Spring 2021 One Room Challenge: Week 3

I spent 10 hours wallpapering on Saturday with only a few essential breaks (lunch and to get more wallpaper paste). The result, so far, is really good.

The wallpaper pattern has a slight sheen to it. You can’t really tell in the picture above, but when light hits those parts it looks shiny. In the picture below, the light creates little ripples or waves on the wallpaper. The wallpaper is perfectly flat (no bubbling, folding, or waving). This is purely due to the light and the sheen of the wallpaper.

Sadly, I ran out of wallpaper after we completed 3/4 of the room. I’m bummed this happened…I used the wallpaper calculator and everything! The wallpaper budget is starting to really add up. It may become the second most expensive thing in the room (cabinets are the first). We had a couple of pieces of wallpaper that were discarded because, well, I screwed up. We (my husband and I) cut a corner piece on the wrong edge (doh) and another corner piece looked pretty wrinkled, so I threw it away. Hindsight, I probably could have saved it.

The rest of the wallpaper is due to arrive Monday. The plan is to tackle it sometime during the week, so our weekly schedule doesn’t get off course. We’ll see how it goes. 🙂

More Wallpaper Youtube Videos

Last post, I shared a couple of the Youtube videos I watched to prepare for wallpapering. I found a couple more that would be helpful.

Trade Professional’s Guide to Wallpaper Decorating: One of the most informative videos I’ve found. You’ll feel really wallpaper smart after watching it. While they talk about installation, I found the background information and common issues segment the most interesting and helpful.

How to wallpaper corners: I usually try to keep things PG, but wallpapering around corners sucks. My number one takeaway from this experience is f*ck the corners. This video gives you the general process of how to wallpaper the corner of the room. I have my own tips for this below and a silly cartoon about the experience. Please enjoy.

Tips & Tricks for Paste-The-Wall Wallpapering

1. Have an excellent laser level. Jer and I bought this laser lever, and we couldn’t be happier. We used it multiple times when wallpapering (to start each wall, basically).
2. Corners, Oye. We followed the directions on how to wallpaper corners. You should really watch the video or look at the cartoon for the general process. Here’s the thing that you need to know – nothing is ever perfectly straight. The walls and the corners are not straight. Lining up BOTH the pattern in the corner and having a straight piece of paper was not working no matter how much we tried (and we messed with the first corner for three hours). We finally decided the most important thing was to have a straight edge to start the new wall. So, basically, the corner would look how it looked, and I was not having any feelings about it. We used the laser level to set the straight line (we had to adjust it once or twice to ensure there weren’t any gaps in the corner). After we prioritized the straight line, it worked out well. The corners look fine for the most part. Since there is distortion from the corner, it can hide some of the imperfections. If you look at the first photo in the post, you can see the corner looks just fine. Bottom Line: Prioritize having a straight edge on the new wall.
3. Keep a wet towel and dry towel with you at all times. Every video I watched said it’s better to use MORE adhesive than not enough. This leads to a ton of glue accumulating on your wallpaper smoother. If you don’t clean this off, you’ll be spreading the glue all over your paper. Yes, you’ll wipe the paper down with a wet sponge, but it’s better not to make a huge mess in the first place. If my smoother got glue on it, I would quickly wipe it off with my wet towel and then dry it before using it again. I cleaned the wet towel whenever I changed my water (see below).
4. Change your bucket of water frequently. After watching the trade professionals video (linked above), I learned leaving any glue on your paper will create shiny spots. Likewise, if you don’t keep your water/sponge free of glue, you could create a big mess (you’ll basically be spreading the glue all over the wallpaper when you are trying to clean it). I changed the water every 3-4 sheets of wallpaper. That may have been excessive, but I don’t see any shiny spots so far, so I think it worked.
5. Have a Buddy: Paste-the-wall wallpaper is pretty easy, and I think one person can do it alone. However, having my husband there to help was super nice. If I became frustrated or needed a minute to step away, Jer could jump in (and vice versa). I’ve found that wallpapering requires patience and attention to detail. By having another person present, you guarantee someone will have the bandwidth to maintain the needed attention. It’s also nice when you have to cut the paper and generally makes it more fun.
6. Add a little water to the adhesive if it gets too thick: I noticed that the adhesive was getting thick after a couple of hours. This made it difficult to spread on the walls. If I added a small amount of water, it made it liquid enough to apply easily.
7. New at this? Order 25% more than you need. Wallpaper is expensive and that motivated me to order just what I needed, but I should have accounted for the novice factor and assumed I would make mistakes.

Final Thoughts On Wallpaper

One of the things that I saw over and over again when reading about wallpaper is most manufacturers recommend a professional installer. I get it because some papers are much more difficult to work with and the paper is so expensive. My opinion is with non-woven, paste-the-wall types it’s totally DIYable. I’ve already purchased wallpaper for the laundry room and it’s prepasted. We’ll see if I remain as optimistic with this type. 🙂

As always, check out the other guest participants and the featured designers to see updates on their projects!

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