Peel & Stick Wallpaper, Wall Panels & Tile Decals - Main Street

Pull every book off a bookcase and you are left with the most ignored rectangle in the room: a flat, builder-white back panel that nobody chose and everybody looks at. Learning how to cover a bookshelf with contact paper fixes that in an afternoon, with self-adhesive sheets that are designed to come off suitable surfaces again when your taste changes. This guide covers the whole unit: which parts are worth covering, what to check on the back panel first, the step-by-step for bays and loose shelves, and how many 11 by 16 inch sheets a case takes. Which parts of a bookshelf are worth covering A bookcase has three kinds of surface worth thinking about, and they do not all deserve the same treatment. The outer sides are usually seen edge-on, so skip them unless one is a focal point. The back panel. Highest impact, lowest wear. Nothing slides across it, and it shows between every object you place. If you only cover one thing, cover this. The shelf decks. Books drag across a deck every time you pull one out, and a paper face will show that traffic sooner than paint or laminate. Many people cover only the back and let the bare shelves frame the print. The front edges. A narrow band along the lip of each shelf ties a plain case to a patterned back for very little paper. One rule covers every part. Main Street lists sealed wood and painted drywall among the best surfaces for its sheets, and the product pages for the 11 by 16 inch Classic Sheets name "painted, sealed, and finished surfaces" as the application surface. The back panel is where that gets complicated. Check the back panel before you buy anything Bookcase backs come in three types, and the type decides whether this is a one-pack project or a reason to pause. A finished back Better solid-wood, plywood and MDF cases have a back painted or laminated to match the rest of the unit. Treat it like any finished surface: clean it, let it dry, and go. A thin hardboard back Flat-pack and budget cases almost always use a thin fiberboard back with a white or wood-look paper facing on the room side. The facing is usually smooth enough to work with, but it is not a finish Main Street lists, and a thin facing can lift with the sheet when you remove it. Run the hidden-corner test from the guide to lining wood shelves: press a scrap into a corner a book will hide, leave it a day, then peel it back and inspect both the sheet and the board. No back at all Some open shelving units have no back; you see the wall through them. Paper the wall behind the unit instead. Painted drywall is one of the brand's best-rated surfaces. If that wall was painted recently, Main Street says to wait at least four weeks before applying. Remove the back or work in place? A thin back that is nailed or stapled on can be pried off, papered flat and refitted, but prying bends hardboard and widens the nail holes. A glued or grooved back is better papered in place, which is what the next section covers. How to cover a bookshelf with contact paper, step by step Main Street's own how-to page lists the kit: a measuring tape and pencil, a utility knife, a damp cloth and a smoothing tool. Add a straight edge and a level. Empty the case and pull the adjustable shelves. Shelves on pegs lift out; fixed shelves stay and divide the back into bays. Clean the back. Wipe it with a damp cloth, then with the 30 percent isopropyl alcohol and 70 percent water mix the brand recommends, and let it dry completely. Measure each bay separately. Budget cases are rarely square, so measure width and height at both ends of every bay and use the larger numbers. Plan the layout before you cut. A Classic Sheet is 11 by 16 inches. In a bay around 12 inches tall, run the 16 inch side horizontally for fewer seams; in a tall bay, run it vertically. Dry-fit with the backing on to see where seams fall and where a motif will be chopped. Cut on the back, against a straight edge. Mark the backing paper, draw the knife through slowly, cut a touch oversized on the edge you will trim in place, and keep a factory edge for the seam. Draw a guideline with the level, not the shelf, because shelves sag and cases lean. For most bays the first sheet goes in the top corner against one side. Peel a few inches, align, press. Peel back the first few inches of backing, set the top edge on your line and press firmly. Pull the backing away a little at a time while pushing air out toward the free edge with the smoothing tool, the motion the brand's how-to page describes. Butt the next sheet to the first. Slide the factory edge of sheet two up to sheet one until the pattern lines up, then press from the seam outward. A dense allover print hides a slight mismatch; a stripe or grid does not. Trim at the sides and shelf. Press the sheet into the crease where the back meets the side or shelf, then run a fresh blade along