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How to Wallpaper Like a Pro!

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Rachel Henderson from @therachelhendersonstudio shares her tips and tricks for wallpaper perfection - and makes her kitchen look fabulous in the process!

Roll your way to wallpaper perfection 

First time hanging your own wallpaper? The good news is that the hard part is over; picking your wallpaper style and pattern can be the trickiest part. By now you’re probably very eager to hang your anything but ordinary wallpaper in your home. Rest assured, we’re here to make sure hanging your wallpaper is easy peasy (and fun) from start to finish. Roll up your sleeves and follow these six simple steps, and you’ll soon get the hang of it!

What you'll need:

  • Pencil
  • Spirit Level
  • Roller and Tray
  • Tape Measure
  • Scissors
  • Smoothing Tool
  • Sponge
  • Craft Knife
  • Seam Roller
  • Trimming Tool

Step 1: Prepare with Care 

Before you dive in, be sure to tidy up the walls so you have a beautiful blank canvas to hang your wallpaper on. Cleaning the walls with sugar soap will rinse off any residue of grease and dirt, helping your new wallpaper to stick like a charm.

Then make sure any holes have been filled and sanded, giving you a smooth surface to work your magic on. All the above will get rather messy, so make sure you've laid down dust sheets to protect the floor from any DIY debris.

Step 2: Plan

Depending on your chosen wallpaper design, you will want to hang your wallpaper from a specific starting point.

For a single feature wall, start at the centre of the wall so you have a smooth and seamless focal point. With a pencil, mark roughly where each length of paper will hang to ensure you have enough leftover for any internal or external corners. Locate your middle marking and use your spirit level and a pencil to draw a vertical line from the top to the bottom of the wall. This is where you will hang your first length.

If you plan to wallpaper an entire room, you should start from a discreet corner and measure a line the width of your roll plus an extra two inches front the edge of the wall. Next use the spirit level to draw a straight line from the top of the wall to the bottom. When you line up your first length, the extra two inches will wrap snugly around the corner making it look as seamless as possible!

Step 3: Paste the Wall

The paste-the-wall method is super quick, easy and far less messy than pasting the paper. If you were already leaning towards this method you’re in luck - all Lust wallpapers are paste the wall, and you can buy our handy tube of wallpaper paste before you get busy decorating.

One tube is enough for 8 rolls, simply stir the paste powder into a bucket filled with five litres of water. For feature walls, four rolls should have you covered so half the powder into two and a half litres instead of five. Once stirred up, leave your paste to stand for 3 minutes and you’re ready to go!

With your length markings promptly in place (from step two), you can now apply your paste to the wall so it’s ready for the paper. Empty some paste into your tray and evenly roll the paste where you are going to hang your first length, ensuring you paste slightly wider than the width of the roll. This will ensure that your seams will be securely stuck to the wall.

Use a paint brush to apply paste along the top and bottom of the wall, and around any sockets, windows or chimney breasts. Remember, the paste will dry out so don’t delay and hang your wallpaper smoothly and swiftly.

Step 4: Hang

Now it’s time to get rolling. Hang your first length by carefully and slowly pulling the wallpaper up from the roll and position it so you have roughly four inches of an overhang to allow for trimming. Hang it making sure the edge of the paper aligns with your vertical line. Gently flatten out the paper using your hands. Continue to do so until you have attached all of the first length to the wall. It is important that you take your time to get the first length of wallpaper correctly hung as otherwise it can end up looking a little wonky!

Step 5: Smooth

Our favourite step and the most satisfying. It's essential you work out any trapped air bubbles from your wallpaper, so with a steady hand, gently smooth out all air bubbles working from the centre outwards with your smoothing tool. See, we told you this was the best part!

Step 6: Finish 

Tieing up any loose ends, cut the excess paper at the top and bottom with a craft knife or a pair of scissors. Push the trimming tool firmly into the top of the skirting board so it is sitting nice and snug and use a craft knife to cut along. Do the same for the top of the paper, and then you will have mastered wallpapering like a pro!