Most people who go looking for a wall quote end up in the same place: scrolling through hundreds of designs, finding one that is close, and settling. The wording is not quite right, or the phrase means nothing to anyone in the house, or it is the same one that turns up in every third living room.

The good news is that a quote decal is just letters cut out of vinyl. There is nothing stopping you putting your own words up instead — and it costs no more than buying one off the shelf. This is a run through of ideas worth stealing, room by room, plus how to word one so it actually looks good on a wall.

Start with the wall, not the quote

The most common mistake is falling in love with a long paragraph and then trying to squeeze it above a doorway. Pick the wall first. Measure it. Then choose wording that suits the shape of that space — a wide, short wall above a sofa wants a single line, while a tall narrow space between windows wants three or four stacked words.

Entryway and living room

This is the wall guests see first, so it tends to work best as something about the household rather than a general inspirational line. Ideas that hold up:

• Your surname and the year the family started — simple, and it never goes out of date
• A short house rule with some personality: “Shoes off, stories on”
• The coordinates or name of a place that matters to you
• A line from the song that played at your wedding

Kitchen

Kitchens can take something funnier than the rest of the house, because nobody is being reverent over the dishwasher. Short works better than clever here — you are reading it in passing.

• “But first, coffee” or whatever your household actually says at 6am
• A grandparent’s recipe title, in their handwriting style
• “Gather” on its own, large, above a doorway

More in this vein in our roundup of funny kitchen quotes and sayings.

Kids’ rooms and nurseries

Names are the obvious one, and they work — but the sleeper hit is a phrase you already say to them. The thing you say at bedtime, or the nickname only you use. Ten years later that is the bit they remember, not a generic slogan.

Home office, gym, or study

Motivational lines get a bad reputation because most are vague. The ones that work are specific and slightly blunt — something you would actually want to read on a bad Tuesday.

Classroom and studio walls

Teachers and studio owners have an advantage here: you probably already have a phrase you repeat constantly. That is your wall quote. A class motto, a coach’s catchphrase, the thing you say before every recital. See our classroom wall decal ideas and dance studio quote ideas for more.

Ideas we already make

If you would rather start from something finished, these are all cut from the same vinyl and can be resized or recolored to fit your wall:

• Hard Work Beats Talent — there is a whole story behind this one, which we dug into here
• Stay Humble, Work Hard, Be Kind
• In a World Where You Can Be Anything, Be Kind
• Believe in Yourself
• Today a Reader, Tomorrow a Leader
• Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat

How to word a quote so it works in vinyl

This is where most homemade designs go wrong, and it is worth knowing before you commit to wording.

1. Fewer words, bigger letters. A six word phrase at a readable size will always look better than a twenty word paragraph shrunk to fit. If you are torn, cut the sentence in half.
2. Read it from across the room. That is the actual viewing distance. Anything you have to walk up to is too small.
3. Watch the fine detail. Very thin script letters and tiny flourishes are beautiful on screen but fragile once cut. Heavier script and clean block lettering hold up better, particularly at smaller sizes.
4. One color usually looks more expensive. Single color lettering reads as deliberate. Adding colors adds cost and rarely improves it, unless the design genuinely calls for it.
5. Punctuation counts as characters. Long quotes with commas and quotation marks get busy fast. Dropping the quote marks almost always looks cleaner on a wall.

Make your own

When you know your wording, you do not need to wait on a quote to see it. Our decal builder lets you type the text, pick a font and a vinyl color, and see it drawn on screen straight away. Change the wording, try a different font, and compare before you commit to anything.

When it looks right, send it over. We confirm the sizing for your wall, check the design cuts cleanly, and send a free proof before anything is made — there is no charge for the proof and no obligation to order.

Build your own wall quote →

Common questions

Can I use a quote from a book or a song?

For your own home, generally yes. We do not cut designs that use trademarked characters, logos, or brand lettering, so if your wording leans on a specific franchise we may suggest an alternative.

How long can the quote be?

Longer than you would think — long passages are cut in sections that line up on the wall. But see point one above: length is usually the enemy of a good looking wall.

Will it come off without wrecking the paint?

Removable vinyl is made to release cleanly from a properly cured painted wall. Fresh paint needs a few weeks first. We go through it properly in our guide to removing vinyl decals.

Can I get several made at once?

Yes — classrooms, studios, churches and businesses do this regularly. Start at bulk and business orders and tell us roughly what you need.

Made to order in our workshop and shipped anywhere in the United States.