DIY peel & stick tiles; pros, cons & would we use them again?

This post is not sponsored in any way & is just my fully raw & unpersuaded opinion on the WallPops Peel & Stick floor tiles. We'll break down the cost, the process, the things we love about them & the honest truth about the rest!

When we decided to paint our bathroom burgundy in the early fall of 2023 we didn't really have any intention of swapping out the floors. At the time we had black hexagon ceramic tiles that we had installed a few years prior, during our first round of renovating this house. The more we sat on it, we realized the room felt super unbalanced & needed some sort of grounding - We color drenched the room so it's dark from top to bottom with a stark white vanity & of course a white toilet. The room just fell flat. When I suggested a lighter floor out loud it turns out Austin was already there, mentally, he was just waiting for this to be my idea. (He's a team player but won't just sign up for DIY projects if he can help it lol)

It took maybe 10 whole minutes to decide we would just do a peel & stick floor tile. The energy & resources it takes to rip up ceramic tile just wasn't where we were at mentally at the time & we don't always need our home to feel like it's in an unfinished state of chaos. I also knew right away we'd either roll with a checkered pattern or a harlequin (both use the same tiles, it's just the difference in the direction they are turned) - We decided on the CLJ x WallPops tiles in Bonneville Beige pretty much right away & waited for them to go on sale, which didn't take long.

Pros:

Cost - The obvious first pro to peel and stick floors is the price point. Our bathroom isn't big so we ended up only needing 4 boxes. Typically, these are priced around $21 a box and cover 10 sq ft per box. Like I said, we grabbed them during a sale so ours came out closer to $15 a box. Super worth a shot. Worst case we'd be out about $60 all in.

Installation - These were pretty user friendly. More than likely you already have the tools you need right at home already. (Box cutter, level, tape measure etc.) Follow the instructions on the box & you should be in good shape.

Time - Depending on the size of the room & the pattern you choose, it's likely that this is a quick afternoon project for you. Once you get rolling & especially in the center of the room where you don't have to make as many cuts, it comes together quickly.

Cons:

Not ideal for just any surface - These tiles are supposed to overlay just about any relatively flat & hard surface. A lot of the advertisement we saw about these was that you could lay them directly over an existing ceramic tile. Love that, right? Unfortunately for us, the ceramic tiles we laid ourselves 3 years ago weren't perfectly level throughout the room (turns out a good contractor IS worth his salt) so a few of the corners had a harder time sticking to the floor. Once they were down for a few days we also started to see the shape of a few hexagons even showing through the peel and stick. Ahhhhh!!!! It's not so bad we can't live with it, but I definitely know it's there. I assumed these would be thick enough this wouldn't be an issue but live & learn.

Small cuts are difficult - Since we put these in a bathroom we had to work around a pipe, a toilet & of course some door trim. We actually found that it was harder to make detailed cuts with this product than it is with ceramic tile & a wet saw. They just don't come out looking as clean.

Resale Value - I hesitate to even put this on the cons list because you should always renovate your home in a way that brings YOU joy but in the spirit of full transparency, I have a background in Real Estate & have heard my fair share of complaints about peel and stick anything! "ah, the landlord special" or "a house flipper's starter pack" is usually where consumers' minds go. Peel and stick does get a bad rap & it's usually because of the pros list up top, it was quick & inexpensive for you. A potential buyer for your home could see this as thrown together for the sake of making a few extra dollars in profit. Proceed with caution, take your time & maybe use sparingly in your home if you can help it.

My honest opinion on the product;

I do think these are high quality & they certainly accomplish the look I was going for. We were happy about the price point, even if we hadn't gotten them on sale. It's super affordable & that's usually the number 1 reason we're DIY'ing anything in the first place. I feel like this really is the best option for some spaces when the existing floor is an ideal surface & they are installed exactly as they should be. If we don't leave a bunch of gaps & take our time around the edges, they actually look beautiful when finished!

Would we use them again?

The short answer to this is, yes. I wrote peel & stick off for so many years but like I said, I think they have their place. The long & honest answer is, I wouldn't use them super often or in any more than about 2 rooms of our home at a time. Things that "look" cheap usually are! I do believe in durability & high quality products for a home so these maybe wouldn't be the best long term solution. We will also be much more selective about WHERE we use them in the future & conduct a better assessment of the foundation that these will rest on to make sure we get the best out of the product. Lastly, I would prefer, for everyone's sanity (mostly Austin's) to use these in a perfectly open, ideally even a square, space where we're not making tiny detailed cuts around anything. All in all, I will not rule them out entirely when considering floors for future spaces.

Thanks for being here!

-A Team

CLJ x FloorPops Bonneville Beige

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