Wallpaper, Wall Decals or Art Prints for a Kids' Room?

When you're getting a kids' room ready, you usually end up standing in the same spot: a blank wall, a crib or bed in front of it, and the question "what would look right here?" The answer comes down to three questions: what do you want the room to feel like, how long should that feeling last, and what is your wall ready for? Because we make wallpaper, wall decals and art prints ourselves, we'll walk you through all three, with their strengths and their requirements. Not to praise one of them, but to help you find the one that fits your room.

1. Wallpaper: the room itself becomes a storybook

Wall decals and art prints are added on top of a wall; with wallpaper, the illustration becomes the wall itself. The sky reaches all the way to the ceiling, the clouds drift right into the corner, an elephant walks by moonlight. When your child opens their eyes in the morning, they wake up inside a story, not next to a decoration. That's exactly why we put so much care into our wallpaper.

Our ready-made designs are printed to the exact size of your wall, down to the centimeter. There's no roll math; you just enter your wall's width and height. On the cropping screen you choose which part of the illustration will show on your wall, and if you like, you can place your furniture to scale and see what will end up behind it.

One wall or two?

Most families start with one wall, usually the one behind the bed or crib. But when two walls are covered, the room tends to change completely: the illustration stops being a picture on one wall and becomes the atmosphere of the room. Take a look at the other two walls: the closet, wardrobe and door often take up most of the space, leaving only a small area in square meters. That's why it can make sense to consider covering them too; the room feels like one whole, and you don't have to fuss with matching paint colors between walls.

Sometimes clouds are all you need

Not every room needs a busy scene. A soft, cloudy sky leaves a calm, storybook feeling in almost any room, with one or two small figures or none at all. When you can't decide, it's often the nicest place to start. Take a look at our cloud and sky designs with that in mind.

Three things to know

• Priced by wall area: wallpaper is priced per square meter; see the product page for current prices. The 5 cm (2 in) safety margin added to each edge isn't included in the price. For example, a 3 m × 2.6 m wall (about 9.8 × 8.5 ft) comes to 7.8 m² (about 84 sq ft). For custom designs, door and window areas on the wall are deducted from the price.
• Installation: the paste goes on the back of the paper, and we recommend an experienced wallpaper installer. The wall should be primed, painted and smooth; if it was freshly painted, wait at least a week. Step-by-step instructions are in our installation guide.
• If you change your mind: non-woven paper comes off dry, strip by strip, with no soaking. The details are in our removal guide.

We explained what to look for in the paper and the ink, with documentation, in our article what to look for when buying nursery wallpaper.

2. Wall decals: a light touch you can move

A wall decal decorates part of the wall rather than the whole thing: a mermaid above the bed, a few fish in the corner, flowers scattered across a blank wall. If you rent, if you don't want to change the room permanently, or if you'd like to build the room piece by piece together with your child, this is the most practical way to go. Our wall decals are self-adhesive; no paste, water or installer needed, and they can be peeled off a wall with sound paint and stuck somewhere else.

Will decals stick to any wall? Check the paint first

How a decal holds up on the wall depends as much on the paint as on the decal. The paint should be applied properly and in good condition: a flat wall painted over primer with a good-quality, washable interior paint is ideal. Limewash, heavily textured paints and walls with moisture problems won't hold a decal; even if it sticks, it may lift the paint when you remove it. If the wall was freshly painted, wait at least 2 weeks, ideally 3. If you're not sure, try a small piece from the set first: if paint comes away on the back, that surface isn't ready for decals.

One more tip: don't throw away the backing paper when you apply your decals. If you move someday, that's the surface you'll stick them back onto to take them to your new home.

With every wall decal order, we include a clear growth chart as a gift. Stick it next to your decal and you can mark your child's height on the same wall for years.

3. Art prints: a corner without touching the wall

An art print is the lightest touch of all: you don't stick anything to the wall. A single picture above the bed, in a reading nook or over the nursing chair gives the room a focal point. Our art prints come in 30 × 40 and 40 × 60 cm (about 12 × 16 and 16 × 24 in), ready to frame; if you like, you can also hang them without a frame using a magnetic wooden hanger. When you get tired of one, taking it down and hanging a new one takes just a few minutes.

4. Which one, and when? Side by side

5. Can you use them together?

Yes; often the loveliest rooms use all three. Wallpaper sets up the story on the main wall; wall decals carry small pieces of that story onto the other walls or between the closets; an art print becomes a picture above the bed or in the reading nook. Because Nihan Minareci draws all three in the same hand, they don't compete with each other; they look like parts of the same story.

Frequently asked questions

Is wallpaper or a wall decal more affordable?

Wall decals are more affordable; there's no point hiding that. A decal decorates part of a wall, and it's priced accordingly. Wallpaper is priced by the square meter, so a 3 m × 2.6 m wall (about 9.8 × 8.5 ft) is 7.8 m² (about 84 sq ft) of wallpaper; see the product page for current prices. Even a single wall, with the right illustration and the right placement, makes a complete and beautiful composition on its own. If your budget covers one wall, the room still turns into a storybook.

Can wall decals damage the wall?

If the paint has been applied properly and is in good condition (a primed wall finished in washable paint, with no moisture problems), there's very little chance of a decal damaging the paint when you remove it. On limewash, heavily textured paint or a damp wall, though, it can lift the paint as it comes off, so try a small piece from the set first. We go into more detail in our article do wall decals damage walls?

Will removing wallpaper damage the wall?

The non-woven paper we use comes off dry, strip by strip, with no soaking. Step-by-step instructions are in our removal guide.

Will a wall decal stick on top of other wallpaper?

Yes and no. It may hold on a smooth wallpaper; on an embossed or textured surface it may not. Only the surface itself can give you a definite answer: try a small piece from the set first.

Pages this article draws on

• Craft Paper Co. How to install wallpaper and wall decals (surface prep, paint drying times, decal test)
• Craft Paper Co. How to remove wallpaper (removal chart by paper type)
• Craft Paper Co. What to look for when buying nursery wallpaper (paper, ink and documentation)