As any ambitious homeowner will tell you, wallpapering the rooms of your home by yourself is a big project. It can involve a serious amount of frustration if you're a novice. If you've got a short fuse, it may be best to call a professional, but if you're determined to do this yourself, you'd be wise to consider a few tips to keep your frustrations to a minimum.

When purchasing your wallpaper, take the measurements of your room first, and bring them with you to the store. Remember that it's better to have too much than too little; there's nothing worse than wallpapering a room, discovering you have too little and then finding out that the store has run out of the pattern and/or color of wallpaper that you need. While you might be able to order it, sometimes you can't. To avoid that castrophe, purchase more wallpaper than you think you need.

If your walls are covered already with existing wallpaper, it's best not to wallpaper over them. You're going to end up with lumps and bumps that you can't cover, and it's going to look like a novice job. In addition, if you ever decide to strip off the wallpaper in the future, trying to remove two layers is going to be a monumental project. So before you start anything, strip off the old wallpaper, and wash your walls with warm water.

Don't start anything until you've done a little pre-planning. Make sure you've got a good idea of where the strips of wallpaper will be laid before you begin. Novice do-it-yourselfers often apply big strips in the middle of walls and then find themselves needing to stick narrow strips near windows and doors. If your wallpaper is dark in color and comes pre-trimmed, a common problem to which you could fall victim is conspicuous white edges. Experts recommend finding a piece of chalk in a similar shade as the wallpaper, and tracing it around the edges of the wallpaper. You shouldn't face any problems with white edges or noticeable seams.

While many manufacturers will tell you to dip your strips of wallpaper into water, some home improvement experts disagree. Instead, they recommend pre-pasting your wallpaper using diluted pre-mixed paste -- a clear solution to which you should add roughly one-half cup of ammonia per gallon of paste. Turn the wallpaper face down onto a flat surface, such as a table, and apply your paste. Don't saturate it. To make sure you evenly apply the solution, you may want to use a roller. It's also a good idea to wipe the wallpaper with a sponge occasionally in order to avoid puddles of solution from collecting on the wallpaper.

If your wallpaper has a dark background color, it's going to show seams and tears much more easily. Murphy's Law usually guarantees that you won't spot mini rips in your wallpaper until it's hung on your walls. You can attempt to beat the odds by keeping your attention tuned to the project at hand, and by arming yourself with acrylics or colored pencils (the water-soluble variety). In the event that you spot a slight tear or a noticeable seam, use your pencils or apply your acrylic paint to a clean cloth, and rub it lightly along the seam or tear.

If you're hanging a wallpaper border along the floor and ceiling areas of your room -- and you're applying it over existing wallpaper, it's best to use a stronger solution than you would if you were pasting onto bare, uncovered walls. Instead of the standard paste, use a solution that contains vinyl. This is a good insurance policy against peeling and falling borders.

When you're attempting to line up the borders on adjacent strips of wallpaper, do your best to line up the strips seam to seam. Where many novices go wrong is in their attempt to apply the wallpaper, then slide it over to match the pattern on a previously pasted strip. This could create a mess as it causes glue to slide off and become ineffective. Incidentally, as you're committing the mistake of sliding that wallpaper, if you're able to slide it very easily, that's a good sign that you've applied far too much paste. If you're struggling to slide the strip, that's a signal that you haven't applied enough paste. Of course, this is all beside the point. Avoid sliding. Period.

Wallpapering your room can be a fun project if you know what you're doing. While the process has been known to become formidable, wallpaper adds life and personality to any plain room, and it can be an expression of your unique tastes. If you need further guidance before launching your home improvement project, ask your wallpaper retailer or local paint or hardware store for their own sage advice. With a little advance planning, you can add value -- both aesthetic and financial -- to your home.

Published: September 22, 1999

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