Your Ultimate Guide To Hanging Wallpaper or Murals
How To Measure For Wallpaper
How much wallpaper do I need?
Measure the width of your room then divide by the width of your chosen wallpaper (our rolls are 52cm or 53cm) This will give you the amount of drops you will need.
Then measure the height of your room (ensuring that you measure your highest point omitting any skirting boards or coving.)
Then times the amount of drops by your height - this will then give you the amount of wallpaper you will need - (most rolls are 10m)
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Before you start
Do your research and take your time to think about how you would like your room to look and feel. Gather your inspiration and remember that colour behaves differently accordingly to where you put it, so ensure that you move your peel and stick sample in your chosen hue around the room at different times of the day to see how it responds to different light sources.
Prepare The Room
Move all of the furniture, rugs and accessories etc out of the room or into the centre of the room and ensure that it is sufficiently protected with dust sheets.
Prepare your walls by ensuring that any old wallpaper has been removed and any cracks and bumps have been removed and filled. Your walls should be clean
NOTE: If your walls have been freshly plastered you will need to liberally apply a solution known as 'size' to the walls being decorated and let it dry. This will soak into the porous plaster and stop the paste from being absorbed when applied.
Essential Equipment
Sharp craft knife and or,
Wallpaper scissors (to cut the paper)
Wallpaper paste
Plumb line or spirit level
Tape measure
Paint brush or Roller and Roller tray - for applying the paste
Wallpaper brush or smoother - for ensuring paper is stuck down
Seam roller - to ensure seams are level
Clean damp cloth - to clean off any paste on wallpaper surface or smooth seams)
Ready To Hang Your Wallpaper
Where To Start
The first length or ‘drop’ of wallpaper is vital as all others will align to it so it's essential to ensure it is straight. Start from the left hand corner of the wall you are about to decorate and measure 50cm, mark with a pencil and then draw a straight line down using a plumb line or a spirit level, this will ensure your first drop of wallpaper will be straight.
Our wallpaper and murals are 'paste the wall' so apply the paste liberally to the wall, we recommend a roller as this is a little quicker than a brush. You can paste over the plumb line and make sure you apply paste a couple of centimetres wider than the wallpaper as this will avoid plopping any fresh paste on your first drop when it comes to hang your second one. Use a paintbrush to add paste at the top of the wall, around sockets, or just above the skirting. This will ensure even coverage in difficult areas and avoid the wallpaper “lifting” when dry.
Ready To Hang Your Wallpaper
Hanging Your First Drop
With paste-the-wall paper, the wallpaper can be hung dry from the roll. Use ladders to get to the ceiling or coving, and allow a little extra product, e.g. 2-3cm at the top. As you hang from the roll, lightly brush into place as you go down to the skirting board. Here you can gently push the paper to the wall. Leave the roll on the floor.
Ensure that the paper is in the correct position and is vertically correct. Brush down the paper with the smoothing brush from the centre to the edges of the roll. Cut the excess paper at the top and bottom with a knife or wallpaper scissors.
Ready To Hang Your Wallpaper
Hanging Your Second Drop
Working to the right of this first "drop", paste the wall again, allowing a few centimetres wider than the width of the wallpaper. You should see you don't need to get close to the first drop of paper when doing this.
For the second drop – look to see where the paper matches (the point at which the design fits together along the edges of the wallpaper).
Starting at the top, match the paper as you hang it dry from the roll – lightly brushing the paper to the wall as you go. The paper will slide into place on the paste.
Repeat until you’re done. Don’t worry about taking breaks or giving up for the night. You can pick up wherever you left off – just make sure to reapply the paste.
How To Hang Your Mural
Once you have ordered your mural (you'll need to supply us with the maximum height and width of your chosen wall), it will arrive in 50cm wide sections that will need to be cut from a roll (much like wallpaper).
Follow the steps for preparing, measuring and pasting your wall the same as the wallpaper guide above.
You can then cut each section of your mural as you go and hang it from left to right, smoothing and trimming as you go.
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Wanderlust Amber
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Linear Luxe Deep Greige
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Heirloom Knit Baked Beige
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