Wallpapering for beginners

Simonon77

Also, the first couple of times you do it, it will look rubbish. There is quite a knack to doing it that you get with experience to get a good result

plumb1_2

Iam still using my late fathers decorating tools,paste brush, smoothing bush and scissors.
Theyve over 40 yrs old.

Bigphil1474

Hope this helps. My rough guide to doing a half decent DIY wallpapering job, and not paying a professional to do a professional job.

I once was a total novice wallpaperer. I've had to do the wallpapering in our house for the last 20 years, it's pretty easy to do a decent job once you get the knack. I prefer doing it on my own, and it is pretty easy as a one person job, although 2 people might be better until you get the hang of it.

You can get decent paper at the likes of B&Q, you just have to check the paper thickness. If you buy thin paper, you either need good walls to start with or use lining paper first (which makes it twice the job). Paste the wall or paste the paper are pretty much the same in my experience. Pro's and cons either way. If I use paste the paper, i usually paste the wall as well anyway as it makes manoeuvring the paper easier. The last room i did was paste the wall, and I didn't paste the paper. Worked ok. Wallpaper paste is cheap, so not a major concern as to how much you use. 

Here is my papering kit -

- fold out table. You will need one whatever paper you use to roll the paper out to measure and cut.
- long scissors
- pencil
- sponge
- edge roller
- measuring tape.
- spirit level

The first run on any wall is the most important - get it as straight as you can/necessary. Will depend on the pattern as to how precise you need to be - avoid stripes if your walls aren't straight. I usually measure across (on the wall) about a centimetre more than the paper width from the starting edge, then use the spirit level and draw a vertical pencil line right down the wall. Usually start from the light source end - if the window is on the right, start at that end. The pencil line will last for next time you have to do the wall, however many years that may be, and won't show through the paper. I've found pencil lines from the first job I did 20 years ago.

Prepare your paper - measure the full length of the wall, add on about 10 cm, roll the paper out on the table, measure from the top and mark the bottom just near the edge using the pencil. If you then fold the paper at the mark so the folded edges are straight with each other, you can then run the side of your pencil along the fold to sharpen the fold, then use the fold line and scissors to cut the paper. 

If you are pasting the paper, then paste it, starting at the bottom, and leave for 10 minutes, have a sip or two of your cuppa. The bottom will be the edge you just cut. If the paper is too long to paste on the table, start at the bottom, and when you get to the end of where you can paste, fold the bottom half over onto itself. Be careful not to crease it. Always use the beginning of the roll as the top, so when you do the next piece, where you've cut the previous piece will be the top as well. Paste right up to the edges and try and get an even coverage. You will get paste on your table so clean it down between each piece. 

If you are pasting the wall, paste it before sorting out your paper. When you've cut your paper, leave it for a few minutes. Have a few sips of your cuppa. Always have a cuppa on hand.

Put the paper on the wall. If it's folded, try and unravel the fold before it gets on the wall as you don't want paste on the front side of the paper. As you previously cut it 10 cm too long, you have 5cm each end to play with, so put the paper on so the top is basically just onto the ceiling. Push the top of the paper into the angle where the wall meets the ceiling, then allow the paper to fall onto the wall. As you have a pencil line on the wall, you want to make sure the paper looks straight to the line - you should have a rough 1cm gap all the way down. Make sure it meets the right hand edge as well, although you can cheat on that. Starting from the top, use your slightly damp sponge (or you can using a wallpapering brush thingamy), to push the paper flat to the surface, pushing out any bubble etc. Push down and away to the sides. Try and get it all perfectly flat and straight. Once you've done that, go back to the top. Use the tip of the scissors and score along where the top needs cutting while the paper is on the wall. Try not to cut the paper. Once you've scored it, peel the top back enough so you cut along your score line - you should be able to see it on the inside of the paper. For me this is the trickiest part. Always better to cut slightly out of the score line than in, if you can't cut exact. Once it is cut straight, push back down onto the wall, then do the same for the bottom. The bottom is usually easier as you have the skirting and you aren't halfway up a ladder. If it looks okay, use the edge roller on each vertical edge. If there's any paste on the front of the paper or ceiling or skirting, then wipe away now using your damp sponge. Keep your sponge reasonably clean.

