Command Strip Hooks {A Cautionary Tale}

Hi everyone. This holiday season I drank the Command Strip product kool-aid...BIG time. The ads for 3M Command Strip products were everywhere, touting their "damage-free" hanging ability. I thought they would be just what I needed to hang up holiday decor without nailing holes in my beautiful, recently painted, walls.

I wanted to spice up our kitchen/dining room a bit with a lighted garland. Simple enough right?

We only finished remodeling this space during the summer, so I wasn't too keen on messing up my glorious handy work. So I bought four of these guys to do the job:

And they did a fantastic job of holding that garland up. The problem was when New Year's rolled around and I was ready to take the hooks down. I had placed the hooks right above the trim. And as you know, you need to pull the tag DOWN to get the adhesive behind the hook loose. But I couldn't actually pull down because the trim was in the way. So I pulled down and OUT. Which ripped the tag right off. Enter my putty knife to pry those suckers off.

Which left my walls looking like crap. This one took some paint with it and scuffed up the trim in the process.

And this one took a whole hunk of drywall with it. Seriously, it's a crater.

 You can see the evidence still stuck to the back of the hooks!

So, I realize that most of the problem in this case was "user error". I clearly didn't think about how the removal process would work and the room I'd need to pull down on those tabs. But still. It's a tough pill to swallow when you've JUST gotten your space renovated and lovely, and have to whip out the joint compound and paint.  Have you had success with Command Strips? Should I give 'em another chance?