How-to Hang Wallpaper

If you’re planning to refresh your home this summer with a spot of redecoration, it can be a daunting task knowing where to begin. Whether you’re hoping to update your lounge, dining room or bedroom, wallpaper can help transform the room and give it an entirely different feel! Today at I Love Wallpaper we’re guiding you on how to hang wallpaper successfully so that you can treat your unloved walls to a brand new lease of life with your new favourite wallpaper.

Getting started

Before heading straight into it, it’s wise to prepare the space you’re planning to decorate and ensure that you have the right things you need to wallpaper your walls. Whether you’re aiming to create a feature wall on a chimney breast or hoping to wallpaper an entire room, you’ll need the same kit of wallpapering essentials to ensure a smooth application and brilliant end result.

In the list of items below, we have presumed that the wall is ready for papering with the previous wallpaper stripped and the wall primed and free from residual old paste.

What you’ll need to wallpaper a wall:

• Paper-hanging scissors with long blades
• Wallpaper or pasting table
• Plumb line (and chalk/pencil)
• Wallpaper adhesive (paste)
• Paste brush or roller
• Seam roller
• Wallpaper brush
• Combination smoother/cutter
• Ladders (if required)
• Wallpaper of your choice – calculate how many rolls you’ll need beforehand by measuring the wall/s, as there is nothing worse than running out of wallpaper!

How to hang wallpaper

To make sure that your wallpaper lengths are applied straight, take the plumb line and chalk/pencil and draw a vertical line down the wall. If you’re hanging patterned wallpaper, we suggest starting at the windows or at the chimney breast and working outwards around the room.

Step 1: The first step will be to measure the height of your wall and add roughly 10cm extra to allow for trimming before using wallpaper scissors with long blades to cut the first strip ready to paste. You can use this first strip to then measure the second strip, and if your wallpaper has a pattern, match the two strips side by side to ensure you’ll be able to line them up so the pattern is continuous.

Step 2: Follow the instructions and mix your chosen wallpaper adhesive in a bucket or roller tray, depending on whether you plan to use a pasting brush or a roller to apply the paste (in this case, we’ll presume you’re using a brush).

Step 3: You’ll want to lay the first strip of wallpaper face down onto the pasting table and using the wallpaper brush, apply the paste in upwards and outwards movements, covering the entire side of the paper.

Step 4: From one end of the strip, fold towards the centre of the length. This concertina style folding will help when it comes to placing onto the wall, dropping out the folds and aligning the wallpaper to meet the previously drawn chalk line on the wall for a straight fit.

Step 5: Once you’ve positioned the first strip of wallpaper, leaving edges at the top and bottom, use the smoother to meet the edges and smooth out any bubbles. Using the smooth brush bristles, tap along the edges where the paper meets the ceiling and skirting boards.

Step 6: Score a line using scissors along the edges before following the scored line to trim the excess paper and smoothing the wallpaper back into place.  

Repeat these steps until your wall or room is complete!

We hope that you’ve found our first guide on how to hang wallpaper useful. Next up, we’ll be discussing how to handle those pesky obstacles, such as how to install wallpaper behind fixed radiators and how to hang wallpaper around windows.

Browse our full range of wallpaper here at I Love Wallpaper for on-trend interior design inspiration for your home, and for perfect application, get your kit ready to go with our collection of professional standard tools!  

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