Product Review: Harry Potter Wall Decal from Decal Guru

Disclaimer: The Decal Guru contacted us asking for a review, and sent us the wall decal and a logo decal. This didn’t impact my review.

Wall decals make me nervous. The idea of putting stickers on my painstakingly painted walls does not give me the warm and fuzzies. I totally get them for apartments. A little residue smudge is really no big deal when you leave. But in my house, where I paint the walls, with colors I spent an embarrassing number of hours on pinterest finding, thanks but no thanks.

But then the Decal Guru emailed me asking me to review their wall decals. So for you guys, I gave it a try.

Application

Everything is better with lasers.

The Decal Guru provides this video for hanging their decals, which provides a good starting point. However I wish they provided tips on hanging the wall decals. I didn’t find the process difficult, but there was a bit more to it than there is with a small decal for a Macbook. Here are some tips I’ve come up with.

1. If at all possible, use a laser level. I cannot emphasize enough how much easier having a laser level made this whole process. I was able to just line the decal up with the laser line. I didn’t even have to use the tape most of the time.

2. While we’re on levels, have two. I used the laser level for horizontal, and a standard level for vertical. This allowed me to get the decal straight easier than leveling one way, moving the level, and then leveling the other.

3. Measure how high you want it to be first, then do your math from there. When I was laying out how I wanted to hang the spells, I just went with where I wanted to start. By the time I got to the bottom though, the design was all off center and I had to restart.

4. Set aside time. I thought this would take about 30 minutes to hang up. It was closer to 90 minutes. You don’t want to rush, so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time.

Overall, the installation went pretty smoothly. The decal backing pulls off as easy as they show in the video. I was even able to do photos with my DSLR with one hand, and pull the backing off with the other.

Removal

Now, the removal. This is the part I was worried about. To get a good idea of how well the decal would remove, I waited a month. I then took off the last letter of Reducto. And you know what? It was fine. I didn’t have any residue or discoloration. And the letter went back up without a problem.

Update 2/17/16: I’m doing something different with this space now, which means it’s time for the decals to come down. They came off fairly easily with no residue. At this point though they won’t go back up, nor would I expect them to. It’s been over a year and a half.

Overall

I was really pleased with how my Harry Potter Spells Wall Decal turned out. It’s still hanging in my book nook up in the nerd cave. The only reason it’s still there, is because I’m sure I won’t have issues when I take it down. The only complaint I have is that Decal Guru doesn’t provide an option to order the decal as one big piece. I understand why the default option is to have them separate. It allows for more flexibility. But measuring, spacing, and leveling isn’t exactly my strong suit. I would be willing to give up some flexibility in exchange of ease of hanging.

You can pick up your own Harry Potter Wall Decal for between $16.99-$32.28, depending on size (for reference, mine is a medium). And if Harry Potter isn’t your thing, they have a variety of other decals available as well.