DIY Contact Paper Backsplash

Recently, Justin and I moved into our first home, a sweet little rental just up the street from our old apartment.

It’s taken a lot of adjustment getting used to a new home, especially with a little one involved. I feel like we have been moving for the last 600 years and we’re still not done. When will it end?!

To make our house feel more like home, we spent our first day in residence painting like crazy and tackling a few easy DIY projects to add our style. One project I decided to tackle was a faux backsplash in our kitchen.

When we moved into the house, it’s safe to say the kitchen needed a whole lot of updating. While we eventually hope to give a makeover to our cabinets, with everything else going on with the move, we definitely don’t have time. I decided to start with taking care of the backsplash.

I’m a sucker for a beautiful tile backsplash, which also isn’t in our finances right now. So instead, I opted for something I could use to cover the walls that could be removed easily when we opt to update and could be cleaned.

I found my answer on one of my weekly trips to the best place on earth, Target. They now sell these rolls of 27 square feet of patterned contact paper. The paper is vinyl, so it sticks really well, is durable, and is easily cleaned. I had been carrying paint samples of our kitchen color and was floored that this pretty mint and white pattern matched perfectly.

These rolls impressed me because they also have color swatches the paper compliments, making them the perfect starting place for your design projects.

To cover the backslash you’ll want a measuring tape and a box cutter or Exacto knife.You’ll also want a good amount of space. The paper will easily take over your entire kitchen.

The trickiest part of covering a large space is matching the patterns up. I measured the space I was covering and added about six inches to the length to account for having to move the paper up or down to match up the patterns.

When the paper was cut, I lined each sheet in the area I wanted to cover and trimmed the top only as needed. When I had it lined the way I wanted it, I peeled off about 4 inches of the backing and lined up the top. The contact paper is VERY sticky. I found that removing the backing sheet slowly rather than all at once helped eliminate bubbles and made it much easier to reposition if I needed to.

This project took about two hours because I was really precise. There are still several bubbles in the paper that I can’t seem to get rid of, so this task requires a lot of attention to be done well.

Don’t worry if bubbles happen, I covered some problem areas with a little wall art. And the finished product turned out great.

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Thanks for looking!