A Beginners Guide - How to Hang Wallpaper

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Consider this my beginner’s guide for How to Hang Wallpaper. How did it work out for me? Fantastic! I’ve never touched the stuff before and it could not of ended better for me. It took a little work, but speaking as a first-timer, if I can do it, so can you!

I want to host a cocktail party in my bathroom, is that weird?

But before we get to the full-on pretty stuff, let’s talk about what it took to get this gorgeous trellis geometric paper up on the walls. Surprisingly, the supply list isn’t too scary. I received my pretty paper from the fine folks at Wallpaper Boulevard. It was a pleasure! (This post may contain affiliate links. This means, should you end up making a purchase, advertisers give me a small percentage of that sale, at absolutely NO EXTRA COST to you. Click here for full disclosures).

What you Need:

You’ll need a bit of a work station. I used this great folding card table we own, but you could even use your dining table — just remember to PROTECT it! Plastic sheeting, an old canvas tarp, whatever you wish — but you just don’t want wallpaper paste all over your table. Ok, was that a clear and concise disclaimer? Good! Let’s get to it!

How to Hang Wallpaper

Step One

Plumb a line to work from. I used a large level and a pencil to get a clear starting point for my wallpaper. I chose to start on one end of my wall, but you could choose to work from the centre of your wall and work out, if you have concerns about your pattern looking balanced when you’re all done. You should position your guideline so that the distance between the wall corner, and the guideline is less than the width of your paper. This will give you excess paper to cut away and keep your pattern layout looking natural.

Step Two

Measure your walls, and measure your section of wallpaper. You’ll want to leave room for at least a few inches of overlap on the top and bottom. Cut your wallpaper. It’s ok… the first cut is always the hardest, but you’ll find a rhythm and it’ll all be hunky-dory.

Step Three

Paste your wallpaper. I worked in quarter sections. I applied the first section, and let it drop off the table. I applied the paste to the second section and booked (folded, without creasing), section two over section one. I pasted section three, let it drop off the table, and lastly pasted section four. Finish it off by booking section four over section 3. Now you’re ready to carry your paper over to your wall.

Step Four

Drop your first section. Now, don’t worry. Wallpaper paste gives you a lot of time to work. No your wallpaper won’t stick to itself. Hold your booked wallpaper in the centre. Grab the corners of section one, and let the rest “drop” down. Line up the right side of your paper to your plumbed line. Once it’s generally in a good position, grab the corners of section four and let it drop away from section three. You should now have a full piece of wallpaper attached to your wall!

Use your smoother and plastic scraper to smooth out any bubbles. The wallpaper paste will allow you to nudge it into position. If you’re a bit out of alignment, hold your hands flat against the paper and gently push it into position.

Step Five

Keep everything clean. Use your soft cloths or a damp sponge to continually wipe away any excess glue off your wallpaper, wall, and tools.

Step Six

Trim. I forgot to take a picture of the real live deal, however I staged this handy dandy image above so you could see how I used my plastic scraper to align my blade to any trim or baseboards I needed to cut around, and glided my knife along to keep everything perfectly straight and trimmed. Remember to change your blades often as to not create any rips in your paper.

And that’s it! Just keep going! I had my wallpaper flowing right into my bedroom! Mine was a straight across wallpaper pattern, meaning all of the pattern in my wallpaper lined up in exactly the same way from left to right across the entire wall. Depending on what type of pattern you are working with, you may need to stagger your pattern. So keep that in mind as you’re measuring and cutting your paper!

So let’s get to the really good stuff and see this boring white box get transformed! You can see how long the wall is that I was wallpapering, and I had a big ol’ window to deal with too, but it all worked out perfectly!

On the opposite side of the room we have our, yet-to-be-finished shower area. And when you peek around the corner, you’ll see our ensuite closet made up of our loveable Pax System from Ikea. The wallpaper stretched from the far side of the room all the way down into the closet area.

It’s so funny now when I remind myself of how white our bathroom once was. Now that the wallpaper is hung, I truly can’t imagine it any other way.

Let’s take one last look at our previous, plain white corner. ^

And, bam! Trellis to the max! Do you see what I mean about a cocktail party in the bathroom?

The hit of colour allowed me to bring in a few new (old) accessories and play around a little bit. Love that!

During our renovations, this ensuite bathroom was such a sweet surprise. The way the new layout worked out, it created such a large space for our washroom (without the need to actually add any square feet). It was unexpected but so appreciated. But, the big space did need a good dose of personality.

The new trellis wallpaper hit the nail right on the head! I love waking up to this space every morning. It’s a breath of fresh air and a great place to get dressed and ready to start a new adventure. Make sure to pin for later!