Removable wallpaper has quietly become the renovation shortcut you're asking us about more than any other, and the questions tend to arrive in the same order: is peel and stick actually any good, will it work on your textured walls, and which type should you choose? After ten years of making wallpaper at our two West Gosford production facilities, we can answer all three with the kind of specifics that only come from making the product ourselves. In this guide you'll find the honest differences between peel and stick and paste-the-wall, exactly what happens on textured walls, and how to choose well the first time so your feature wall goes up beautifully and comes down cleanly whenever you're ready.
Here's the short version for anyone in a hurry. Peel and stick is the right pick if you're renting, if you're a little commitment-shy, or if your walls are lovely and smooth. Paste-the-wall gives you a flatter, more furniture-grade finish for longer-term homes and rooms you plan to keep dressed for years. Textured walls are a solvable problem, but the fix depends on which sort of texture you have. The longer version below is exactly what our team walks you through every week when you email us before ordering, so grab a cuppa and settle in.
Boheme Cheetah in Pink Wallpaper · Songbird Garden in Pale Pink Wallpaper · Wattle & Mist Panoramic Mural in Powder Blue & Slate Wallpaper
What Removable Wallpaper Actually Means
The phrase covers two quite different products, and mixing them up is the reason so many online reviews of the cheap imports sound so disappointed. Peel and stick wallpaper is a self-adhesive fabric-poly material: you peel the backing away and press it to the wall. No paste bucket, no water tray, no tools beyond a smoother and a sharp blade. Paste-the-wall wallpaper is our smooth matte non-woven paper, hung the traditional way with adhesive applied to the wall itself, but engineered to strip away cleanly when you're finished with it, usually in full sheets rather than fiddly little pieces.
Both are truly removable in the sense that matters to you: neither one needs steaming, scoring or scraping to come off, and both are designed to leave sound painted surfaces alone. The difference is really about how they live on your wall. Peel and stick can be gently repositioned during installation, which is exactly why it's the go-to for our renter and nursery customers. Paste-the-wall lies flatter, reads more like a painted finish when you're standing close to it, and copes more predictably with the Australian summer humidity swing because its adhesive layer is continuous rather than pressure-bonded in patches.
One thing we'll never claim, and you should be a little wary of anyone who does: no wallpaper on earth is guaranteed damage-free on every single wall. Our materials are made to be removable, and on sound, properly cured paint they come off cleanly. But paint that was rolled over dust, unprimed plaster or a builder's flat white is going to lift regardless of what you stick to it, and that's a paint problem, not a wallpaper problem. The test-patch advice further down exists precisely so you can spot that before it becomes your problem.
Peel and Stick or Paste-the-Wall: the Honest Comparison
- Installation: Peel and stick is faster for small feature walls and skips the paste bucket entirely, which is why most of you finish a nursery wall in under two hours. Paste-the-wall is actually easier for large walls, counterintuitively, because the material doesn't stick to itself while you're positioning it, and a little slip up costs you nothing but a quick wipe.
- Finish: Paste-the-wall wins on flatness. Peel and stick has a very slight fabric-like texture that reads softly when you're an arm's length away. In a raking-light hallway you'll notice the difference, but across a properly furnished bedroom you rarely will.
- Longevity: Both are printed on our wide-format presses with the same pigment inks, so the print itself lasts the same. The real-world difference is in the edges: peel and stick edges can lift in rooms with wild temperature swings if they're not pressed down properly on day one, while pasted edges tend to stay put.
- Removal: Peel and stick pulls away in one satisfying sheet. Paste-the-wall strips off dry on decent paint. Neither needs chemicals or a steamer.
- Rentals: Peel and stick is the renter's product, and we say so plainly. Run the tape test first in an inconspicuous corner, keep your offcuts in a cupboard, and you can restore the wall before a final inspection without any drama.
The most common mistake isn't choosing the wrong wallpaper. It's skipping wall preparation because the product seemed forgiving enough to survive it.
Can You Wallpaper Over Textured Walls?
This is the question our support inbox sees more than any other, so here's a real answer with real texture types instead of a vague yes. When Australians tell us they have textured walls, they usually mean one of four things: a light orange-peel roller texture, a heavier trowelled render, bagged brick, or VJ and panelled walls. Each of these behaves quite differently under wallpaper, so let's take them one at a time.
Light orange-peel or fine roller texture: paste-the-wall handles this well. Our non-woven paper has enough body to bridge fine texture, and once the adhesive cures, the surface reads flat with just a faint tooth showing under strong side light. Peel and stick struggles here more than you'd expect, because a pressure-sensitive adhesive only really bonds where it's actually touching, and fine texture can quietly reduce that contact area by a lot. It can look perfect on day one and start shedding corners three weeks later, which is the last thing you want.
