Wallpaper Application

Draw a level pencil line on the wall marking where the bottom of the border will be. Draw lightly, so that the line won’t show through the border. Apply a primer/sealer between the pencil lines if you’re putting border over paint.

Hang the border the same way you would on a painted wall. Start in the corner with about 1/2 inch of the border overlapping the adjacent wall. Hang the paper along the wall using the line as a guide. Clean off your work with a damp sponge as you go.

Choose the top of the first strip of wallpaper carefully. Hold a scrap of border over the paper, sliding the border up and down to see how it looks on different parts of the paper. Choose a position that doesn’t block out parts of the lower pattern such as the top of a flower or the head of a statue. When you find the right spot, cut the wallpaper a few inches about it. Then cut the paper to length, measuring from where the border will cross it and adding 3 inches for trimming.

Draw a plumb line to mark where the edge of the paper will be on the wall. Draw it with the help of your level and position the line so that about 1/2 inch of paper goes around the corner and onto the adjacent wall. Hang the first strip of paper along the line, and position the top so it crosses the border as planned.

You’ll be able to see a slight ridge in the paper where it crosses the bottom of the border. Put a straightedge along the ridge and, with a new blade in your knife, cut along the straightedge through to the wall. Trim the bottom of the paper where it meets the baseboard.

Gently pull back the cutoff and clean up any excess glue with damp sponge. Continue along the wall. Check each piece for plumb as you hang it. Smooth it with a smoothing tool trim the top and bottom, and then hang the next piece. Continue until you’ve hung paper below the entire border.