Easy Wallpaper Bookcase Update

ByKaitlin Madden 05/03/202406/11/2024

So this project was totally unintentional. And by that I mean, I found myself at one of my favorite spots, Retail 101, a few weeks ago and while I was there I saw a few rolls of a fun black & white striped wallpaper for $15 each. I had no idea where I was going to use these wallpaper rolls … but I couldn’t leave them behind.

So, I bought them and felt like I’d find a place to use them someday.

It didn’t take me very long to find the perfect place to use them: to wallpaper the back of our bookcases in the living room.

Like I said, I did this project totally on a whim. I decided to go for it on Friday morning, and when I out my daughter down for her nap, I look everything off the shelves and got to work.

Here’s what the bookcase looked like before:

The wallpaper was pre-pasted, which means it has a layer of glue on the back that is activated by water. After cutting each panel to the proper length, I used a spray bottle to wet each panel of wallpaper and slid it into place.

I was lucky that the wallpaper was almost exactly as wide as the shelves, which made this project super simple. I was literally finished with it before my daughter woke up from her nap.

Here’s the after:

Not bad for $30 and 2 hours of time, right?

Kaitlin Madden

Hi, I’m Kaitlin Madden. I’ve been a writer for home decor, shelter and interior design publications since 2012.

Some of the publications and brands I’ve written for include: Homes & Gardens, RealHomes.com, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Living, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, Freshome, Long Island Pulse, Modern Luxury Interiors, Refinery 29, Haute Living, and Chicago Magazine, along with Conde Nast, Amazon, Decorist, Cloth & Company, The Design Network, White Leaf Provisions, Maya Romanoff, Maisonette and 1stDibs.

In my time as a writer and editor I’ve also worked at Wayfair, New England Home magazine, Modern Luxury Media, and Homes & Gardens. I’ve covered everything from paint colors, to emerging trends, to project costs, DIY methods, celebrity house tours, and more.

In addition to my professional experience, I've practiced what I've learned as a design editor extensively on my own homes. Since 2013, I've lived in and fixed up/decorated eight homes.