it, angled slightly into the corner. Refit the shelves and wait a day before loading books, so nothing drags across a seam that has not fully settled. If a bay fights you, the guide to applying contact paper without bubbles goes deeper on seams and lifting corners. Wrapping a loose shelf, deck and front edge If you want a shelf covered as well, do it out of the case. Cut one piece long enough to cover the top, fold over the front edge and turn under about an inch on the underside. Stick the top first, back to front, then crease the sheet over the front edge and press it under. At the two front corners, cut a small notch so the fold lies flat; the corner guide shows it. Leave the back edge and most of the underside bare, since that is where the shelf rests on its pegs. A wrapped deck takes the wear described above, so a darker, busier print hides scuffs better there. How many sheets a bookcase takes Each Classic Sheet covers 176 square inches, which the product pages round to 1.22 square feet, and a 12-pack comes to roughly 14.6 square feet. Measure the back in inches, multiply width by height, divide by 176, round up, and add a sheet or two for trimming. A five-shelf case about 31 inches wide and 71 inches tall has a back of roughly 2,200 square inches: 13 sheets before waste, so two 12-packs, with sheets left over for front edges. A cube unit is the awkward one. A typical cube is about 13 inches square, wider than a sheet's short side, so plan one sheet per cube plus a 2 to 3 inch strip; one extra sheet yields about five strips. Buy the whole project at once: the product pages note that slight color variations can occur in the printing process, and a shade shift between packs shows on one continuous back. Choosing a pattern for a bookcase back You are choosing a backdrop, not a feature wall. Objects with strong silhouettes, a white vase or a stack of books, read best against a mid-scale, evenly spread print that is quieter than the objects. Founder Jan McCallum trained as an oil painter, and that habit of composing foreground against background runs through the collection. A few in-stock sheets that suit the job: Block Print Floral: a sage and cream allover that forgives seams and lets ceramics and greenery do the talking. It is the pattern in the photo at the top of this article. Eucalyptus: watercolor leaves on white, airy enough for a case full of books. Wood Slat Panel: vertical slats that make a flat-pack case look built in, especially behind a few sculptural objects. Neutral Palm: a soft, large-leaf print for a bay that holds one or two things rather than twenty. Toile Forest: a line-drawn scene that rewards a close look, good for a reading-nook case at eye level. For a case with fixed shelves, start each bay's first sheet at the same point in the repeat, measured from one datum such as the top of the case, so the shelves read as if laid over one uninterrupted field. More on pattern scale, including when to treat the shelf edge as a band, is in the DIY shelf liner ideas article. Frequently asked questions Can you use shelf liner on the back of a bookcase? Yes, if it is an adhesive liner and the back is a finished surface. Non-adhesive liner has nothing to hold it on a vertical panel and will slide down. Main Street's 11 by 16 inch sheets are self-adhesive paper intended for painted, sealed and finished surfaces, which covers most laminated and painted backs; a bare hardboard back needs the corner test first. What do you use to line bookshelves? For the back panel, a self-adhesive decorative sheet in a mid-scale print is the usual choice because it stays put on a vertical surface and trims cleanly at the edges. For the decks, either the same sheet wrapped over the front edge or nothing at all, since decks take the wear from sliding books. How do you cover a bookshelf without removing the back? Treat each bay as its own small wall. Pull any adjustable shelves, clean and dry the back, measure the bay at both ends, cut sheets slightly oversized, apply from a level guideline in one top corner, butt seams on a factory edge, and trim in the crease where the back meets the sides and shelf with a sharp utility knife. Will contact paper stick to the cardboard back of a bookcase? Often, but a paper-faced hardboard back is not a surface the brand lists, and a thin facing can tear away when the sheet is removed. Test a scrap in a hidden corner for a day before covering the panel. If the facing lifts, paper the wall behind an open unit instead, or cover only the shelves and edges. Does the paper come off a bookcase later? The product pages say the Classic Sheets are designed to peel off cleanly from suitable walls, and painted or laminated cases are the best candidates. Removal still depends on the finish underneath, so there is no blanket guarantee; the hidden-corner test shows what your specific case will do before the whole back is committed.

