Product Review

-- Wall Decal Product Review -- 

Chris Ferguson of Splash Wall Art invited us to take on a review project of their vinyl decal designs around the end of October, and when I visited their site (http://SplashWallArt.com) I was really impressed with the designs they had listed there. The company has been specializing in wall decal since early 2009, and is based in Oshawa, Ontario (Canada).

I was particularly interested in the Winter Tree, Bamboo, Japanese Crane, Marsh Cattails and Music Notes designs, but had a hard time choosing those from the many designs available – especially from the nature categories. Once you’ve chosen a design, you can also choose from available colors and even the direction of the design, depending on the options available. 

The decals arrived on Nov 18, about 8 days after ordering, in a recyclable elongated cardboard box. The decal was rolled up in a scroll with instructions tucked inside. Reusable tape held scroll together, allowing me to access the instructions and then roll the decal up again. The site mentioned that their decals could be applied to just about any smooth surface from walls and ceilings to windows and mirrors, etc. but to avoid textured and fabric surfaces. So we decided to place the decals we received on two different surfaces (as shown in pictures) – the winter branch scene in the waiting room of our basement drum studio, and the other decal, a golden snowflake, was placed on one of Dave’s hand made fiberglass-hemp fiber composite hand drums.

Once I unrolled the decal I realized that this was going to be much easier to apply to the wall if hubby Dave lent his two hands to the project. We started by reading the single, one-sided sheet of instructions, and then laid the scroll out flat and ran the plastic application tool (a plastic square, about the size of a business card) over the decal design to ensure the decal was sticking to the transfer paper. Then we both held up the vinyl sheet to the wall, figuring out where we wanted it to be placed – and then marked the top line with a couple pieces of masking tape. We then cut out the birds in smaller squares and set those aside. The two of us gently peeled the back paper off and using the masking tape as a guide, one of us pressed the top to the wall while the other held the bottom of the vinyl away from the wall and straight. Working his way down the sheet with his hands, Dave pressed the vinyl sheet smoothing any wrinkles away with his hands until he reached the bottom.

Using the plastic tool again, he pressed the design onto the wall securely and then we carefully peeled the vinyl sheet away. Occasionally a spot of the decal seemed like it wanted to come up with the sheet, so we simply stopped peeling the sheet away and used the plastic tool to press the decal on the wall more securely. It only took the two of us about 15 minutes to read the instructions and apply the first decal – the winter branch scene – and place the birds where according to whim.

The snowflake decal went on the side of the drum really easily – taking only about 2 minutes to apply.  The site says that the decals are waterproof and will last for 3-5 years, but are made of very thin vinyl and cannot be reused.

The instruction sheet said that if you ever want to remove the decal simply warm slightly with a blow dryer and then slip a craft blade under an edge and begin peeling off slowly. The site claims that when you remove the decal you won’t have any problems with residue.  The company also does custom work, useful for businesses who want that special something for the window, vehicle, desk, waiting room walls and so on.

Special offer for our readers: use the code brummet11 at checkout to receive 10% off. Valid until the end of the year; coupon does not apply to items on sale.

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