I hate painting walls. My entrepreneurial boyfriend Craig and I both like working odd jobs – it’s one of the things that brought us together – but while he may jump at the chance to paint the inside of a house to pad his savings account, I would rather nosedive into a pool filled with cacti.

Enter the first apartment my beau and I are planning to share come this October. She’s beautiful, with a little terrace in the back and lovely, thick windowsills for the cat to enjoy. Alas, her walls are that awful shade of eggshell landlords adore. While I’m sure I could plead my way to the end of a semi-free paint job, I don’t want to live in a coffee shop for two days avoiding the guilt I’d feel watching Craig work alone. Instead, I recently began looking for an alternative to painting, to a hammer and nails, and to tall home accents that fill too-neutral space.

Most of my interior decorating ideas come from admiring the spaces others have created, and my introduction to wall decals was no different. I visited a friend who designed an amazing playroom for her children, complete with ice cream-colored dot decals and little removable chalkboards shaped like animals. No painting, no nails, and no boring biscuit-colored walls. I was enthralled.

In order to experience the differences between the three common types of wall decals and ready myself for the first official wall-decorating extravaganza in our new place, I bought a few small, inexpensive test decals of each type and practiced applying them to my current wall. I learned five new things:

1. There are two types of transfer decals – self-adhesive and non-self-adhesive. Before using non-self-adhesive transfer decals, I must be certain I’m happy with the wall space I’ve chosen. Once I’ve started rubbing the transfer paper with the edge of my credit card, the design can be removed but not reused. (These decals are like temporary tattoos – if the wet washcloth has been applied, there’s no easy way to change artistic direction.) Self-adhesive transfer decals are also a one-shot deal, but they stick with minimal rubbing and I only need my credit card to smooth out the bubbles before separating the transfer paper from the decal.

2. While peeling either type of transfer decal from its wax paper, I must be careful not to let the decal fold in on itself. Transfers are typically thinner than reusable decals and therefore don’t retain shape once they’ve been unstuck.

3. Cleaning up after transfer decals can be a drag. Removing the applied decal after only two or three weeks of humidity meant using a perfectly good toothbrush to scrub away the thin, clinging specks of ruined decal. Older paint jobs can also cause problems.

4. Transfer decals are expensive considering I can only use them once. It’s hard to part with my money when I know there may come a day when I’ll have to toss my decals because the new antique bookcase I scored at a yard sale looks best on the same wall.

5. Peel-and-stick removable, reusable wall decals are goofball-proof. No matter how many times I mess up the application or change my mind regarding arrangement, I can simply pull away the decal and stick it somewhere else. The decal stays in tact, as does the wall paint.

My nesting lifestyle requires plenty of room for cat-related mishaps and late-night bouts of redecorating, so ease of use and portability are the main qualities I’m looking for in a wall decal. If it can render an interior paint job unnecessary, well, that’s just a fabulous bonus.

I’ll set aside all the heavy political sentiments about our national trade imbalance and national debt. You know why? Because this is a fun blog about cute stuff that makes us happy.

Nonetheless, what makes me smile about the above photo from the recent Shanghai International CBME trade show is that the girls are enjoying a product that says Made in America. That’s the way it should be. Our country produces stuff. Another country produces stuff. And we sell each other’s stuff in both places.

So it’s always fun to see the kiddos write on our Chalkboard Decals in other languages:

And it also gives you that warm and squishy feeling to see the universal squiggly children’s drawings look the same no matter what part of the world they come from:

Removable chalkboard decals, which come in all sorts of shapes ranging from apples to rhinos, instantly give your rooms personality and variety since the kids can constantly express themselves with art or language. The more traditional geometric shapes are ideal for dorm rooms, too.

According to the Shanghai trade show, there are now 250 million children under age 14 in China.

That’s an enormous amount of chalk! And did I mention that WallCandy chalk is dustless and won’t make a mess in China, America or anywhere else?

That’s something decorating moms and dads can appreciate in any language!