The pantry jar label you wrote in a hurry last spring now reads "fl ur." Before you redo the whole shelf, it helps to know why it faded. Can you write on contact paper? Usually, yes, but whether the words stay sharp, wipe away on cue or smear into a gray cloud depends on two things: what the sheet's surface is made of, and which pen you grabbed from the junk drawer. First, find out what kind of contact paper you have "Contact paper" is a catch-all name, and it covers surfaces that behave very differently under a pen tip. Most of what gets sold as shelf-liner contact paper is a thin vinyl film with a glossy or semi-gloss face. Clear contact paper is the same idea without the print. Then there are paper-faced sheets, like the 11 x 16 in. Classic Sheets we make at Main Street, which are peel and stick paper with a printed, smooth decorative finish. If you are not sure which family yours belongs to, our explainer on what contact paper is walks through the types. The distinction matters because ink behaves in two basic ways. On a glossy, non-porous film, ink sits on top. That makes it easier to wipe off, but also easier to smudge before it dries. On a porous paper face, ink sinks in a little. It stays put, which is great for a label and bad for anything you hoped to erase. A thirty-second test settles it: draw a small dot with a dry erase marker on a scrap or an offcut, wait a minute, and wipe it with a dry cloth. If it lifts cleanly, you have a glossy face. If it leaves a shadow, treat the surface as porous. Which pens and markers can you write on contact paper with? Treat what follows as a starting point, not a guarantee, because finishes vary from brand to brand. Dry erase markers On glossy vinyl or clear film, dry erase markers write and wipe off, at least at first. Ordinary contact paper is not made as a whiteboard, though, so expect some ghosting over weeks of use, especially if the ink sits for a long time or you scrub it with something rough. Makers of commercial dry erase laminates add a hard coat specifically to resist that staining, which tells you plain film does not have one. On a porous paper face, dry erase ink tends to soak in and stay, so skip it there. Permanent markers A fine-tip permanent marker is the most reliable way to write on contact paper you never plan to change. It grips glossy film well once dry and stays crisp on paper-faced sheets. The catch is in the name: removal is not something to count on, so write the label on a scrap first if your handwriting needs a warm-up lap. Chalk markers Liquid chalk markers are generally sold for non-porous surfaces such as glass, glossy boards and smooth films, where they wipe off with a damp cloth. On porous surfaces they can stain. They make striking white lettering on dark glossy film, but always try one in a hidden corner, because some formulas leave a faint shadow behind even on smooth surfaces. Paint pens Oil- or acrylic-based paint pens give the boldest, most opaque line. Let them cure fully before handling, and assume they are there to stay. Ballpoint, gel pens and pencil Ballpoint ink tends to bead and skip on glossy film, and gel ink can stay wet long enough to smear under your hand. Pencil barely marks film at all. On a matte paper face, pencil and ballpoint work better, though a pen pressed too hard can dent the sheet. For anything you will read from across a room, reach for a marker instead. Turning clear contact paper into a dry erase board This is the classic teacher and parent trick, and it works well enough for light use. Print or draw a chore chart, a weekly menu or a reading log on plain paper, then cover it with clear contact paper so the film becomes your writing surface. Cut the film about an inch larger than the chart on every side. Peel back a few inches of backing, align one edge and smooth the film across with a flat tool or a credit card, working from the center out so no air gets trapped. Wrap the excess around the back, or trim it flush with scissors or a utility knife. Write with dry erase markers, let the ink dry before you erase, and wipe with a dry microfiber cloth or felt eraser. Expect some haze after a few months of daily use. That is ghosting, and on film never rated as a dry erase surface it comes with the territory. When it gets distracting, re-cover a reprinted chart rather than fighting the stain. How to write on contact paper so it doesn't come off Labels on bins, jars and shelf edges get handled constantly, and that is what wears the ink away. A few habits help. Write on a clean, dry face. Fingerprints and dust leave a film that ink sits on instead of gripping. Wipe the spot with a dry cloth first. Let it dry before anyone touches it. Permanent and