaper went up smoothly, stayed up well, and in eight months since installation, my boyfriend’s hour long steamy showers haven’t caused it to budge.
I chose a subtle green and cream-colored geometric pattern. Nothing too wild I’m not that brave. But even that mild pattern completely changed the room. Now my standard white vanity doesn’t look as builder-grade as it once did. The mirror I had planned on replacing doesn’t need to be replaced it works with the new background. It’s funny how one change can make everything else fall into place.
However, I had trouble getting the wallpaper to apply perfectly. YouTube videos make it seem like a breeze. Real life involves a lot of grumbling to yourself while re-positioning the same strip of wallpaper several times because you can’t get the pattern to match up correctly. For a weekend, my dining room table became Wallpaper Central. Measuring, cutting, re-measuring because waste costs money.
The single trick I learned: use a plumb line. I used a Spirit Level App on my phone (Yes, that exists!) to draw a vertical line on the wall before hanging the first strip. This may seem obvious, but bathroom walls almost never run perfectly straight. If your first strip is crooked, everything else will follow. Believe me on this one.
Corners are where things become interesting. There is this odd angle in my bathroom where the wall meets a built-in medicine cabinet. To hang the wallpaper, I had to make relief cuts (basically tiny cuts that allow the paper to bend around obstructions without ripping.) Hanging wallpaper in corners felt like performing surgery using a craft knife, but it worked.
The moisture issue kept me awake at night at first. Will it peel? Will it develop mold behind it? As I write this, I’ve had the wallpaper in my bathroom for eight months and I’m happy to say that I have had no issues. The key is proper ventilation. After each shower and during each shower, I turn on the exhaust fan and wipe down any condensation that settles on the wallpaper. It takes about thirty seconds and gives me peace of mind.
Breakdown of my costs, because I know you’re curious: £140 for the wallpaper, £25 for primer and adhesive, and about £15 for tools I didn’t already have (A proper smoothing tool makes a world of difference.). So in total, £180 to completely transform my bathroom. Compare that to the £800 quote I received to professionally tile my bathroom, and now wallpaper seems like a steal.
In addition to the aesthetic appeal of my bathroom, the impact has been greater than I anticipated. Visitors consistently comment on it “Your bathroom feels so much more complete now” is the phrase I hear most. Even I find myself enjoying spending time in the bathroom more often, which is ridiculous, but is also kind of great when you brush your teeth every morning.
As I continue to explore using different methods in different areas of my home, I’ve also experimented with various applications. My downstairs loo has a dramatic black and white palm tree design that makes the small space feel like a real powder room. I went big on this one I used actual paste-the-wall wallpaper that was pricier, but so much easier to install. Sometimes, the upgrade is worth it.
But the biggest surprise was how hooked I am. I find myself constantly browsing wallpaper sites, imagining what I could do with that weird hallway or the blank wall in my bedroom. Wallpaper is similar to paint, but with pre-made personality.
If you’re considering doing this yourself, my suggestion is start small. Choose a single wall, select a vinyl or paste-the-wall style, and don’t worry too much about selecting a pattern. You can always switch it out later that’s one of the greatest advantages of wallpaper vs. tiles or built-ins. Even if you screw it up a bit, the overall result will still be worth it. While I’m sure my pattern matching isn’t spot on if you take a close enough look, nobody ever does. What people notice is that your bathroom looks intentional and put together, and that’s what we’re all striving for, right?
