By Gene and Katie Hamilton

Want to decorate your walls without wallpaper? One alternative is an easy solution called WallPops, peel-and-stick wall designs that make it easy to transform plain painted walls without having to hang a wall covering. These are not cutouts of contact paper; they're stylish designs made of a vinyl peel-and-stick material in die-cut shapes. Sizes range from 13-inch circles and squares to 6 1/2-inch by 16-foot continuous rolls for striping. The designs are washable and removable, and they can be repositioned as you apply them to the wall. The designs are a quick, creative way to decorate a room that needs a pick-me-up.

A wallpaper hanger will charge $685 to apply a design for a 10-foot-by-12-foot room. This includes labor and material. You can do it yourself for $325, the cost of the designs and save 50 percent. You'll need a pencil, yardstick, tape measure and level. If you need to cut the design, use a scissors or utility knife. The walls should be dry and free of dust, dirt or oil.

The designs are sold at home centers. The web site www.wall-pops.com offers ideas to stripe a room with color or add a whimsical touch to customize a kid's room. The "click and design" page lets you play around arranging the shapes to create your own design.

That sums it up. Knowing the average cost to apply wall art lets you compare doing it yourself with what you can expect to pay a contractor. For a local cost input your ZIP Code.

Improvement and Repair Cost Updated 2018

The cost and time data is generated by averaging labor and material data from annually updated cost books used by contractors and refined by the authors' experience remodeling 13 houses. They are authors of 20 home improvement books and Do It Yourself or Not, a weekly column syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. The national cost can be adjusted by ZIP Code.