That's the first run done, the second run will push against the first, it so it's just a case of cutting, pasting , and applying the second run and so on. When you put the second piece on the wall, put it on a few millimetres away from the first piece, then carefully slide it up to the first piece so the edges are perfectly aligned. Start at the top and work your way down. If the edges are aligned then it's just a case of then getting it flat on the wall, cutting and so on. Wallpaper can be pushed around on the wall to a certain degree for manoeuvring, and you can pull it off and put it back on a few times without causing any problems. The paste takes a while to dry anyway. 

A cheat - if you struggle getting around a corner then you can overlap the paper. Not ideal but if you place the overlap in the least obvious place, then nobody will notice. If after pushing the paper onto the wall round the corner, it's no longer straight, you can either cut it, which is tricky, or overlap the next piece so the next piece is straight, and the previous bit is covered. My chimney breast has some well hidden dodgy bits but nobody has ever noticed, but very few of our walls are straight, so I think I have a good excuse.

Another cheat - if you accidentally cut the paper a bit wonky on the wall, and can't be bothered/can't afford etc. to totally re-do that piece, get a scrap piece of the paper with a straight edge, paste it onto the wall behind the dodgy bit to sort, then push the dodgy bit back onto the wall. The behind bit will look like it is part of the front bit (hope that makes sense). You can use this method if you get to a corner and struggle getting the paper into the corner straight. If it's gonna have a cupboard in front of it, then it's not worth spending hours trying to get one corner perfect IMO. Bit of a last resort approach, but needs must sometimes.

Finally, if you have lovely flat smooth walls - paint them. 

SadieO

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded, especially those who have taken the time and trouble to give such detailed advice. I really appreciate it! I do acknowledge painting is easier and will be giving it further thought before jumping in, but I do think I want to go for it so I am reading through all the comments carefully and saving them. Thanks again all! 

m0t

Going to add my 50p to this.

1. Prep the walls properly, should be completely flat. Run your hands over them, if you can feel something you'll probably see it when the light hits.

2. Paint the wall a flat colour. I use a cheap white Matt paint for this. If you use a thick paper it might be OK without but bare plaster will make you wallpaper look a different colour.

3. Buy paste the wall wallpaper. I've used both normal and paste the wall and paste the wall is so much easier. 

4. Make sure you have the right tools. Straight edge, proper knife with blades (they dull quickly), pasting brush, sponge, buckets, table to cut on.

5. Try and think about where the paper will join, ideally you wouldn't want to get to the end of the wall and realise you've got to cut a 2cm wide strip.

6. Your wall won't be straight. Easiest thing is to start from a corner and measure out a distance less than the width of your wallpaper from it and fix it there and cut the paper in to the corner. E.g. If your wallpaper is 50cm wide measure 48cm from the corner at the top of the wall, draw a straight line using a level (or use a laser or plumb Bob) and fix the paper to that line and then use a sharp knife to trim in to the corner.

7. If you can remove switches and sockets as it makes it easier to paper over them.

8. Take it slow.

9. Try not to go for a complicated pattern match if you've never done it before.

10. Buy more wallpaper than you think you need. 

SadieO

m0t said:

5. Try and think about where the paper will join, ideally you wouldn't want to get to the end of the wall and realise you've got to cut a 2cm wide strip.

6. Your wall won't be straight. Easiest thing is to start from a corner and measure out a distance less than the width of your wallpaper from it and fix it there and cut the paper in to the corner. E.g. If your wallpaper is 50cm wide measure 48cm from the corner at the top of the wall, draw a straight line using a level (or use a laser or plumb Bob) and fix the paper to that line and then use a sharp knife to trim in to the corner.

Thank you! These 2 tips in particular are genuis. We've already noticed in the bathroom that the grouting is slightly wedge-shaped at the corners and against the ceiling in order to get the tiles to be straight, so I imagine we might find similar when we start looking closely at the bedroom walls! (1930s house). 

FreeBear

SadieO said: We've already noticed in the bathroom that the grouting is slightly wedge-shaped at the corners and against the ceiling in order to get the tiles to be straight, so I imagine we might find similar when we start looking closely at the bedroom walls! (1930s house). 

