Powder Room Wallpaper Before Holiday Guests: The One-Afternoon Plan

Designers keep saying the same thing about holiday hosting: the powder room is the room people forget, and it is the one room every guest visits alone, with the door closed and nothing to look at but the walls. It is also the smallest room in the house, which makes it the cheapest and quickest room to wallpaper. Four walls, one afternoon, and it is the thing people mention on the way out.

The short answer

A typical powder room takes 3 to 5 hours to wallpaper with peel and stick, needs about 10 to 12 rolls, and is the one room where you can go bold without worrying about living with it. Use vinyl peel and stick for the moisture, plan the layout so the seams fall behind the door, and give yourself the Saturday before your first party.

Why the powder room is the right room to go bold

You are in it for two minutes at a time. A pattern that would be exhausting across a living room is a delight in a 5 x 5 foot space. Dark colours work too: a small room does not get smaller with a navy floral, it gets cosier, and the mirror doubles the pattern. This is the room for the Moroccan tile, the busy botanical, the black and white geometric you were too cautious to put anywhere else.

Which material

Choose vinyl peel and stick for a powder room. It has a slightly satin surface that wipes clean, it handles the humidity from a hand-washing sink without any trouble, and its adhesive is the stronger of our two peel and stick materials. Fabric peel and stick is fine too if you rent and want the cleanest removal; both handle bathroom humidity. Skip unpasted paper for a one-afternoon job. More in vinyl or fabric by room.

How much you need

Measure all four walls and add the widths together. A 5 x 5 room is 20 feet, or 240 inches. 240 divided by 24 inches per roll is 10 rolls, plus one spare, in the 96 inch length for an 8 foot ceiling. Do not subtract the door or the mirror; hang over the door frame and trim, and treat the mirror the same way if it is small. If it is a large fixed mirror, measure around it and hang to its edges.

The afternoon plan

1. Clear and clean (30 minutes). Remove the towel bar, toilet paper holder, art and outlet covers. Wipe every wall with mild soap and water and let it dry. Fill the screw holes if you are not putting the bar back in the same place.
2. Plan the seams (10 minutes). Start on the wall behind the door, at the corner least visible when the door is open. That is where the final seam will land, and nobody will see it. Mark a plumb line 24 inches out from that corner.
3. Hang the first wall (45 minutes). Peel the top 10 inches of backing, align to the plumb line, smooth downward with a squeegee, and keep peeling backing as you go. Leave 2 inches extra at the ceiling and floor to trim.
4. Corners (10 minutes each). Run the strip half an inch past the inside corner, then start a fresh strip on the next wall overlapping that half inch. Do not wrap a full strip around a corner.
5. The sink wall (60 minutes). This is the slow wall: the mirror, the faucet, the outlet. Cut an X inside each opening and trim out to the edge. If the pedestal sink is against the wall, hang the strip behind it as far as you can reach and make a relief cut around the base.
6. Trim and finish (30 minutes). Trim ceiling and floor edges with a fresh blade against a straightedge. Press every seam. Reinstall the towel bar and outlet covers.

Patterns that make a small room feel considered

A dark floral. Midnight Floral, the powder room in the photo above, makes a white pedestal sink look like a set piece. More in the floral collection.

Moroccan tile. Moroccan Small Pattern in navy has the rhythm of a tiled hammam and hides every seam.

Marble. Marble-look wallpaper is the fastest way to a hotel powder room, and it pairs with any fixtures you already have.

A small geometric. Hexagons, trellis or a tight herringbone from the geometric collection read as classic and give the mirror something to reflect.

Brick or plaster. For a powder room that is really a closet under the stairs, a texture look from the surface collection turns the awkward angles into a feature.

Finishing touches for guests

• A dimmer or a warm bulb. Overhead bathroom light is unflattering to people and to wallpaper.
• Fresh hand towels that pick up one colour from the pattern.
• Something living: a stem in a bud vase, a small plant if there is a window.
• A candle or diffuser. It is the only room in the house that needs one.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use peel and stick wallpaper in a bathroom?

Yes. All three of our materials handle bathroom and kitchen humidity. A powder room without a shower is the easiest bathroom of all.

Should a small bathroom have light or dark wallpaper?

Either. Light patterns make it feel airy; dark patterns make it feel intimate and expensive. Small rooms are where dark colours are safest.

How long does it take to wallpaper a powder room?

Three to five hours for a first-timer with peel and stick, most of it on the sink wall.

Where should the seams go in a small bathroom?

Start and finish behind the door. Every other seam should be a pattern match, and a busy pattern hides them completely.

Browse the bathroom wallpaper collection, or order a $5 sample of two or three contenders and tape them up next to the mirror for a day. Rolls are printed to order in 2 to 3 business days at our New Jersey studio, then ship in about 3 days to the East Coast and 5 to 6 days to the West Coast. The order-by dates for your region are in our Thanksgiving timeline.