Heavy render, bagged brick and rough trowel finishes: the honest answer is not directly. No removable product bonds reliably to peaks and valleys that deep, and even if it did, every contour would telegraph through the paper and undo all the hard work. The correct path is skim coating: a plasterer levels the wall with a thin set coat, primes it, and you wallpaper the lovely new smooth surface. The customers who skim first are consistently the happiest textured-wall customers we have, and a single feature wall skim is a smaller job than you'd think, often finished in a morning.
VJ, panelling and grooved surfaces: wallpaper simply can't bridge a groove, and pressing it into the grooves just creases the sheet. Either the panelling comes off, or, more cleverly, you choose a design that plays alongside the panelling from an adjacent wall instead. Our wood panel wallpaper collection exists for the reverse move: the look of VJ panelling on a completely flat wall, without needing a carpenter.
Whatever your texture, please do the two tests we ask of every uncertain customer. First, press a strip of quality painter's tape to the wall, leave it overnight, and pull it off. If paint comes with it, fix the paint before any wallpaper goes near it. Second, order a sample, stick or paste it to your actual wall, and live with it for a week through a hot day and a cool night. Our wall preparation guide for peel and stick walks you through both tests in detail, with photos.
Painter's Landscape Panoramic Mural Wallpaper · Oakmere in Mushroom Taupe Wallpaper
How to Choose Well: a Working Checklist
- Match the product to how long you're staying. If you're renting, or redecorating a child's room you'll re-theme in three years, go with peel and stick. If it's your own home, a hallway, a moody dining room you plan to keep as it is for years, choose paste-the-wall from the removable wallpaper range.
- Measure before you fall in love. Wallpaper is priced and printed to your exact wall, so width and height come first. Our measuring guide takes about five minutes and prevents the two classic errors: forgetting to measure at the widest point, and measuring one wall of a design that wraps two.
- Custom sizing beats trimming. Because we print every order to your wall's exact dimensions at our West Gosford facilities, a 2.7 metre Queenslander wall and a 2.4 metre apartment wall each get a design scaled correctly for them, rather than a stock roll with the motif's heads cropped off. If your wall is unusual, a sloped ceiling, a dado line, a full wraparound, our custom wallpaper service will handle it beautifully.
- Order the $4.99 sample first. It's a generous 48cm x 40cm (19in x 16in) printed piece of the actual material, not a little swatch-book chip. Check the colour in your room's morning and evening light, test the adhesion on your actual wall, and feel the material weight in your hands.
- Check the light in the room. Strong side light from a window flatters paste-the-wall and exposes texture under peel and stick. North-facing Australian rooms also shift colours warmer through the day, and the sample will answer that question for you too.
- Plan your install day conditions. Aim for a mild day. Installing peel and stick in a 35 degree western-sun room softens the adhesive and turns the sheet floppy in your hands; a very cold morning stiffens it and makes it stubborn. A room temperature between roughly 15 and 28 degrees is the comfortable band you're looking for.
Installation, Care and Removal
Installation for both products is genuinely a competent-amateur job, and you shouldn't feel like you need a tradesperson unless you'd rather not do it yourself. Paste-the-wall needs a paste bucket, a roller, a smoother and a sharp blade, and the technique is all in our paste-the-wall installation guide. Peel and stick benefits from two people for sheets over 2.5 metres, mostly for morale and steady hands. If you'd rather not tackle it yourself, our installer directory lists wallpaper hangers across Australia who work with our materials regularly.
Care is refreshingly undramatic. Dust with a dry microfibre cloth, wipe marks with a barely damp cloth and a drop of dish soap, and never scrub or use spray cleaners on any printed surface. Kitchens and bathrooms are fine for our smooth matte material as long as the room is well ventilated, though directly inside a shower's splash zone is asking too much of any paper. For the full room-by-room verdict, our guide on installing peel and stick wallpaper in Australia goes deeper into the details.
Removal is where quality really shows itself. Start at a bottom corner, pull slowly back on itself at 180 degrees rather than straight out from the wall, and a well-installed sheet comes away whole in your hands. If you're moving out of a rental, choose a mild day rather than a scorcher, and the adhesive releases much more gently.
Coastal Shells in White & Light Blue Wallpaper · Coastal Stripes in Light Blue Wallpaper · Gold Coast Palm in Light Blue Wallpaper
Where Removable Wallpaper Really Earns Its Keep
- Nurseries: the classic. A nursery gets re-themed roughly every four years, which is exactly the sweet spot for this product. Our nursery wallpaper collection is the most-ordered category for peel and stick, and the low-VOC pigment inks matter to parents for very good reason.
