Wallpaper can add a lot of pizzazz to a room. From boring to bold, wallpaper can push beyond what simple paint can do. It has the ability to add texture, pattern and color to your space and has the added bonus of masking imperfections in your wall. The following are simple tips to hanging wallpaper.
1 – You will want to begin by measuring and cleaning your walls. By measuring your walls, you will be able to determine how many rolls of wall paper are needed. After yo have cleaned your walls, you will want to coat the walls with wall paper primer. This will help the paper adhere to the wall and, if needed, will make it easier to remove.
2 – After the primer has dried, using a measuring tape, measure to the center of the wall, vertically and horizontally. Mark this center point with a pencil and draw a vertical line through the point, using a level. This line is where you will line up the edges of the wall paper.
3- If your wall paper has a pattern, you will want to line it up by laying two rolls side by side on the floor. On one of the sheets, mark where you want the bottom of the pattern to lie. To give yourself a bit of a margin, measure about 4 inches down from the marked bottom. Then, using a straight edge, draw a line across the width of the paper. Trim along this line and repeat this process with your other rolls.
4 – You will want to measure the length of the wall and cut your paper. Beginning at the bottom of the trimmed roll, roll out the rest of the wall paper and measure it to the height of the wall. Using a straight edge once again, cut the paper along this horizontal point.
5 – Prepare your paper by laying out the strips of wall paper on a flat surface. If your paper does not come with an adhesive, you will have to apply paste over the entire surface of the paper. If it does come with an adhesive, use a damp sponge to moisten the back surface of the paper.
6 – Pick up an edge of the paper and fold it over the center being careful in not creating a crease in the paper. Do the same with the other edge. Fold the paper in half again. This whole process is called booking and lets the adhesives take effect. You will want to let your paper sit for about 5-7 minutes.
7 – You can now begin hanging. You will want to begin at the ceiling and unfold the top half of one of the strips. Place directly to the wall and line up the side of the paper with you center plumb line. You will want to use a smoothing tool to smooth out the strip of paper. Gently unfold the bottom half of the paper and using the tool, smooth against the wall.
8 – To get rid of the excess paper along the bottom of the wall, hold a straight edge against it and with a utility knife cut it off.
9 – To remove such things as excess glue and air bubbles, you will want to sweep the entire wall with a damp sponge, working from the top down and from the center outward.
10 – Repeat this entire process for your other strips of paper. Make sure you line up the pattern and place the edges of the paper so that they touch.
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