Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews - Emperor Penguin Snow Hill Antarctica 2010 on The...
19 Reviews
5 out of 5 stars
Emperor Penguin Snow Hill Antarctica 2010 on The Icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov
$59.99
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Your best buddy on this will be one of those plastic smoothing tools you can find at any home improvement store, without it you WILL have bubbles.
Overall worth the money, fairly simple to get up- but take your time to line it up correctly or the whole effect will feel off.
1. The seams are made to overlap, but my particular mural seemed to vary between about 5mm to 1cm in overlap. Look closely before peeling back the layers to find spots where the design is the same on each panel, then use that as your reference when applying each panel.
2. You're gonna have some small bubbles or creases here and there. We lucked out in that our mural was a rather busy design. If you are 50/50 on a couple designs, pick the one that's busier. It'll give you more to look at, but it'll also do a better job of hiding these inevitable bubbles/creases.
3. If you end up screwing up(like I did) and have a spot where there's a gap between panels..don't worry. If you're like us, you'll probably end up trimming the mural on either the sides of the wall, or the top/bottom. Save these small strips because they are often visually similar enough to cut to size to cover the gaps. I also did this to cover a spot where I didn't cut the mural perfectly along the ceiling. You'd never be able to tell the difference unless you were looking for it. This is another area where a busy design helps you mask imperfections.
4. I used my hand to smooth this out at first, then I realized that a dry paint roller isn't bad either. The vinyl is durable, but I don't know that I'd want to use a brush like the instructions say to do. A hand or paint roller works just fine.
5. I drew a vertical line on the wall before installing the first panel. I recommend this to get things started off on the right track. Subsequent panels you're probably gonna have to more/less eyeball, but with 6 panels per 100x144" mural, you probably won't get too out of whack before you're done.
6. When it comes to outlets, you should probably remove the face plates before installing. After you cut the opening for the outlet or whatever, replace the plate for a super clean look.
7. If your wall is shorter than the mural, don't be afraid to attach that first panel with a few inches of overhang on top. You can always come back and trim it, and this will assure that if your wall isn't perfectly square/level/plub, or you are a little bit off with your placement of subsequent panels, you won't end up with a gap at the top. You can always come back and trim the excess.
8. If your mural has more interesting features at the top/bottom/left/right, you'll want to factor that into where you trim. In our case, we had a forest scene with an awesome green grassy area at the bottom. Because of that, I trimmed the excess 14" from the top.
9. If you do have to trim a good sized section (maybe a foot or more), save those mini panels. You can use them to add a slice of nature in a closet or laundry room or something like that.
10. Beware that these panels have very strong adhesive. yes, technically you could peel them off whenever you want, but just during the install, I had to peel up a section or two that I screwed up, and in two places it ripped a big chunk off the face of our drywall. It was janky drywall, so I'm not blaming the mural..but just be aware that if your drywall is in similar condition, expect similar results.
Great product. Not the easiest thing you'll install, but take your time and think ahead and you'll be ok. My only regret is that we didn't do this sooner. If I had to nit-pick, I just wish they offered this product in a wider size. We easily would have paid another 30% or so for a size just a few feet wider so it would cover our entire wall.