How To Wallpaper A Wall
We photographed every stage of papering a nursery wall so you can follow along from the first measurement to the last trim.
The short answer
To wallpaper a wall, prepare a clean, dry and smooth surface, then mark a vertical line with a plumb line so the first drop hangs straight. Cut each length with extra for trimming, paste the wall or paper as the label says, hang from the ceiling down and smooth out air bubbles. Trim top and bottom with a sharp knife, then match the pattern on the next drop.
Hanging wallpaper yourself saves a decorator's bill, and there's a real sense of satisfaction in standing back and seeing a patterned wall come together. For this guide we papered a nursery feature wall with a Sanderson animal print and photographed each stage, so you can see exactly what each step looks like on a real job.
The same steps apply to a single feature wall or a whole room.
What You'll Need
- Dust sheet to protect the floor
- Sponge or damp cloth
- Plumb line and spirit level
- Tape measure and pencil
- Pasting table and pasting brush
- Roller and tray for pasting the wall
- Wallpaper scissors and a retractable knife with spare blades
- Wallpaper hanging brush and a seam roller
- Step ladder for tall walls
- Bucket and wallpaper paste
- Enough rolls of wallpaper from the same batch
Unless you already own most of these, a wallpapering kit saves buying the tools one at a time. We used the Coral 10321 kit for this job.
How Much Wallpaper Do You Need
Measure properly rather than guessing. Good wallpaper isn't cheap, but running out halfway along a wall is worse, especially if the shop can't get more from the same batch. Work out the area of the wall in square metres, then add 10% for mistakes, trimming and damaged sections.
For example, a wall 2.5 metres tall and 8 metres wide is 20 square metres, plus 2 square metres for the extra 10%, so 22 square metres in total. Every roll label gives its area, and the Sanderson paper we used covers 6.9 square metres per roll, so that wall would need 4 rolls.
Windows and doors reduce the area, but we'd still rather have a little left over than come up short. A large pattern repeat also adds waste, as you lose paper lining up each drop, so allow extra for bold designs. Always check the batch number on every roll matches, as colours vary slightly between batches.
Preparing The Wall
The condition of the wall decides how much prep you'll need. Freshly plastered walls must be completely dry before any paste goes on, and our guide on how long plaster takes to dry explains how to tell. Older walls with holes and cracks need filling and sanding with a decent wall filler first, as every lump shows through the paper.
It's possible to hang new paper over old wallpaper, but we don't recommend it. The old paper can lift as the new paste soaks in, and its seams and texture show through. Removing old wallpaper first gives a far better result, and a wallpaper steamer for stripping is the easiest way to do it if you haven't stripped paper before.
How To Hang Wallpaper
1. Make Sure The Wall Is Clean And Dry
Paste needs a clean surface to grip, so start with a wall free of dust, grease and loose material. On top of any filling and sanding, a wash with sugar soap shifts most of the dirt. You can mix it yourself or buy a ready-made sugar soap concentrate cheaply online.
If you do wash the wall, let it dry completely before the paste goes on. Where you can, take the radiator off before you start too, as you'll get a much neater finish than working around it.
2. Mix The Paste
Mix the paste following the maker's instructions on the packet. Even though the Sanderson label recommends Sanderson's own paste, we used Solvite All Purpose Wallpaper Adhesive, one of the pastes in our wallpaper paste roundup. Sprinkle the powder into the water slowly while stirring, which stops lumps forming.
3. Measure The Wall And Mark Your Vertical Lines
Getting the first drop straight is what keeps the rest of the wall straight, so this step deserves the most care. Measure out from the corner or edge of the wall and mark a point slightly less than the width of your roll, so the first drop can be trimmed into an uneven corner.
Roll widths vary. Standard UK rolls are 53cm wide, while the Sanderson paper we hung is 68.6cm trimmed width, so check the label and mark your lines slightly inside your own roll width. Hang a plumb line from your mark and draw a vertical pencil line down the wall against it.
4. Paste The Wall
Our paper was hung with the paste on the wall, so the next job was rolling paste onto the area for the first drop. Pour some paste into a tray and use a paint roller to apply thin, even layers, going slightly wider than the drop. Thick paste causes bubbles and squeezes out at the seams.
