DIY Fabric Wall Treatment

Fabric wall treatments are along the same lines of wallpaper, except it’s more versatile, and the end results is stunning and tasteful. You can cover a whole room in fabric, just one wall, or part of a wall for a mural-like or wainscoting effect, or use stencils and cut the fabric out into different shapes for removable decorations.

Fabric wall treatments can be installed with liquid starch and is easily removable. This list of items needed for hanging fabric wall treatments is not expensive either. All you need is a medium-weight or lightweight natural-fiber fabric, enough to cover your wall. You’ll need a small foam roller and a roller pan, liquid starch, approximately one gallon per five yards, a large bucket or bowl, scissors, a craft knife, and finally a rotary cutter.

Measuring the wall is the first step. An important consideration is whether you want to cover or remove the baseboard and crown moldings in the room. This will factor into the amount of fabric required. Next, cut the fabric to fit the space, leaving an extra couple of inches all the way around, trimming will occur later on. The only thing you’ll need to do to the wall is make sure it’s clean smooth.

Next, you’ll need to wet the fabric. Place the cut piece of fabric in a bowl or bucket, and pour the liquid starch over it until it’s properly saturated. Once it’s totally wet, wring out the excess starch back into the bowl and set aside. We’ll put the rest of the leftover starch to use later, don’t throw it away.

Now it’s time to place the fabric. The wet fabric will stick really easily to the wall. Use a couple of pushpins to help hold the fabric in place at the top and then use your hands to place the rest of the fabric and smooth it out.

The fabric should stay wet while installing it on the wall, however, in the event it dries out while you’re placing it, or if you need to readjust a spot that has dried with a bubble, dip the foam roller into the extra starch and use it to rewet the fabric and smooth it out as needed.

Finally, once the fabric is in place, use a craft knife to trim away the excess. The craft knife works really well for tight corners, but for the longer cuts, use a rotary cutter, which is great for making long, straight cuts.

Drying time usually takes 1-2 hours. And that’s pretty much it. When it’s time to change the wall covering, or want to remove it altogether, simply dampen it with water and peel it off. Mild soap will get the starch off the walls, and you can even reuse the fabric for other purposes after washing. The nice thing about this flexibility is that you can adjust the fabric and shapes as needed if they’re a bit crooked or the pattern isn’t perfect.