paint markers need a few minutes, and paint pens longer. Most smudged labels were handled too soon. Write first, then stick. Lettering a flat sheet on the table is easier than writing on a curved jar, and you can redo a botched one without peeling anything off the shelf. Protect the words with a layer, not a coating. A strip of clear contact paper over the label shields the ink from hands. Clear sprays and sealers are a different question with real trade-offs; our guide on whether you can seal contact paper covers them. If you are lining pantry shelves with a printed sheet like Carrara Marble, don't write directly on the pattern. Our Classic Sheets are made as a decorative surface, not a writing one, and we don't publish guidance on how markers behave on that printed face. Add a small label strip on top instead. When a purpose-made writing sheet is the better buy Writing on ordinary contact paper is a workaround. If the plan is to write, erase and write again every week, a sheet built for the job saves you the haze and the guesswork. The Dry Erase Classic Peel and Stick Craft Paper is an 11 x 15 in. self-adhesive sheet with a white writable surface made for dry erase markers. Cut it down for bin labels and planner strips, or tile several sheets into a family command center. Our dry erase wallpaper guide covers layout and care. Stick to dry erase markers on it: a permanent marker on this surface should be treated as permanent. The Chalkboard Classic Peel and Stick Craft Paper is the matte black counterpart, also 11 x 15 in., and Main Street lists it as compatible with both chalk and chalk markers. It is the one to choose for pantry jar labels, a coffee bar menu or a strip along a shelf edge, where white lettering on black reads beautifully. Test a chalk marker in a corner first to see how cleanly it erases, and see our chalkboard wallpaper guide for more ideas. Getting marker off contact paper Mistakes happen, usually with a permanent marker and a child who found it. Test every method below on a hidden corner first, because solvents can lift printed ink or loosen adhesive along with the marker. Dry erase ink that won't budge: write over the ghost with a fresh dry erase marker and wipe it straight away. The solvent in the new ink often loosens the old. Permanent marker on glossy film: the same dry erase trick sometimes works if the mark is recent. Failing that, a cotton swab barely dampened with rubbing alcohol, used in small circles, lifts ink from many vinyl surfaces. Results vary, and on printed film it can take the print with it. Anything on a paper face: stop before you scrub. Paper absorbs both the ink and whatever you use to remove it. A cut-out label strip or a fresh piece over the top is the cleaner fix. Frequently asked questions Is contact paper dry erase? Not by design. Glossy vinyl contact paper accepts dry erase markers and wipes clean at first, but it has no coating to resist ghosting, so marks tend to linger after weeks of use. Paper-faced sheets absorb dry erase ink. If you want a reusable board, choose a sheet sold as a dry erase surface, such as Dry Erase Classic, and use dry erase markers only. Can you write on clear contact paper? Yes. Clear contact paper takes dry erase markers, permanent markers, chalk markers and paint pens well because its glossy face is non-porous. Ballpoint and gel pens tend to skip or smear. The most popular use is covering a printed chart so the film becomes a wipe-off surface, though expect some haze over months of daily writing. What is the best pen for writing on contact paper permanently? A fine-tip permanent marker is the simplest choice for crisp, lasting labels on most contact paper. Paint pens give bolder, more opaque lettering, especially on dark sheets. Whichever you use, write on a clean, dry surface, let the ink dry fully before touching it, and consider a strip of clear film over the top for labels that get handled often. Can you use chalk markers on contact paper? Liquid chalk markers are made for non-porous surfaces, so they usually work on glossy contact paper and wipe off with a damp cloth. On porous paper faces they can stain. Some leave a faint shadow even on smooth film, so test one in a corner first. For a surface meant for them, Chalkboard Classic is listed for chalk and chalk markers. How do you get permanent marker off contact paper? On glossy film, try scribbling over the mark with a dry erase marker and wiping immediately. If that fails, a swab lightly dampened with rubbing alcohol may lift it, but test first, since solvents can remove printed ink or weaken the adhesive. On paper-faced sheets, removal rarely works cleanly, so covering or replacing the section is usually the better fix.

