Blik and other purveyers of peel and stick wall graphics have been raging for a while now. But we think text is a cool idea too, one that's more personal and customizable.
Wallwords is an online service for ordering "pre-pasted and pre-spaced transfer letters for painted walls, wallpaper, windows, mirrors, furniture and metal."
Here's how it works:
The site allows you to customize pre-loaded words or sayings, or to create your own.
You specify typeface, color, finish (matte or glossy), size, and whether you want the text straight or arrayed in an arc. Preview your creation against a color background of your choosing or upload a photo of the wall or object you intend to emblazon.
When you're satisfied you submit your order and after about 10 days they ship your letters pre-kerned (spaced) on a tape strip, which you then press against the designated surface and leave in place by peeling away the tape. Burnish and you're done. Wallwords are removable but not reusable.
Wallword's website says most of their preloaded quotes run about $30, though we experimented with a largescale custom quote of about 10 words that came out to $110.
Let's get one thing straight: we're not talking about plastering rueful sayings like "We become old only when regrets take the place of dreams." onto your bedroom ceiling. Wallword's site is full of all kinds of scary canned sentiments that might seem profound for a minute or two but that you will live to regret after seeing them writ large on your walls everyday. No, we're thinking something that looks less maudlin and more Massin.
Tune in Monday for some cool ideas for writing on your walls...
| Location: |
426 West 6th Street
Tustin
,
CA
92780
|
|---|---|
| Phone: |
888-422-6685
|
| Website: | wallwords.com |
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
We used a similar service -- Wonderful Graffiti -- to add an Emily Dickinson quote to our bedroom. I think the product and pricing is comparable.
do any of these places support non-european character sets? i poked around their site and couldn't find anything that said.
a-m, which quote? how wonderful if it was "the soul selects her own society" written on the cieling over the bed. :-)
Rasil - Wonderful Graffiti seems like it has a good customer service team, so you may want to drop them an email to inquire about other characters. (I don't have any experience with Wall Words.)
And, nope, it wasn't that quote. But I like that one as well!
I sometimes get the urge to apply another quote somewhere else in the house, but wasn't sure if that would be too much.
Err, watch out for the French quotations...whoever did them doesn't speak French. They are full of mistakes (e.g., ice cream is "creme glacé", not "glace"), and many sound as if someone just looked up the translation for the English word, and got the expression wrong.
this reminds me of a roommate i once had. she was this crazy french guerilla filmmaker and she scrawled on her walls in something extremely permanent like sharpie or red lipstick these three sentences:
"The Camera Is A Weapon."
"Are You Confused?"
"Great, Be Confused!"
what. ever.
though i guess it could be kinda ok if one chose a perfect combintation and put it in the perfect arrangement in a room. something tells me, though, that if you have the design sensibility (and lack of pretension) to do that, then you also have the skills to stencil, cut, paint, or write it yourself rather than ordering pre-spaced adhesive die-cuts.
Dude, watch out for the Italian sayings too! I find it weird that they translate some, but not all of them. One of the untranslated ones reads, "Eat ice cream and make it work naked." Ummmm, yeah. Can't wait to see that one posted at my local Olive Garden. And one should just not try to translate "Let the good times roll." OK, I'm off to laugh at the Spanish ones now.
Encountering "let's toast to life" rendered as "Grillons à la vie" was almost more enlivening than a first cup of coffee.
Let's scrawl on the wall "Babelfish is a gun aimed at your own foot."
This is great for lovers of typography. I had a client last year who insisted on incorporating a french quote from wallwords. I centered it above a huge guild gold baroque mirror above a creamy white ornate mantle. It was lovely. The quote was "Eat Ice Cream and Run Naked", but in French, so it's a great conversation starter when guests that don't speak French visit her place.
Wallwords has individual distributors that you can work with to assist you in selecting the right size and color for your home. The distributor I dealt with here was a joy. She sent me a 'sample' word to put on my wall so I could see how easy it was to work with, and she also sent me several colors since I had a hard time deciding between 3 that my client wanted.
To date, I've only ordered via Wallwords twice, and both transactions have been painless. One was an arched quote, which I assumed would present some complications, but if you follow their measuring guide carefully, the quote will come to you arched perfectly.
Wallwords do not stain or destroy your walls, a great perk for renters, they peel right off leaving no mark on your wall. I never thought I'd say this about press-on words, but Wallwords are absolutely stunning because they look hand painted and if done right, somewhat interesting.
Holly
Oh and I agree with a-m, Wonderful Graffiti is another great company. They specifically target interior designers by advertising in Interior Design and in the ASID's Icon magazine (where I found them).
They have professional typographers on staff to help customers customize the Graffiti to their space and been featured in several magazines and in the news, most recently the July issue of Real Simple.
I've never dealt with them personally, so I can only suggest Wallwords since I'm aware of their final product, but I'm sure Wonderful Graffiti is worth looking into.
I know I like the look and feel of the Wonderful Graffiti website MUCH better than the Wallwords site. Wonderful Graffiti feels more modern. The Wallwords site reads very cluttered and 'country home' to me. I feel like I should have a rooster themed kitchen when I look at their website, complete with wallpaper border and a check tablecloth. However, their product is good and the service was to, so at the end of the day, I guess that's really the point.
Holly
I was winner of your raffle gift at Craftsman Weekend, Pasadena, CA -Oct.'06. I was sent a catalog, but have not chosen a design.
Please advise me of the value of gift, and info. needed to order.
Please send catalog to our office in care of
Jeff Coutch at
HHL Architects
172 allen street
buffalo ny.14201
Great product for shop interiors. I've worked with a friend who has a similar product called paint-by-numbers http://www.paint-by-numbers.co.uk
I received WallWords for Christmas and accidently discarded the directions. Please forward the directions to my e-mail address. I would also like an 800 number if I need to contact you in the future.
Carol
have been trying to get help here in the Austin area since before Christmas....agent in Leander seems hard to get started with..any suggestions.
please send me a catalog thank you.
Sandy Sly
706 Mill Rd.
Loudonville,Oh.
44842
please send me a catalog and info about doing logos for a business in wallwords--
salon07
120 north augusta court
mankato, mn 56001
507-625-2665 ASAP!thanks-
Please send me a catalogue.....I fell I've made a great discovery in finding you.
Camilla Malone
9301 E. Manzanita Circle
Prescott Valley, AZ
86314
Please send me a catalogue.....I feel I've made a great discovery in finding you.
Camilla Malone
9301 E. Manzanita Circle
Prescott Valley, AZ
86314
Please send me a catalogue. Thank You.
Karen Endres
8062 Suncrest Drive
Des Moines, Iowa 50320
I found your ad in Cottage Living magazine and
am interested in your products.
Please send me a catalog, we're building a new house and think this is a great find for one of my rooms...
Lynda Wells
21 Caeser Drive
Bristol, CT 06010
could you please send me a free catalog? 1115 ruth st watertown, wis 53094 Thank you!
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