Don't hang here
Eleven steps to make your first wallpaper job a success!
Would you attempt to cook a gourmet dinner before you had learned how to boil water? Could you expect to play in the U.S. Open the first time you picked up a golf club? Of course not. Yet thousands of people every year attempt to install difficult wallcoverings in "hard to hang" areas and fail miserably at the job. They then swear off wallpaper forever convinced that it is the most uncomfortable project they have ever tackled. All of that frustration because they started with a project that many experienced professionals would find challenging.
You can get to the skilled level but first cut your teeth with easier wallcoverings and less challenging areas. The few steps below will help guide you in what is easy and what is not BEFORE you attempt that first installation.
1) Avoid installing wallcovering in your bathroom or kitchen on your first project. Kitchens and baths are chosen for first installation projects because they are small and use less wallcovering. Small does not equal easy. These areas are some of the most difficult rooms to hang because they are cut up and/or usually have a multitude of items to trim around. So forget small. Choose instead a bedroom -- either yours or your child's. Bedrooms usually have walls that (with the exception of a door or a few windows) have relatively few things to cut around. They also have the added advantage that your kids won't notice if you make a mistake and you'll probably be able to forgive yourself a few small bloopers if everyone coming into your home doesn't see it!
2) If possible choose a random match pattern. A random match pattern is one that doesn't require any match along the edge. Anyplace you position the piece of wallcovering will work. Imagine not having to worry about matching those tiny branches down a flowered sheet of wallcovering! You'll be free to learn how to easily position and install wallcovering.
3) Feel like you must have a pattern match along the edge? Then pick a "straight across match". A straight across match is the easiest pattern match available and it's found on the majority of pattern wallcoverings -- so you will have plenty to choose from! Straight match wallcoverings are exactly what they say they are -- patterns that match straight across the piece of wallcovering. Thus if you have half a daisy on the edge the other half of your daisy is "straight across" your piece of wallcovering.
4) Worried about wasting wallcovering when you make a mistake? A small pattern repeat will save money. Pattern repeats are the distance between the exact same design going lengthwise down a sheet of wallcovering. Pattern repeats can be as small as a couple of inches or as long as a couple of feet. The longer the repeat the more you will have to "waste" if you make a mistake.
5) Pick a pattern that doesn't scream if you make a mistake. Stripes, plaids and patterns that have a "grid" will show if you get the slightest bit out of plumb. They also emphasize any crookedness your room might have. Choose instead a pattern that is fairly busy.
6) Don't select a dark background wallcovering. The chances of your seams showing increase one hundred fold if you choose a dark wallcovering. Be smart -- go "light"!
7) Surprise! Prepasted wallcoverings are not necessarily easier to work with then their unpasted brothers. If you do decide to use a prepasted purchase some "prepaste activator" just in case your wallcovering doesn't have enough paste on the back. DON'T purchase a water tray. Of all the things that the wallcovering industry invented that don't work the water tray doesn't work the very best of all! Instead purchase one of those paint pads so you can flow the water on the back of the wallcovering.
8) Prepare your walls. That means get all the old paper off. Then remember the most important rule we teach all our professionals: ALWAYS, ALWAYS PRIME. Use only a primer specified for use under wallcoverings. Your chance of success increases by about 20 to 50% with this one simple step. Wallcovering primers apply easily in a few minutes and they are the best insurance against failure you can purchase.
9) Pick a good starting and ending place. Why off-match a huge floor to ceiling corner when you might have picked a tiny two or three inch place above a door or window? In many rooms by the time you install the drapery treatment you have almost no wall showing above the window.
10) PLAN! Measure the width of your wallcovering. Pick your starting place and then mark off the width of the covering all the way around the room in the direction in which you intend to hang. After marking your room down (the pro's call this "engineering") stand in your room and look at where you've marked. Are there any marks within three inches of doors, windows or corners? Those skinny three inch wide (or less) pieces always look terrible and they take about ten times the amount of time to hang. The solution? Move your starting place backward or forward so that you don't have any of those aggravating thin pieces to fuss with.
11) Order a double roll more then you think you need. Make certain you get it from your local wallcovering store. It is almost impossible to learn to do anything without making some mistakes. You'll feel more relaxed if you know you have some paper to fool around with. You will also feel better if you know there is someone you can call if you have a problem. You can use any leftover wallcovering to cover lamp shades, picture frames and other accessories giving your room a more "decorated" look. If primers are the best "before the job" insurance you can buy, extra wallcovering is best "after the job" insurance available! With leftover paper you'll have something a year from now to make repairs with just in case your walls get stained or need a patch.
Installing wallcoverings can be fun and satisfying. The trick is not to make your first project so difficult that you never feel like trying it again. Take it one step at a time and before you know it you'll be the neighborhood expert!
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