Check your wallpaper label before you start, as it tells you whether the paper is made for pasting the wall or pasting the paper.
5. Cut The Wallpaper To Length
Cutting is where expensive mistakes happen. Measure the height of the wall and add 10cm, which gives you 5cm or so at the top and bottom for trimming and some leeway if a measurement is off.
Mark the length on the back of the paper and cut it with sharp scissors or a fresh knife blade, as a blunt edge tears the paper. Check each length for knocks, creases or printing faults before you cut, and put aside any damaged section.
6. Paste The Paper And Fold It
The Solvite packet says to paste the paper, so we also rolled paste over the back of each length on the pasting table, which gives the drop plenty of grab. Follow whatever your own paper and paste labels say.
Longer drops are easier to handle folded. We fold them concertina style, paste to paste, so you can lift the top end to the ceiling and let the rest unfold as you work down the wall.
7. Position And Hang The Wallpaper
Unfold the top of the drop and offer it up to the ceiling, leaving roughly 3cm of overlap onto the ceiling or coving for trimming. Line the edge up against your pencil line and slide the paper into position. The paste stays workable for a while, so you can peel the drop back and adjust it if it's not quite right.
A sturdy set of step ladders makes reaching the top of the wall much safer and easier. Once the drop is up, step back and check it's straight and undamaged before you smooth it down.
8. Smooth Out The Air Bubbles
Use a wallpaper brush or smoothing tool to press the paper onto the wall, working from the middle out towards the edges to push any air out from underneath.
A bubble that won't brush out points to dirt or a bump on the wall underneath. Small ones can be pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, given a little paste and smoothed flat. If you have plenty of spare paper, rehanging the drop gives a cleaner result.
9. Trim The Excess
Trim the overlap at the top and bottom with a sharp knife held against a steel rule or a wide scraper, which keeps the line straight and stops the paper tearing. Don't press so hard that you dig into the ceiling or coving, and change the blade regularly, as wet paper blunts it quickly.
10. Hang The Next Drop And Match The Pattern
Repeat steps 4 to 9 for each length. With patterned paper like our animal print, slide each new drop up or down against the last one until the pattern lines up before you smooth it down. Butt the edges together rather than overlapping them.
11. Roll The Seams
Once the next drop is up, press the join flat with a seam roller so the edges don't lift as the paste dries. Roll gently, as heavy pressure squeezes the paste out and can leave a shiny line on some papers. If a seam does lift once the paste has dried, a dab of seam adhesive under the edge and another pass with the roller sticks it back down.
12. Work Your Way Around The Wall
Keep going drop by drop until the wall is covered. Doors, windows, sockets and corners each need their own approach, so we've given them a section of their own further down.
13. Wipe Off Any Paste
Paste left on the face of the paper dries to a shiny patch, so wipe the finished wall over with a slightly damp, clean cloth as you go and again at the end.
Wallpapering Around Radiators, Sockets And Corners
A plain wall with nothing in the way is straightforward. Most rooms throw in a radiator, a few sockets and some awkward corners as well, and this is how we tackle each one.
Wallpapering Behind A Radiator
Taking the radiator off the wall gives the best finish, and our guide to removing and replacing a radiator explains how to drain it down and lift it off. With the radiator lifted off, you can paper the whole wall in one go and hang it back once the paste has dried.
If the radiator has to stay, turn it off and let it cool first. Hang the drop as normal down to the top of the radiator, mark where the brackets sit and cut slits up from the bottom of the paper so it slides around them. Paste the wall behind the radiator, feed the paper down behind it and push it flat with a long-handled radiator roller, then trim around the pipes at the bottom.
Wallpapering Around Sockets And Switches
Switch off the electricity at the consumer unit before you touch any socket or switch. Loosen the faceplate screws and ease the plate a little way off the wall, then paste and hang the drop straight over the top.
Feel for the outline of the faceplate through the paper and cut an X from corner to corner, as in the photo. Trim the flaps back so they'll sit just under the edge of the faceplate, then tuck the paper in and screw the plate back on to hide the cut edges.
