8 common mistakes in wallpapering

You have likely invested a lot of time in designing your room; avoid disappointment by avoiding these common wallpapering pitfalls. Here, we highlight some of the most common mistakes people make when wallpapering and how to avoid them.

Take an honest look at the wall you are wallpapering and assess the current condition and necessary preparations. Then, get started. Yes, it can be meticulous and sometimes a bit time-consuming to remove screws and nails, followed by filling and sanding. You may want the wallpaper up yesterday, but taking those extra minutes for a truly excellent end result will be well worth it.

Using the right tools makes a significant difference in the final result. Many times, it always sounds so simple and smooth when you’re about to wallpaper or paint, but it’s easy to forget something. Therefore, make a list and check off the following before you begin.

Usually found at home:

• Pen
• Bucket of clean water
• Scissors
• Level (water, laser, or plumb)
• Tape measure
• Stepladder/stool
  
  May need to be supplemented:
  
  
• Non-woven wallpaper adhesive
• Wallpaper tools
• Cellulose sponge
• Brush
• Paint tray
• Roller
• Wallpaper knife/razor blade

It can be a bit tricky to figure out how many rolls you need for your project. Does the wallpaper have a pattern match? If yes, then you need to add an extra piece near the ceiling to align the pattern. Ordering exactly the amount needed can backfire. Therefore, a tip is to buy an extra roll in case the wallpaper might tear later on, ensuring you have a roll with the exact same batch/color code; otherwise, there might be slight variations between shades. 

Before the wallpaper dries on the wall, you can still smooth out bubbles by pressing them toward the edge using the wallpaper tool. If the bubbles cannot be removed, it’s because you used too little adhesive.

What many often overlook is the consumption of razor blades. Depending on the surface (concrete, plaster, or wood), blades wear differently. Plan on changing the blade every other strip, don’t forget to flip the razor blade and use all 4 edges. Wallpapering becomes much smoother, and the edges become crisp and straight.

Sometimes the seams can shift slightly, and if you haven’t painted with matching color where the seams are, visible lines may appear. Therefore, make sure to paint in a matching color to avoid this.

A non-woven wallpaper is always placed edge to edge as it doesn’t expand like a paper wallpaper. If you see that the wallpaper strip is not aligned, don’t twist or push the strip into the right place without loosening it and starting over.

Feel free to wallpaper in a room temperature and ventilate thoroughly.

Many times, unfortunately, this is not the case. Therefore, we recommend placing the first strip near the edge. Let’s say the wallpaper is 53 cm wide; remove about 2 cm from the strip’s width (51 cm) from the corner and place the first strip there using a laser or plumb. This is to have enough wallpaper for the corner, and the wallpaper will be straight along the entire wall.