Somewhere between the third wipe-down and the first chipped corner, every covered desk, tray and drawer front raises the same question: can you seal contact paper so it holds up longer? You can, on the right project, and the payoff is a scuff-resistant, wipeable face that keeps a print looking the way it did on day one. What a clear coat cannot do is turn a self-adhesive paper sheet into a countertop or a wet-room surface. Below: how each sealer behaves on a printed sheet, how to apply one without wrecking the finish, and when a coat of anything is the wrong fix. Can you seal contact paper? Yes, on three conditions A sealer is a clear film over the printed face. It protects what is already there; it does not change what the sheet is or where it belongs, which is why the yes comes with conditions. The piece is dry-use, and stays that way. Main Street lists painted, sealed and finished surfaces for its 11 x 16 inch Classic Sheets, and its how-to guide puts areas exposed to moisture on the avoid list. A topcoat does not move that line. It protects a desk or a bookcase back; it does not qualify a sink surround. You accept that the piece becomes semi-permanent. The product pages describe the sheets as designed to peel off cleanly from suitable walls. A cured sealer bonds the face, the seams and the edges into one film, and that tidy peel gets harder. If you rent, or you like to change your mind, read how removal actually goes before you open the can. You test first. Main Street publishes no guidance on topcoats, so no sealer is endorsed for the Classic Sheets or the Craft Paper line. An offcut on a scrap of the same material tells you in a day what no tutorial can promise. One construction note: the Classic Sheets are paper with a printed face, and Main Street's About page describes a low-emission polyurethane finish on its materials. You are adding a thicker, sacrificial layer over a face that already has a finish, which is why thin coats behave and heavy ones go cloudy. What a clear coat changes, and what it leaves alone Most disappointment with sealed contact paper comes from expecting the coat to fix something it never touches. It changes: scuff resistance, since keys, mugs and laptop feet now meet the sealer instead of the print; wipeability; and sheen, since a matte or satin coat evens out the look across sheets. A thin coat carried just past a seam also helps a butt joint stay down. A heavy coat turns every seam into a ridge. It leaves alone: The adhesive. Whatever is happening under the sheet keeps happening. Sealing the top does not seal the back. The water rating. Sealed or not, the Classic Sheets are not sold as waterproof or water-resistant, and a coat of varnish does not issue one. Water finds the edge, the seam and the adhesive line, none of which the coat protects. Heat. Main Street publishes no heat rating for its sheets, and a cured topcoat does not supply one. Keep sealed pieces as far from a stovetop as unsealed ones. Polyurethane, decoupage medium, spray acrylic or epoxy: how each behaves on a printed sheet In rough order of how forgiving each is over a thin printed face: Water-based polyurethane or polycrylic. The usual pick in DIY accounts: it dries clear, has low odour, and finishing guides consistently describe water-based products as less prone to yellowing than oil-based ones. Still test it on a dark print, where any haze shows first. Oil-based polyurethane. A tougher film, but the same guides describe it ambering with age and light. On a white marble print or a pale floral, that reads as a tint within a season. Decoupage medium. The craft-aisle glue-and-varnish in one, made for paper, so it is comfortable on boxes, trays and journal covers. Crafters often report it staying softer than a true varnish and feeling tacky in humid weather, so it is not the choice for a desktop that takes a laptop daily. Craft guides also warn about smearing over home inkjet prints; factory-printed sheets are a different animal, but that is what the scrap test is for. Clear acrylic spray. The thinnest film, and the easiest to keep even over an embossed face where a brush would pool. Several light passes beat one wet one. Epoxy. The one to treat with the most care. A self-levelling pour is thick and permanent, so it telegraphs every seam and locks in every bubble. Hobbyist reports describe adhesion problems over film faces, yellowing, and pours that had to be stripped along with the surface underneath. Food contact needs a product specifically rated for it. Pour it over a prepared substrate, not over a decorative sheet. How to seal contact paper on a dry project, step by step Finish the install and let it settle. Press every sheet down with the smoothing tool, chase out the bubbles and trim the edges with a sharp utility knife. A sealer over an air bubble preserves it forever. Leave the piece overnight before you coat