Applying and Painting Embossed Wallpaper

by Zee Kesler March 22, 2023

Fake Victorian Tiles: Applying Embossed Wallpaper to my Ceiling

I learned a lot about applying embossed wallpaper this weekend! Mainly, it is a bit trickier to apply than regular wallpaper. Secondly, it is MUCH easily to apply (on the ceiling at least) as a 3 person job!

Check out my Embossed Wallpaper

This is a paintable wallpaper from Home Depot. Before I applied it on the ceiling, I painted a test swatch and discovered paint doesn't cover it properly. The surface felt a bit plasticy even after 2 coats. The paint didn't look like it completely covered the surface. I tried applying a dark wax to highlight the shapes, and it appeared to pull some of the paint. Yuck! It looked horrible, but I hid this well in this photo below. The photo shows the teal and gold art deco wallpaper I am pairing it with from Spoonflower.

Image of art deco wallpaper teal with gold scales. In the background is embossed victorian wallpaper painted gold with a paint jar and brush. A cream winged back chair is in the background

In light of the troubleshooting still required on the painting front, I decided to leave the painting part for another day, and just focus on applying the blank wallpaper for now.

Applying the Embossed Wallpaper to the Ceiling

Since this wallpaper is embossed, we had to paint the back of the wallpaper rather than soak it. With any other wallpaper I've applied (excluding peel and stick) I've soaked the wallpaper in a tray then used a scraper to apply. Since the surface is embossed, the wallpaper paste could only be painted onto the back on the wallpaper. Also, the scraper would damage the pattern, so we couldn't use that either, so we just used our hands and a dry paint roller. We used a paint roller to apply the wallpaper paste and a paint brush to ensure we got right up to the edges.

Repeating Patterns: Wallpaper Tips

Since the wallpaper had a repeating pattern, we needed to hold up the next length of paper and find the place where the pattern lined up. This meant we had excess paper at the top and bottom of each length we needed to trim down before applying it to the ceiling. To accomplish this, my friend Ang held the paper at the bottom(where the wallpaper met the top of the wall) while I held it to the top of the apex of the roof. When the entire length was lined up, both of us used a pen to mark where the wallpaper needed to be cut. We left an inch or so at either end wiggle room which was later cut off with an exacto knife. Measuring ahead of time and trimming the excess made the wallpaper length weigh less when applying to the ceiling.

Painting Embossed Wallpaper...Properly

I went back to the Home Depot website, and read over the specification and reviews which were quite useful.

After reading the reviews and product specifications, I discovered the wallpaper was made of vinyl which would require a layer of oil based primer.

So, next, I will try using oil based primer as a base, with gold acrylic paint over top. I was avoiding this unless necessary because the oil based primer has a strong odor. I will have to strategically time sleep this to sleep at a friends ir in another room for a few days until it aired out.

Check out the Wallpaper in our Shop!

Curio Cabin shop cover photo. A photo from above of the corner of a funky room. The room has an illsurated mural on a teal wall with windows. The other wall has newsprint wallpaper and funky colorful paintings.

That's it for now. I'll update you again soon!

Gabriola Island in BC, Canada.