Have you ever wondered if that wall sticker you saw on the website in the trendy room with the fancy furniture will look just as good in your room? Did you know that 80% of the world's top interior designers use just one tried and tested design methodology to achieve 'the look'?
In this Wall Stickers Buyer's Guide, we're going to blow the cover on the secret method the style gurus don't want you to know.
After all, you don't want to buy a wall sticker because it looks good online only to find out it looks rubbish on your wall. You will never be in that situation if you follow the top tips in this guide.
That being said, we managed to track down (through a friend of a friend!) top interior designer to the stars, Valerie Deluciano, and convince her to share her top 5 tips to a trendier wall using stickers or decals. The best thing about these tips is that they are simple things that anyone can do, even if you don't have any DIY or design training.
Valerie Deluciano's Top 5 Tips to a Trendier Wall
"When it comes to wall art design and achieving the right look, there are four key elements that make or break the design; Emotional Response, Colour, Positioning & Light and the Quality of Finish. There are a few other nuances you could throw in the mix but these four are the BIG four. These are closely followed by what I like to call my Sassy S's; Size and Showing Off."
The Invocation of Emotion
It sounds like the title of a dusty leather-bound book you just found in your grandma's attic, but The Invocation of Emotion is actually a popular design trick used by top designers to stage any room to cause a striking emotional response when you first enter.
It is often described as interior design shock therapy because the most popular emotional response designers want to evoke is 'WOW'. And all good designers know that this response can be achieved with both positive and negative bias.
The truly great designers tend to lean towards positive bias; ie. they want you to like it, but there are still many top designers who use more gaudy, grisly and grotesque imagery to achieve the same emotional response. In both cases, the end result is that jaw-dropping 'WOW'.
The ready availability of all kinds of wall stickers online today has made this design technique more accessible, even if you don't have DIY or design skills. It's now easier than ever to shock your guests into a jaw-dropping 'WOW'.
Why would any designer do this? Well, like the saying in the world of PR, 'there is no such thing as bad publicity', the same applies to wall stickers. If your guests leave your house talking about your shockingly good (or bad) wall sticker, you've created a lasting impression that will keep them talking about you long after the night has ended.
So what's the secret? How do you create this shocking response? Simple. By practising the remaining techniques in this guide. The first being the intentional use of colour.
The Curious Case of Colour
Did you know that colours have a curious connection to your cognitive receptors and directly influence your mood, emotions and perception? Sounds crazy, right? But it's true. Way back in 1810, famous poet and philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published a book that is well known to the inner circle of the interior design elite, but little known elsewhere.
The closely-guarded book was called the 'Theory of Colour', and in it, van Goethe applied wavelength theory of light and colour to posit the idea that when you see a specific colour, either consciously or subconsciously, a specific emotion is triggered inside of you.
He even measured the emotional responses and feelings you would likely experience when exposed to certain colours, which he compiled into this colour wheel below.
The insane thing is, to this day; modern marketers and psychologists use his theory to great effect despite the lack of hard scientific evidence to support his claims. Perhaps some things just can't be explained by science?
So how can this help you? Well, by applying van Goethe's colour chart to your room and your chosen wall sticker, you can create that jaw-dropping emotional response you've been looking for and at the same time excite the cognitive receptors of your guests to make them feel a certain way too.
The next piece of the puzzle is to make sure it's smack bang in the best position possible to have maximum effect.
The Powerful Possibilities of Proper Positioning
It might seem obvious to position your art in the centre of any room to capture maximum attention but top designer Valerie Deluciano thinks this is a missed opportunity to create maximum impact.
"Doing exactly what people expect is a surefire way of being forgotten quickly," says Valerie who, instead, encourages you to do the unexpected. She believes that positioning wall stickers off-centre or using random patterns instead of symmetrical ones is a much more effective look for creating jaw-dropping memories.
Of course, there is a technical challenge to making all of this happen. Valerie warns on the use of symmetrical patterns and remarks on how the slightest mistake in the application can make a symmetrical pattern look cheap or low quality. We made sure this won't ever happen to you by creating an easy-to-follow video about how to apply a wall sticker correctly.
Valerie's powerful positioning tip for creating perfect, high impact wall stickers is to use random patterns like leaves, butterflies, musical notes or any other kind of chaotic imagery to accompany your feature sticker. She believes that whilst feature stickers can 'WOW' alone, they often have a greater impact when accompanied by some form of organised chaos.
This is why it's so important to work with a supplier who can cater to all your size needs. You might find a stunning inspirational quote, dinosaur, unicorn or personality that would look outstanding as a feature sticker, but without the ability to get different sized accompanying stickers printed to suit your room, your famous finish will never see the light of day.
Why Size Matters
Despite what you've been taught, size matters. There is no one-size-fits-all option when it comes to wall decals. Your home and your room are unique, and your wall sticker should be too. This being the case, there is no formula for the 'right size' sticker but Miss Deluciano has a guideline.
"Feature stickers should occupy atleast 30% of the viewport - the viewable area from the angle of perception."
In practical terms, that means if you have a room that's 3m x 3m x 3m (a 9sq/m wall) but the lower half of the room is covered by a desk or furniture leaving only a 3m x 1.5m viewport, the sticker you use on that wall should cover at least 1.35sq/m of the viewable wall (30% of the visible space).
In layman's terms, that's one of our large wall stickers at 120cm x 80cm plus some accompanying wall art (accompanying stickers or pictures). But remember that any accompanying art should be just that, accompaniments or accessories to the main feature sticker.
Now you have almost everything you need to create the trendiest wall in town. The only thing left is the grand finale.
The Fatal Finale: The Finish
Valerie's final piece of advice is that even when you crack all of the above, it can easily all go to waste if you don't buy a sticker with a quality finish. Luckily, you won't ever have that problem with our stickers.
Wall stickers have a somewhat misplaced reputation as being poor quality, mass-produced rush-jobs. For many of the sticker companies online, it's hard to argue that point, with many offering stickers that come from countries that don't adhere to the strict British Standards that we do and, as Valerie says, after going to all the trouble to follow the first four tips in this guide, it would be a shame to fall at the final hurdle.
You won't have that problem when you order from us. All of our stickers are cut on-demand from premium quality vinyl. If you need an idea of what the means in the real world and not in the world of sales-speak, it means that after you've followed our video application guide and got your sticker on your wall properly, it will look like it was hand painted on your wall by Leonardo DaVinci himself.
And this is no idle boast. We've taken a snapshot of some of the 14000+ positive reviews we've received from our customers and are both proud and humbled to show them off for you here.
Don't be Afraid to Show Off
Which brings us nicely to the closing comment of our guide; after you've put so much work into hunting for, designing and applying your creative ideas; don't ever be afraid to show them off loud and proud, and to boldly take your visitors where they've never gone before.