Let’s Hang Some Wallpaper! | Week 2 | Spring One Room Challenge

It’s Week 2 of our One Room Challenge and we did the part I am most excited about, the WALLPAPER!!! Nothing packs a punch quite like wallpaper. It sets the style for the entire room! If you need a recap of Week 1 click HERE.

I found this amazing Art-Deco-meets-jungle vibe paper for only $20 per roll on EBay. I bought three rolls to be safe and only used a little over one roll. Ha ha… I’m actually glad I had extra just in case. I’ve bought ‘just enough’ wallpaper before and it was a pain at the end having to try to use all the scraps I had to finish it. I don’t recommend trying that.

Before we could bust out the wallpaper we had to removed these mirrored cabinets. Not gonna lie, these cabinets were soooo handy to have. I kept my everyday items in them. However, these mirrors are not my style and they were way too small for the space. Having tall mirrors brings in height, depth, and a lot more light that we really need in here. They will brighten the space and make it feel much bigger.

The following details how I hang regular wallpaper that is not pre-pasted. I had sooo many people on my Instagram want a complete rundown of how to hang wallpaper. I don’t usually get this long winded in my blog posts, but I wanted to make sure I covered every step. If you are not interested in those details, just scroll through the pictures and you’ll be caught up. However, if you were one of the many people that wanted deets, here ya go! Let me know if you have any questions.

In order to prepare for wallpaper there are a few things to do. If you have textured walls, you need to smooth those out. Texture doesn’t allow the wallpaper to adhere completely. You can get bubbles underneath and the wallpaper will start to peel off. Now, this is more true for paste on wallpaper. The peel-and-stick wallpaper works ok on texture, but it does adhere best on smooth walls as well. No worries! I got you!

To smooth walls you need joint compound! Use a trowel to skim the wall in a thin layer of the joint compound. Once it’s covered and dry you can sand it smooth. Voila!

Now that your walls are smooth, it’s time to prime! I use this Zinsser Primer. It’s a sealing primer and super strong. You definitely need to use a mask when applying it. It works great to give a nice smooth coat for the wallpaper to bond to.

Before you start, you will need some tools. I recommend a kit like THIS one. I use Roman Wallpaper Adhesive for the paste. You also need a brush and bucket for that paste. This time I added a small paint brush out of my kids’ art supplies to help paste the corners. I’ll get to why it was so helpful a bit later. Finally, have a wet rag handy to wipe off excess or rogue paste. Below are all the supplies I used.

Now, on to hanging the wallpaper. First, draw a leveled vertical line as a starting point. For reference, I am hanging mine from left to right. So this first line is on the right side of the paper and the left side is starting in the corner. This line will be a guide to keep the rest of the wallpaper straight. You want to leave at least an inch of wiggle room on the corner side. For example, say your wallpaper is 21 inches wide, you draw the line 20 inches from the left wall out. That way you have an inch to your left to work with if your wall isn’t completely flush. Most likely it’s not. Walls are rarely completely straight. If you don’t do this, there is a chance your wallpaper will start slightly crooked and continue to get worse as you go. This is one step you don’t want to skip. If you need a visual of how to do this, HERE is the video I learned from.

This whole process is much easier as a two man job. I’m sure one person can do it, but having someone at the top and someone holding the bottom is very helpful. The bottom of the paper will roll itself up and touch your pasted wall. You don’t want paste on the front side of the wallpaper. However, don’t stress if you get it on there on accident, you can just wipe it off with a wet rag. It also helped to keep the paper straight having two of us.

After I get my first level line I put a mark every 21 inches, or however wide your paper is, as a guide of where to be lining up next. It also helped to know how far to brush on the glue for the next piece. Only put glue on the wall for the current piece you are hanging. When brushing the paste on use a good amount to cover, but not thick. Don’t put paste on the top or bottom 1/2 inch of the wall. Wait until the wallpaper is lined up and the middle smoothed out to add the paste there. If you do it before, the paper will start to soften. Once the paper is soft it DOES NOT cut smooth. No matter how sharp your blade is, soggy paper doesn’t cut clean. Smooth out each strip using your plastic trowel or wallpaper brush, making sure to get any pockets of air out.

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Once you get the main part of the paper flat and smooth, use the small craft paint brush to add paste to the top first. Push the paper into the crease and have that knife ready. Use the same trowel to push into the corner and cut it straight along the top. Do not worry if it starts to tear, just slow down. It happens. You will notice it at first, but over all it’s really not that noticeable. Then, I do the same method to cut the bottom.

When doing the next roll of paper, cut it to match up the design. Each wallpaper will have a reoccurring pattern starting at different lengths. I pre-cut my strips of paper so they were ready before we started hanging it. I found that using my sewing cutting supplies I already had made this process so much easier. I used the fabric cutting mat, circular rolling knife, and plastic measuring piece. If you don’t have these already you can just use scissors. Give yourself some wiggle room at the top and bottom when cutting it. I have cut it too close before and had to scrap the whole strip. You may not have enough extra wallpaper for mistakes like this. My dad always says, measure twice cut once!

Repeat these steps until you got your wall covered! Go slow around corners. Don’t let your edges get soggy and you are golden! I know wallpaper is intimidating, but you got this!

Wallpapering a bathroom is risky. With all the steam from the shower and a lot of moisture, wallpaper peels. After some research and reading how Liz Kamarul wallpapered her bathroom we took the advice and sealed the wallpaper with this decorators varnish. This seals the paper to protect it from moisture! Everything I’ve read says it will hold up, but I’ll keep you updated.

Alright, what do you think?!? Using a bold pattern brings so much life to this space. It’s definitely feeling much more ME already! Can’t wait to show you what’s next. If you want to see what’s happening this week follow my Instagram Stories.

Cheers Friends –

Jenasie