Wallpapering Around Corners
Corners are rarely perfectly square, so don't try to wrap a full width of paper around one. This is the method we use:
- Measure from the edge of the last drop into the corner, at the top, middle and bottom.
- Cut a drop to the widest of those measurements plus a little extra, hang it and smooth it into the corner so a narrow strip turns onto the next wall.
- Mark a new plumb line on the next wall, a little less than the width of your paper away from the corner.
- Hang the next drop to that line so it overlaps the strip in the corner.
- Cut through both layers in the corner with a sharp knife and peel away the offcuts.
- Smooth both sides down and run the seam roller along the join.
Wallpapering Around Windows
Hang the drop over the window opening as normal and smooth it down to the edge of the frame. Make a diagonal cut from the overhanging paper into the corner of the window frame, then fold the paper back against the frame and trim it neatly with a sharp knife. Where the window is set into a reveal, paper the inside of the reveal first so the main drop covers its edge.
How To Dispose Of Wallpaper Paste
You'll almost always end up with some paste left in the bucket or tray. Most wallpaper pastes are water-based and non-hazardous, and the packet tells you how to get rid of the leftovers. Small amounts can be diluted well with water and flushed away, or left to dry out in the tray and put in your household bin.
Our Advice For Your First Wallpaper Job
Wallpapering a room looks daunting at first, but confidence comes quickly once the first drop is up and straight. Take your time over the measuring and marking, keep your blades sharp and buy enough paper to cover a mistake or two.
If the room is having a full makeover, our guide to fitting coving gives the top of the wall a crisp edge to trim into.
Your Questions Answered
Do you paste the wall or the wallpaper?
Whether you paste the wall or the wallpaper depends on the paper, and the roll label shows a symbol telling you which. Paste-the-wall papers are quicker and less messy to hang, while traditional papers need paste on the back and time to soak. On our nursery wall we pasted both, as the paste packet asked for the paper to be pasted.
Where should you start wallpapering a room?
Start wallpapering next to a window or in the least noticeable corner of the room, and work away from it in both directions. That way, the final join, where the pattern rarely lines up perfectly, ends up somewhere it won't be seen. On a feature wall with a bold pattern, start in the middle so the design sits evenly.
Can you wallpaper straight onto new plaster?
You can wallpaper onto new plaster once it's completely dry, but bare plaster soaks up paste quickly. Seal it first with a coat of size or diluted paste, as the paste maker directs. This stops the plaster drawing the moisture out of the paste and lets you slide the paper into position.
Why is my new wallpaper bubbling?
New wallpaper bubbles when air is trapped behind it, from paste applied too thickly or unevenly, or from not brushing out from the middle. Some small bubbles shrink as the paste dries. Ones that stay can be slit with a sharp knife, given a little paste and smoothed flat.
How many rolls of wallpaper do I need for a feature wall?
Work out the wall's area in square metres, add 10% for mistakes and trimming, then divide by the area on the roll label. A wall 2.5 metres tall and 8 metres wide comes to 22 square metres with the extra, which is 4 rolls of our Sanderson paper at 6.9 square metres each. Bold pattern repeats waste more paper, so allow extra.
Can I hang new wallpaper over old wallpaper?
You can, but we'd strip it first. New paste soaks into the old paper and can make it lift, and its seams and texture show through the new drops. A wallpaper steamer is the easiest way to get the old paper off if you haven't stripped a wall before.
How do you wallpaper around a light switch or socket?
Switch off the electricity at the consumer unit, loosen the faceplate screws and ease the plate a little way off the wall. Hang the drop straight over the top, then feel for the outline of the faceplate and cut an X from corner to corner. Trim the flaps back, tuck them under the edge and screw the plate back on.
Why can't you wrap a full width of wallpaper around a corner?
Corners are rarely perfectly square, so a full width wrapped around one ends up crooked on the next wall. Hang a narrow strip that turns the corner instead, cut to the widest of your top, middle and bottom measurements plus a little extra. Then start the next drop from a fresh plumb line on the new wall.
Eddie spent five years as a self-employed painter and decorator before going part time to become one of the main writers at DIY Works. From garden fences to mist coats on fresh plaster, painting and decorating is his speciality.