it. Clean the face gently. A dry or barely damp microfibre cloth is enough. Skip solvents on the printed face unless you have tested them on scrap. Run the scrap test. Stick an offcut to a piece of the same material, apply the sealer the way you plan to, and leave it 24 hours. Check for colour shift, cloudiness, lifted edges and tack. Apply thin coats. A foam brush for brush-on products, light passes for spray. Two or three thin coats beat one heavy one. Follow the recoat time on the label; products differ. Decide what the edge does. Carry the coat a hair past the sheet to lock the edge down, or mask and stop clean where the substrate would show the overlap. Cure before use. Dry to the touch is not cured. Keep weight and heat off the piece for the full time on the label. A worked example: a desktop covered in Herringbone sheets takes a pen, a mug and a laptop every day, exactly the traffic a water-based coat is good at absorbing. The furniture guide covers the install itself; this article only adds the coat on top. When sealing is the wrong answer, and what to do instead The most-searched version of this question is how to seal contact paper on countertops, and it deserves a straight response. Main Street's sheet pages say to skip moisture and wet zones, and a coat of polyurethane does not change what happens at the sink edge or behind the faucet. The countertop article walks through the dry stretches where a sheet can work. If the draw of a marble counter is really the marble, Carrara Marble sheets on a dry side table or a desk give you the look without the splash zone. More places where the coat is the wrong tool: Anywhere near a burner, and any bathroom. No sealer qualifies a sheet for a room on the avoid list, and with no published heat rating a sealed strip behind a stove is still an unknown. Writable surfaces. Chalkboard Classic and Dry Erase Classic work because the face itself takes chalk or marker. A clear coat ends that. Never seal them. Anything you want back the way it was. Sealing trades removability for durability. A rental or a borrowed piece is a reason to leave the sheet bare. A print you have gone off. Sealing locks it in. Painting over a printed, sealed face is harder than it looks; the painting article covers what holds and what peels, and swapping a single 11 x 16 inch sheet is usually the easier route. For the piece that will get wet anyway, a drinks tray, a coaster, a sleeve around a plant pot, change material rather than add a coat. Main Street's Luxury Cardstock line is the one published as water-resistant: Natural Reflection is an embossed peel and stick paper at 17.25 x 10 inches, Impressive Geometry is an embossed foil at 10 x 16 inches, and both pages list coasters and trays among their uses. Water-resistant is the brand's word; neither page says waterproof, so standing water is still off the table. Frequently asked questions Can you seal contact paper? Yes, on dry, indoor projects such as a desk, a tray or a bookcase, using thin coats of a clear water-based finish or a spray acrylic. The coat protects the printed face from scuffs and makes it wipeable. It does not make the sheet waterproof, heat-rated or suitable for wet zones, and it makes later removal harder, so test on scrap first. Can you put polyurethane over contact paper? Water-based polyurethane is the most common choice in DIY accounts because it dries clear and is described as less prone to yellowing than oil-based products. Apply two or three thin coats and follow the recoat and cure times on the label. Oil-based polyurethane ambers over time and can tint light prints, so it is better reserved for dark patterns. Can you put epoxy over contact paper? You can pour it, but it is the riskiest option. Epoxy is thick, permanent and self-levelling, so it shows every seam and bubble, and hobbyist reports describe adhesion problems, yellowing and surfaces that had to be stripped. Most epoxies are not rated for food contact. If you want a poured finish, prepare the substrate itself rather than coating a decorative sheet. Does sealing contact paper make it waterproof? No. A topcoat protects the printed face, but water reaches a sheet through its edges, seams and adhesive, which the coat does not protect. Main Street's Classic Sheets are not sold as waterproof or water-resistant, sealed or not. For a tray or coaster that will get damp, the Luxury Cardstock line is the one published as water-resistant, and even it is not meant for standing water. How do you seal contact paper on countertops? The brand guidance is to keep the Classic Sheets out of moisture and wet zones, and a sealer does not change that. A dry, decorative stretch of counter away from the sink can be sealed like any other dry surface, with thin water-based coats and a scrap test first. The sink surround, the area behind the faucet and anything that sits wet should stay uncovered.