- Rentals: a feature wall behind the bed can completely transform a beige apartment, and then come down before your exit inspection without a fuss. Renters consistently gravitate to our boho and coastal wallpaper ranges.
- Home offices: the Zoom wall. A panoramic mural behind your desk reads as considered, put-together design on camera in a way a blank wall simply never will. Have a browse of our wall murals for wide-format options.
- Bedrooms and living rooms: this is where paste-the-wall really shines, because these walls tend to stay dressed for five years or more. The bedroom wallpaper collection leans calming and quiet, while our Australian designs bring native botanicals into living spaces beautifully.
- Kids' rooms that grow up: when the dinosaur phase ends, as it always eventually does, the wall can change with an afternoon's work. Our kids wallpaper range is designed for exactly this kind of loving churn.
Why Buy Removable Wallpaper From an Australian Manufacturer
We've been making wallpaper on the Central Coast of NSW for over ten years now, and the practical advantages of buying from the manufacturer rather than a reseller are refreshingly concrete. Every order is printed to your measurements, not cut from imported stock sitting in a warehouse. Production takes 4 business days on full-price orders. Shipping on full rolls and walls of wallpaper is free, we deliver to over 40 countries, and every international wallpaper order arrives with all import duties paid, so the price you see at checkout is the final price. And when you email a question about your wall, the person answering has just walked past the production floor where your order will be printed. Whether you're in Sydney, London or New York, the material that arrives at your door is the same 4-day-fresh print, made by the same team.
If you're weighing wallpaper against paint for the room, our comparison on wallpaper vs paint essentials covers cost per square metre, longevity and resale value honestly. And for what Australian designers are choosing this year, the 2026 wallpaper trends guide is a lovely long read for a quiet evening.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is peel and stick wallpaper actually removable without damaging paint?
On sound, properly cured paint, yes. Peel it back slowly on itself and it releases cleanly. The honest caveat is that no wallpaper can be guaranteed damage-free on paint that was poorly applied or rolled over dust, because that paint will lift under any adhesive at all. Test with painter's tape overnight first, and always trial a sample patch on your actual wall for a week before you commit.
Can you put peel and stick wallpaper on textured walls?
On fine orange-peel texture it can work, but it's the weaker choice, because pressure-sensitive adhesive only bonds where it's actually touching the surface. Paste-the-wall bridges fine texture much more reliably. Heavy render or bagged brick needs a skim coat first, and grooved VJ panelling can't be wallpapered over at all. Order a $4.99 sample and test it on your actual wall for a week; that answer beats any general rule of thumb.
What's the difference between peel and stick and paste-the-wall wallpaper?
Peel and stick is self-adhesive: peel the backing off, press it up, reposition as needed. Paste-the-wall is a non-woven paper hung with adhesive applied to the wall itself, which lies flatter and suits long-term installs beautifully. Both remove cleanly from sound paint, both are printed with the same pigment inks, and both are custom sized to your wall when you order from us.
How long does removable wallpaper last?
Installed on a well-prepared wall away from direct water contact, both types comfortably last five to ten years. The limiting factors are installation quality at the edges and extreme temperature swings, not the print itself, which uses fade-resistant pigment inks on our 4-business-day production runs.
Can I use removable wallpaper in a bathroom or kitchen?
In a well-ventilated bathroom or kitchen, yes, our smooth matte paste-the-wall material handles ambient humidity nicely. Just keep any wallpaper out of the direct splash zone of showers and sinks. For rooms with poor ventilation and daily steam, tile or paint remains the honest recommendation.
Do you make custom sized wallpaper for unusual walls?
Yes, every order is printed to your exact wall dimensions at our West Gosford facilities on the NSW Central Coast. Genuinely unusual walls, like sloped ceilings, wraparounds and extra-wide panoramas, go through our custom wallpaper service, where we scale and preview the design against your measurements before anything is printed.
How much does shipping cost, and do international orders pay customs fees?
Shipping is free on all full wallpaper orders. Samples are $4.99 with a small delivery fee. We ship to over 40 countries and pay all import duties on international wallpaper orders, so nothing extra is collected at your door on delivery.
Should I order a sample first?
Always, please. The $4.99 sample is a 48cm x 40cm (19in x 16in) print of the actual material, big enough to judge the colour in your room's changing light and to run a real adhesion test on your actual wall, which is the only test that truly settles the textured-wall question for your particular surface.
Start with the removable wallpaper collection, have a browse of our peel and stick designs, or dip into more guides on On the Wall. Whichever way you go, order your sample first, live with it for a week, and your feature wall will turn out beautifully the very first time.
