Contact Paper: More Than Just Decoration
74Pretty on one side, sticky on the other- that's contact paper in a nutshell. Originally marketed as the Con-Tact®Brand in the 1950s, the vinyl adhesive-backed product took advantage of the plastics craze then sweeping the American nation and could be found used in a wide variety of decorative purposes in many households. Though it's used far more infrequently nowadays, contact paper still maintains a useful niche in home decorating as well as for arts and crafts use. One of the most popular places where contact paper is used remains the kitchen. As it's waterproof, the contact paper can be used as a protective covering for certain key areas in the kitchen- one way is as a cover for recipe books. It can also be used as a lining for cupboards and shelves, or on the front of drawers for decoration. Some people do their whole kitchen in contact paper, citing the ease of cleaning up splatters and other accidents that happen there. However, the simplicity of contact paper means that it can and is used almost anywhere. This is more true now than in the past, when adhesives would often make paper bonded to itself unusable and tear up portions of whatever it was attached to. The contact paper on the market today features a more user friendly adhesive which allows one to actually remove the contact paper and reposition it somewhere else, where it will still stick. There are contact papers in a seemingly endless range of decorative designs, including ones based on natural patterns and materials, including 'hard' materials as in granite contact paper.
An Instant Chalkboard for Cheap
One great type of contact paper is chalkboard contact paper 18 x 6 (18 inches by 6 feet). This is contact paper with a surface like a chalk board, that you can use chalk to write on. It can be put anywhere it will stick, and you can cut it up to resize it for areas where it won't. You could put it on a wall for your kids for something more permanent, or mount it on some plywood for something that can be moved around. You cut cut it to be about 8 x 11 inches for use at the kitchen table. Leaving the peel-off backing intact would allow it to be used as normal. The uses are almost endless. It's wise to use it on a smooth surface, however, as the material is thin enough that bumps will be felt when writing or drawing on the chalkboard contact paper.
Gettin' Woody with Vinyl
Wood grain contact paper can be used in a more subtle way in contrast to decorative or colored contact paper. Of course, it can be a bit tricky to match the grain, color, and texture of wood contact paper with actual wood furniture, but in many cases getting close enough will do the trick. You may be able to use wood contact paper to repair damage to a piece of furniture, as in the case of an ugly gash or a hole made in veneer. For holes where there is no support in the back, it can be a good idea to provide some type of support for the contact paper to adhere to. Otherwise, there could be uneveness in the surface of the material you use. Most of the 'wood grain' contact paper products out there are not real wood, although you may be able to find some that are. Use caution if you plan to finish real wood contact paper with any kind of wood finish, as the end result may yield darker wood and the finish may interfere with the quality of the adhesive as well.
Another use of wood contact paper is to cover an object that is not made of wood, to make it look like it is. Being able to cut the contact paper lets you do this for any object that is composed of smooth, flat surfaces. Of course, the object may not look and feel completely like wood if you use a product that is made of vinyl, so this application is generally of limited use. It may be ideal for when you have a wooden object that is not very attractive, but for which you would like to make use of the protective qualities of vinyl contact paper.
All-Purpose Black
Black contact paper is one of the most popular, as it can be used in so many places for both decorative as well as utilitarian purposes. It also will not show dirt like white contact paper. Usually available as black contact paper 18 x 75, there is plenty for a ton of projects as you have a 75 foot roll that is 18 inches wide and only costs around $20. Some people have found it to be great as contact paper for windows where darkness is needed, as for a home theater. This would be much cheaper than tinting the windows or even installing blinds and curtains. Others like it for "sprucing up" old and dirty spaces, for instance in a classroom where tables may be old and mismatched. All it takes is some contact paper for cover and a space can be transformed.
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Yes, and it could go a lot further if companies started producing it using non-toxic and sustainable materials, as opposed to the vinyl currently in use.
I love the idea of chalkboard contact paper. Brilliant!
Hi Maria,
Thanks for commenting. I agree that it's a very good idea!
What great ideas. I really got alot from this.
Contact paper is a brillent thing to use so we can like decorate lil pretty thing
where can I buy contact paper that looks like wood? thanks
billyaustindillon Level 4 Commenter 18 months ago
Contact paper has come a long way hasn't it from a few bright colors.