How to Make Vinyl Decals Stick to Textured Walls

One drawback to this kind of art is that wall decals don’t usually stick to textured walls, like stucco or painted cinder block. With a little ingenuity, you can make original art stick to any wall.

1. Unroll a length of vinyl shelf paper on a clean, flat surface with the paper back facing up. This shelf paper comes in dozens of colors and designs, is very strong and has a mild adhesive on the back. It’s available at most grocery stores or dollar stores.



2. Draw a chalk design on the back of your shelf paper. Choose something without small details, like a tree, stars and moons, animal outlines or clouds. Cut out the shapes slowly and carefully to avoid jagged outlines.



3. Tear about four nickel sized pieces of poster tack for each shape. Roll and warm each piece between your hands to make it more malleable. Lay the pieces on a flat surface and run over them with a rolling pin until they’re paper thin.



4. Remove the paper backing from each shape. Place several paper-thin pieces of poster tack on each shape, placing them about 1/8 inch from the edges. The poster tack should not cover the entire shape, just key spots around the edges.



5. Smooth your shapes onto your textured wall. The adhesive on the vinyl will make contact with the highest part of the texture while the poster tack will sink into the crevices in the wall. The combination of adhesives will hold your decals to any wall.