Boxing in some pipes than run down the corner in the hallway. One wall is leaning out by ~15mm at the top, and the other is leaning in by about 25mm. The first one corrected by using an extra thick layer of plaster after sticking some insulation up. The other wall, I'm going to have to cut some tapered battens.

CliveOfIndia

SadieO said:

m0t said:

5. Try and think about where the paper will join, ideally you wouldn't want to get to the end of the wall and realise you've got to cut a 2cm wide strip.

6. Your wall won't be straight. Easiest thing is to start from a corner and measure out a distance less than the width of your wallpaper from it and fix it there and cut the paper in to the corner. E.g. If your wallpaper is 50cm wide measure 48cm from the corner at the top of the wall, draw a straight line using a level (or use a laser or plumb Bob) and fix the paper to that line and then use a sharp knife to trim in to the corner.

We've already noticed in the bathroom that the grouting is slightly wedge-shaped at the corners and against the ceiling in order to get the tiles to be straight, so I imagine we might find similar when we start looking closely at the bedroom walls! (1930s house). 

Over my lifetime I've lived in many houses.  A 400 year old farm house, a couple of 1940's terraces, several houses that were built less than 5 years before I bought them ... I've never yet come across one where the floors/ceilings were perfectly horizontal or where the corners were exactly 90 degrees.

Only recently I put up a shelf, fairly high up so it was close to the ceiling.  The Boss came in and said it wasn't level.  I got out the spirit level and demonstrated that it was absolutely bang-on in every direction, front-to-back, sided-to-side, diagonals.  I was actually pretty proud of just how perfect it was.  She was adamant it looked wrong, so I put the spirit level on the ceiling - that was just a smidge out of level.  So the shelf looked wrong.

Sorry for waffling !  But yep, I'd be mightily surprised if you found straight walls or perfect corners, hence why a plumb-bob (or a home-made version thereof) is so essential (though they actually cost peanuts from any DIY shed.

palec1trus

Watch a bundle of YouTube videos first, especially to cover things like how to do corners, doors and windows. 
Prep the wall beforehand, ensuring that it's as smooth as possible. Make sure you have all the tools you'll need. 
Second, apply a coating of Beeline Primer/Sealer or equivalent the day before. This ensures that the paper paste won't dry out (say, if you're papering a freshly plastered wall), drying and crinkling the paper, and makes for the best possible finish. It also makes the papering job easier, IMO. Make sure to brush out any drips before it dries. 
Third, read the instructions on the paper roll insert. Most are paste-the-roll for a reason - to ensure that the paper shrinks before you apply it to the wall, not on it. Folding the paper over (as instructed on those YouTube vids) won't leave a crease. 
Fourth, take your time. It'll take a lot longer than you expect anyway. 
Fifth, stand back. If you can't see some minor detail from a couple of fee or so away, it's probably not worth worrying about. 
Sixth, and most important of all, don't skip point two - it's really good and I can tell the two rooms in my house where I've used it, versus the three I haven't. 

35har1old

tacpot12 said:

Wallpaper is easy enough to remove if you have a wallpaper steam stripper (which cost approx £40) and the paper isn't waterproof. The wall will be in roughly the same state that it was when you papered, but you might need to give it a quick wipe with a damp cloth. 

I wouldn't use pre-pasted wall paper. Pasting is easy enough once you have a pasting table and pasting brush. You will also need a long scissors (ordinary household ones will do if they are sharp - a good pair of Fiskars are £15 on Amazon), wallpaper hanging brush, a hard roller for the seams, a disposable knife and wide scraper/jointing knife. (The disposable knife is used to cut along the ceiling and skirting boards while you hold the wallpaper hard against the wall with  the wide scraper/jointing knife). Buy good quality tools and they will last a lifetime of papering, except for the disposable knife! 

Turn the electric off while you work around sockets and lightswitches, and don't forget to allow for the length of the pattern if you chose a wallpaper with a repeating patten. The roll will tell you the distance over which the pattern repeats.  

Finally, don't buy cheap wallpaper. It can be much harder to hang than the better quality paper you will find at the likes of B&Q and Homebase. 

 

Some papers now require you to paste the wall not the paper