Paintless Design was recently posted on ThisNext. Their wall decals are decent, but not extraordinary. Their value proposition is price - Cost per design is around $50 for a set that can include 10-15 stickers. I think they could have potential if they can execute better. Their site needs polishing. The product images were obviously done with a non-pro camera and photographer… It looks so home-made that I immediately became suspicious of the products’ quality. To be competitive long-term, they’ll need to take branding a little more seriously. Hire a good photographer and copywriter (it’s worth it, trust me).

Yeah, their pricing is great, until Target starts offering incredible wall decals at incredible prices. Then what?

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German company Anna Wand offers a nice selection of wall decals, with a few exceptional designs. I particularly like the Buddha and Bonsai. They’re unexpected, and others do not have the same or similar styles.

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My favorite is their custom words option. While other companies offer letters for purchase individually, Anna Wand allows custom messaging. It is then up to you to be prolific about what you want to say. You can select color and one of three font sizes as well.

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I have to give Urban Outfitters kudos for being one of the first retailers in the U.S. to offer wall decals. Being early in a trend does not necessarily bring you monetary rewards - I doubt sales were great. People had no idea what wall decals were six months ago, and $125 was too steep to “test it out.” In addition, their offering was a little too abstract (right, Souvenirs Decals, $128)

However, this did give them great brand positioning as a hip and progressive retailer. I was glad to see they’re continuing their program. They’ve added a few more styles, and a few more related products.

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This is a cool mini decal concept I’ve seen only offered in Europe, but now also available at Urban Outfitters. These can be applied to your ceramics and glassware. Interesting thing is they are dishwasher safe, yet still removable for re-use on other items. It’s a fun way to create your own graphic dinnerware. $6.

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Sprout Home, one of my favorite shops, has a wall decal offering from France I haven’t seen elsewhere in the U.S. yet. Very graphic and bold. They can be a lot of fun to decorate with. I particularly like the 18” lettuce head. It’s so unexpected and would look great wrapped around a corner from the dining area into the kitchen. The orange dahlias are great too. They look like exploding fireworks. These decals are made of heavy-duty vinyl with semi-permanent adhesive, so they can be removed easily. Best part? They are washable.

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Fold Bedding manufactures these Wallter wall applications that are basically the same as wall decals, but they are three dimensional objects instead of two dimensional vinyl. I like these better, though I think they are limited by the graphic element. What makes wall decals so great are their amazing graphic art elements.

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2modern has a nice decal assortment, including the Retro Slats (shown above) from Fold.

Also from Fold are the Concentric Circles (right), which are available at Chiasso.

INKE HEILAND

Inke Heiland, from Netherlands, originally created these whimsical stenciled wallpaper pieces for her son’s room. After much positive response, she expanded her line for commercial distribution. She uses original wallpaper from 1960-1970, so supply of patterns are limited. This do-it-yourself kit is available in the U.S. at Romp.com.

INTERACTIVE WALLPAPER

Interactive Wallpaper, from the U.K., offers two creative concepts. One is the combination of background wallpaper and self-adhesive stickers. The combination allows the user to semi-personalize the wallpaper according to their personal taste. You love pink? Go for it. Add pink to your heart’s content.

The other product is dry decal. Easy to apply dry decals in floral patterns. Both stickers and decals have been lace cut, so they will adapt to your wall color. This detail that makes these really interesting… They adapt to your environment.

LINDA FLORENCE

Scratchcard wallpaper. Well, that pretty much sums up the description of this product. Clever idea, though I do recommend keeping this a secret from friends with O.C.D.

I’m a bit stunned how big this trend is at the moment, especially within the design community and Europe. This thing didn’t just creep up. It blasted its way in.

I’ve been calling it wall art, which is inaccurate. Many of these decals or stencils were designed to empower the user with approachable solutions for improving our everyday lives with creativity. by visually stimulating our senses. visually improve our everyday living by changing the ho-hum surfaces around us, including windows, autos, fridges and hippopotamus (proof below). It’s great. So far I’ve only seen limited availability in the U.S. on all fronts - few manufacturers, retailers and style options. (Kachiing… I smell opportunity?)

POST 12.11.2006

POPCLING

I dig this company. PopCling makes skateboards and large adhesive art (aka giant stickers). They represent street culture at its best. A collaboration of smart, creative people doing what they love. Their product line steers towards on the street/pop art side and *very* good. I particularly appreciate how well-focused their brand point of view is. More from PopCling:

UNSOLD FORM

UGLY HOME

Ugly Home is one of the most creative companies in home decor. A complete contradiction to their self-persecuted name, they’re anything but ugly (smart branding). Their self-adhesive decals are incredibly creative, and riske (they’re French). The riske definitely falls under the “adult only” category, and I’m not quite sure who would use these decals except places like the Porn Palace.

They design a wide-breadth product line, including some amazing wallpaper and cool concept lighting. If you enjoy creative product design, they’re worth checking out.

CUT ARTS

Cut Arts provides silhouette art by third generation silhouette artist Karl Johnson. You can buy existing silhouette art (Hitchcock collage and polka dog dog shown above) or send in your own photo profile for custom production. It is a great way to add personalized art to your home in place of the grandiose family portrait above the fireplace. Though not a stencil per se, the final artwork is basically a stencil master. From this, it is quite easy to reproduce the same silhouette in different color and sizes (I read this in Martha Stuart years ago. Simply xerox and cut. I suppose now it would be scan, print and cut).

MY TRICK PONY

What a great idea. My Trick Pony is a San Francisco based apparel shop providing custom stenciled t-shirt (or ties, etc) via transfers, spray, or airbrush. This takes ‘unique t-shirt design’ to a whole new level. They are located at 742 14th Street, San Francisco.

DESIGN WITHIN REACH

These are house number plates, not actual stencils. Designed exclusively for DWR by Eric Spiekermann. $24 a piece.

STICKERS BY DVIDER

Great graphic design applied to stickers that can be used to create interesting visuals by blending two and three dimensional objects in one space. For example, the blue bird/dots sticker (shown above) would be fun on a glass shower door.

DOMESTIC

Introduced to Habitat by Domestic, the principle in the collection is simple: literally hand over to users who, invited to transform their interior into an area for expression, design their own decor. Thanks to Vynil, « the wall space » becomes the playing field for composition and into which one can put a lot of effort and invention.

STENCILRY

Stencilry is a huge collection of free for-personal-use stencils. Stencils are added frequently. Stencilry not only provides readymade stencils, but they also accept submissions and take requests for stencils to be made. Requests and submissions can be made through the forum. If you have some skill in image editing software, you can help people out by fulfilling requests.

STENCILREVOLUTION

This site is more artist-focused and very specific with their point of view - revolutionary art. A very creative site with some amazing work, their stencils lean more towards graffitti applications. A public forum and resources section creates a community-friendly site.

Provider of self-adhesive decals (think stickers for grown-ups) that allow you to easily transform the look of a living or office space in minutes. Affix to any smooth, flat surface such as a wall, window, mirror, ceiling, tabletop or floor. Choose your space, plan the design you’d like to make, and literally, just peel and stick. And when you’re tired of your design, say after years, a month, maybe a day - the decals are removable. Corporate design and production services available as well. Available at Velocity Art and Design.

THRIFTDELUXE