Wallpaper materials

Most people arrive here with one of three questions, and the answer to that question narrows five materials down to one or two.

1. Do I rent, or do I expect to change this within a couple of years? Peel & Stick, or Canvas Peel & Stick for a surface with some grain to it.
2. Is the wall textured? Textured or Premium Textile.
3. Is this a wall I will sit and look at? Premium Textile.

If none of those apply, Non-Woven is the default for a reason: it is the flattest surface, the cheapest per square foot, and the easiest to remove years later.

Everything else on this page is detail.

A breathable paper and textile blend with a smooth matte surface. Paste goes onto the wall, the panels go up dry, and the material does not expand or shrink, so seams stay closed as it dries.

Best for

• Bedrooms, living rooms and dining rooms
• Smooth, primed, fully cured drywall
• Installs you expect to keep for years
• Large walls, where the price per square foot adds up

Not for

• Textured or popcorn walls, where the grain will show through
• Bathrooms with heavy steam
• Renters who need something repositionable

It is the flattest of the five over a large area, and it strips off dry in whole panels when you redecorate. Paste for the area you ordered is included in the box.

A repositionable self-adhesive fabric with a light woven surface. You peel the backing, position the panel, and smooth it down. No water, no paste, no tray, nothing to clean up.

Best for

• Rentals and anywhere you cannot commit
• Walls under about eight feet
• Kids' rooms, nurseries and anything that changes with a phase
• Working alone, in an afternoon, in a furnished room

Not for

• Textured walls, where it will not hold
• Very tall walls or ceilings, where the adhesive works against you
• Steamy bathrooms, unless you have tested a sample there first

Panels are 24 inches wide rather than 39, which makes them easier to handle solo but means more seams across a wide wall. It lifts off dry with gentle heat and leaves sound, cured paint intact.

The two paste-the-wall materials for walls that are not smooth.

Textured is a 220 g/m² non-woven paper with a fine canvas emboss. It bridges light orange peel and gives printed artwork a subtle surface that catches side light.

Premium Textile is a 340 g/m² woven polyester-cotton fabric bonded to a paper backing. It is the only material here with a real cloth face rather than an embossed one, which is why painterly and photographic work looks different on it: the weave scatters light instead of reflecting it. Pick it for knockdown texture, for older plaster, and for a wall you sit and look at. It is not wipeable, so it does not belong in a kitchen.

Both are paste-the-wall, both ship with paste, and both strip off dry.

If you are unsure whether your wall counts as textured, hold a phone light flat against it and look along the surface. If you can see shadows in the paint, order a sample of Textured and press it onto the actual wall before deciding.

A 300 g/m² self-adhesive canvas with a visible woven grain and a low-sheen surface. It installs exactly like our Peel & Stick — back off, squeegee down, lift and reposition until it sits right — but it prints with the surface of an artist's canvas rather than a soft matte one.

Best for

• Renters who want a gallery surface instead of a flat print
• Art reproductions, photography and anything with deep shadow
• Rooms where paste, a tray and a wet wall are not an option

Not for

• Textured, chalky or freshly painted walls, where no adhesive holds
• Steamy bathrooms, unless a sample has survived the wall first

Panels are 24 inches wide, which makes them easy to handle alone but means more seams across a wide wall. It is heavier than our Peel & Stick, and that weight is what makes a seam disappear rather than catch the light.

Answer three questions in order and stop at the first yes.

1. Do you rent, or do you want to be able to take it down easily? Peel & Stick, or Canvas Peel & Stick if you want the print to have a surface.
2. Can you see texture in the paint when you shine a light along it? Textured for a light grain, Premium Textile for a heavy one.
3. Is this a wall you will sit and look at? Premium Textile.

No to all three: Non-Woven.

Two questions that come up often and should not change your answer:

• Print quality is identical across all five. The same file, the same inks, the same printer. Only the surface underneath changes.
• Color shifts very slightly by material, because a velvet matte surface absorbs more light than a low-sheen one. It is a real difference, and it is small. A sample settles it.

Samples are $13.99 each, or $7.00 each when you order 4 or more, with free shipping like every other order. They arrive as a piece of the real material printed with a real design, not a color card.

Tape one to the wall you are considering and leave it for a few days. Look at it in daylight and again at night with the lamps on, because warm artificial light changes a color more than most people expect.

Samples are made to be taped up and lived with, so they are not taken back — which is the only reason we mention that a handful of them costs less than most people spend on paint testers.

Order samples