HangingWallpaper.net - a guide to hanging wallpaper
Measuring the lengths of wallpaper
Unroll the length (or 'drop it' if you want to sound like a pro!) of wallpaper and hold it up against the wall where it meets the ceiling. Allow about 25mm (1 inch) of overlap at the top and bottom. Mark the paper with a pencil and trim it to size using a craft knife and a straight edge.
You now have your first length of wallpaper. You can use this as a template to cut enough lengths to cover at least one whole wall.
If your paper has repeating patterns, particularly ones with a large space between them, you need to check that you have left enough space to match up the patterns.
Unroll the length (or 'drop it' if you want to sound like a pro!) of wallpaper and hold it up against the wall where it meets the ceiling. Allow about 25mm (1 inch) of overlap at the top and bottom. Mark the paper with a pencil and trim it to size using a craft knife and a straight edge.
You now have your first length of wallpaper. You can use this as a template to cut enough lengths to cover at least one whole wall.
If your paper has repeating patterns, particularly ones with a large space between them, you need to check that you have left enough space to match up the patterns.
Mixing the paste
Make sure you follow the manufacturers instructions as wallpaper pastes do vary. Try to avoid lumps!
Applying the paste to the wallpaper
The messy bit you've probably been really worrying about. But if you follow a few simple rules you shouldn’t get into a pickle with pasting.
- Roll out all your drops, face down on the pasting table. That’s right, all of them, one on top of the other, face down.
- Make sure they cover the whole table surface. That way you can’t get any paste on the table and then on the wrong side of your wallpaper.
- Use a large pasting brush and start to paste from the centre of the wallpaper, spreading the paste outwards to the edges with each brush stroke.
- Make a concertina out of each drop. Simply fold the wallpaper so the paste meets the paste and the face meets the face and set each piece aside to soak all the lovely paste up. Be careful not to crease it!
- Medium to heavy weight wallpapers need 5 to 10 minutes to soak. The paper should be supple and you should try to keep soaking times consistent.
- Whilst your waiting for the wallpaper paste to soak in to the wallpaper, you can get on with the sizing. Sizing makes hanging the wallpaper much easier and prevents the paste from your paper being soaked up by the plaster on the walls. All you need to do is apply a watery coat of paste to the walls. Just mix some wallpaper paste with water and use your pasting brush to put it on the walls.
Now we’re getting down to the fun part. Remember that line you drew at the beginning, you know the perfectly vertical one. Well hold up your first pasted drop against the line and line it up with the ceiling, allowing a 25 mm (1 inch) overlap which you will trim later. Use a gentle push if necessary to slide the drop into place. Using your paper brush (the clean one), carefully brush from the middle of your drop to the outer edges making sure to remove any air bubbles which appear. Do this from top to bottom until the drop is perfectly flat.
Trim the top and bottom of the wallpaper drop using a sharp craft knife and a thin straight edge. Tuck the paper tightly into the join between the walls and the ceiling using the straight edge. Use the same process against the skirting board at the bottom.
Use a clean, wet sponge to remove any excess paste that has found it’s way onto the surface of the paper and the ceiling and skirting board.
Now stand back and admire your perfectly hung wallpaper drop. Repeat this process for the whole room.
Unfortunately, it's not quite a simple as that. You've now got the corners to contend with!
