5 Things to Know Before Wallpapering Your Ceiling

Normally you’ll hear our team telling you all about how installing removable wallpaper in your home is as easy as ever to do yourself. When it comes to wallpapering your ceiling though, there are a few key things you’ll need to consider first. Spoonflower employee Theresa enlists the help of professional wallpaper installer Kate Schanz to see what it takes to try out the trend using Spoonflower’s Prepasted Removable Smooth Wallpaper. While some installers may have different opinions or preferences, the advice below is based on Kate’s professional experience.

Read on to learn five things you need to know before trying out a wallpapered ceiling at home, and why you should probably call in the pros for this one! 

My name is Kate Schanz and I’m a professional wallpaper hanger in Raleigh, NC. Funny story- the first “real job” I ever took on was to wallpaper a ceiling. I decided on a Thursday that I’d like to start hanging wallpaper as a profession and by the next day (Friday) I was at my first gig….a ceiling of a laundry room…with 13 foot tall ceilings. I was scared, extremally unprepared, and ultimately embarrassed when I couldn’t pull it off. The client knew I was a novice and gave me kudos for trying, but it left me with intense determination to better myself and conquer the feat of all feats- defying gravity and gluing paper to a ceiling. 

With the proper tools and skill set, maybe, but I wouldn’t recommend attempting it unless you have strong paper hanging abilities already. I can’t say how many vertical walls need to be under your belt before attempting a ceiling, but it would/should probably be a lot. But, if you still want to give it a shot, start with a SMALL ceiling like a closet or a small laundry room, have the right type of paste, and befriend a professional who can rush to your aid/answer your call in the event you get overwhelmed. I also highly recommend a second or third set of hands. 

Smoooooooth ceilings! No popcorn allowed. Ideally, the ceiling should be primed for wallpaper as well. 

Not really. Ceilings are a bit more “fragile” than walls because they’re painted with bright white ceiling paint that isn’t intended to ever be touched or scuffed. Even with all of the proper tools, primer, and skills, removing wallpaper from your walls is never guaranteed to be 100% repair free, so in the event a repair is needed after removing the paper from your ceiling, you not only have to make a drywall repair, but a drywall repair on the ceiling! No fun! While the “fifth wall” is a fun one to give love to, even in your temporary space, it’s not worth the loss of a security deposit.

I like large scale, busy prints for ceilings and those that are forgiving of slight misalignments of the pattern match. The highest level of perfection is tested when your neck is craned backwards, your arms are straight up over your head for what seems like an eternity, and you’re fighting gravity under wet, sticky wallpaper. So, while even the most proficient wallpaper artist could be hanging paper on your ceiling, a large, busy pattern will hide any imperfections that may pop up during the install. Fun florals, botanicals, and others that have large pattern repeats will be most pleasing to the eye. 

Spoonflower’s Prepasted Removable Smooth worked beautifully for this project and is what we used on Theresa’s guest room ceiling featured here. I also like to use “Paste the Wall” papers for a more permanent option.