Line an area with wallpaper and you have instant decoration. From blah to daring in a matter of hours, paper could push boundaries beyond what paint can do. It enlivens walls with textures or patterns or both–your pick. And as a bonus, it masks minor imperfections in plaster and drywall, too.
But as frequently as homeowners attempt to hang paper themselves, they rarely get it right, cursing their paring tiles and mismatched patterns–it’s enough to drive you up a wall. Input John Gregoras, a pro newspaper hanger from Somers, New York, with almost two decades’ experience. And, boydid we learn a great deal – everything from the way he intends the layout to how he lines up the previous seam. With this kind of insider know-how, papering only got a whole lot simpler.
Best Wallpaper Techniques Overview
Layout is your key if you are learning how to hang wallpaper. Paying attention to the order where the newspaper goes up ensures that your pattern will remain well-matched and look straight. John Gregoras recommends functioning in 1 direction around the room to keep the pattern consistent.
But regardless of how good your technique, the routine between the first and final strip will seldom match up. For that reason, Gregoras always starts his job behind a doorway, papering out from the corner until he reaches the distance above the door– at the least conspicuous spot in the room.
Very often, the last strip of paper on a wall isn’t a complete sheet. So another wallpapering tip Gregoras uses would be to constantly paper the corners together with broken sheets.
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Apply Wallpaper Paste
Paint the entire room with a wall mounted primer/sizer.
Unroll the wallpaper. As you do, check for defects and haul the paper from the border of your worktable to take away the curl.
Cut the paper into sheets 4 inches longer than the height of your walls. Cut at precisely the same region on the replicate so patterns on adjoining sheets will line up.
Lay a roomgood.ru cut sheet on the table, face down.
Suggestion: Don’t allow paste to have on the table or it will mar another sheet (wash it off with a barely damp sponge if it will ). Slide the paper all the way to the border of the table to apply paste to the ends and borders.
Novel the Paper
Twist the glued back of the paper onto it, bottom and top ends meeting in the middle. Make sure that the side borders line up perfectly. Smooth the paper onto itself as much as possible without creasing the springs.
Set the paper apart to permit the glue to soak in and the paper to relax. Be sure to follow the precise booking time recommended on the wallpaper’s tag, which differs based on its material (much more for vinyl-coated wallcoverings, less for uncoated papers).
Align First Strip
Start in a corner near your door. In case the door is far from the corner, then draw a reference line parallel to the doorway near the corner.
Overlap roughly 2 inches in the ceiling and 1/8 inch in the corner. Gently press it in place.
Examine the dimension between the newspaper and the door casing or benchmark line. Adjust the paper to help keep it parallel to the doorway but still overlapping at least ⅛ inch at the corner.
Tuck and Trim the Paper
(Do not press so hard that you push out glue.)
Trim the excess paper at the ceilingPush a 6-inch taping knife to the joint between the ceiling and wall. With a razor, cut above the knife to trim off the excess. Work slowly. Alternate between moving and cutting the knife. Don’t slide the knife and razor together. Keep on papering to a point above the door.
Continue Papering
On the adjacent wall, then draw a plumb line (if there’s no door or window).
Hang a strip in the corner. Overlap the existing bit on the adjacent wall by 1/8 inch. Measure to the plumb line and correct the paper to maintain the distance equivalent. Smooth the paper. Lean in the ceiling and then cut on the corner.
Hang another strip of newspaper. Unfold the top of the novel and set it at the wall. Match the routine as closely as you can, leaving just a hair’s breadth between sheets.
Suggestion: Push air bubbles out by sweeping the newspaper smoother from the center out to the edges. Wipe off paste on the surface using a sponge.
Close to the Seams
Lightly press the surface of the paper to the wall. Then gently roll the seam with a seam roller to flatten down the edges. Now use the ends of your fingers to push the seam shut.
Unfold the bottom of the sheet and finish matching and shutting the seam. Then tightly roll the whole seam, working a full 3 inches from the border. This locks the seam, keeping it from opening as you smooth the paper.
Smooth the whole sheet. Continue papering the space, overlapping and trimming corners as shown in Step 5.
Suggestion: If the reserved end of this strip starts to dry out until you hang it, wipe the wall with a moist sponge. This will remoisten the paste when you hang on the paper.
Cut in About Moldings
At windows and doors, let the paper float the molding by at least an inch.
Together with the razor, make a relief cut from the paper. Gently run the razor from the molding corner out to the edge of this paper. Use the molding as a guide.
Trim the excess paper flap using a taping knife and razor. Smooth down the whole sheet.
Tip: Mistakes are inevitable once you’re learning how to hang wallpaper. Hide small cutting mistakes on darker papers by coloring the wall or the white border of the paper using a marker that matches the paper. Some pros even color all the paper’s edges so seams are not as evident should the newspaper shrink as it dries.
Cover Switch
Paper the cover plates of electric fixtures to make them vanish. Cut a piece of wallpaper larger than the plate. Cut out of the part of the pattern that matches the paper on the wall around the switch.
Apply paste to the plate, then lay it face down on the paper. Hold them on the wall and then correct the paper to match the pattern on the wall.
Hold the paper and turn the plate . Cut the corners off 1/8 inch away from the plate. Wrap the paper above the plate and then tape it on.
Cut out the switch or receptacle holes using a razor. Make Xs in the screw holes. Screw the plates back on the wall.
