Last weekend I used a $15 roll of contact paper to make this ledge look like a wood beam! It was an easy, cheap project with a big impact. And the great part is that it’s super easy to peel it right off if I want a change.

I took down all my decor here so I can start Christmas decorating this week so it was the perfect time to test this out. We have SO many ledges in this house so I’m always trying to get creative. (Check out my snake plant ledge here.) Here are some views of the before.

This is the contact paper I used. I didn’t know if it would be strong enough to stick to this textured ledge, but it worked great. It even had enough tack to it that I would pull it up and reapply when I needed to. It even has a slight texture to it with the grain. And the bleached wood color is just what I have in mind. I’m really impressed.

The only advice I would give is to try to wrap the paper around the corner instead of creating a seam so it looks more realistic. First I wrapped the smaller part on the end. Then papered the long side and folded it down underneath. Then the third piece filled in the narrow part left underneath. I didn’t line the wood pattern up and even overlapped it just a bit and it looks great.

Update

The paper started to peel in the upper right hand corner of the long edge. I applied some pre-made wallpaper paste to stick it back up. I’ve had to do this with a couple other peel and stick papers because of my wonderful textured walls. Hasn’t peeled since.