Steve Kaye Decorating Services

Wallpapering a room - Get it right.

If you are brave enough, or foolish enough, to want to hang your own wallpapers, here is some advice for you on choosing the right TYPE of paper.

IMPORTANT NOTE!: A common myth about hanging wallpaper is that good paperhanging means you will 'not be able to see the line between each sheet', or the 'join' as it is sometimes called. I say this is a myth because there are so many variables in hanging paper that you simply cannot guarantee this. Without going in to all the variables, I will say that in MY experience, it is impossible for anyone to guarantee that the line between each sheet of paper will not show. (You heard it here first). - And I've hung a LOT of paper on walls. Some of the variables are: thickness of paper, quality of paper, wall surface, wall surface preparation, type of glue/paste, the skill of the paperhanger, temperature, humidity, type of work area. That's just a few. In a nutshell, you do your best, but don't beat yourself up over unsuccessful attempts to create invisible lines.

OK. Choosing the right TYPE of paper.

What are you going to do with the walls once they're papered? Are you going to paint them or are you going to have the paper itself as the final finish? Either way, opt for a good quality paper. Now, in the UK, good quality does not equate with PRICE, in my experience. There is one particular brand of wallpaper which is manufactured by a household name that is the same as the high street store name. The papers are quite expensive and usually floral. Personally, I've never successfully hung a Laura Ashley wallpaper, and personally, I do not like them at all. That's a personal view of course.

If you're going to paint over the paper, use a good quality Anaglypta or lining paper. How do you get good quality papers? What I do is to buy them only from Decorators' Merchants instead of the High Street stores or big DIY stores. That's not to say the High Street Stores or big DIY chains don't have good quality papers - just that they do tend to sell a 'mixed bag'. Decorators' Merchants, who cater mainly for the professional decorator, on the whole, sell only good quality stuff and the cost is very reasonable. The Dulux and Crown Merchants are good, and so are Brewers Decorators' Merchants.

The thicker the better. Thicker papers will tear less, stretch less and the weight of them alone will assist you to get straighter lines. Yes, they will take up more paste, but that's minimal cost. For lining papers, go for 1400 grade, or even up to 2000. When it comes to hanging the paper on the wall, a thicker paper will 'butt up' against the last sheet so much better than a thin one.

If the paper you want is to be the final finish, again, I would always opt for a thicker paper, not tissue thin. Unless you're going to have vertical stripes, there will inevitably be some pattern matching to do, so don't buy a paper with a pattern so complex that it will be the devil's job to match up each sheet on the wall.

Measure your walls and buy enough to do the whole job in one go, with the same batch number for every roll. If you have to go back for more paper, having run out, you may not get the same 'batch number' and the color can vary remarkably. SO BUY ALL YOU NEED IN ONE GO. If you buy from a Merchant, chances are you can return what you don't use as long as it's unopened and you have the receipt.

The only paper you can buy from anywhere with absolute impunity is good old woodchip. This was very popular in the '60s and '70s but it's still available and has its place, especially where you have walls which are 'all over the place'. If it is clear from the state of the walls that no way are you going to achieve anything like a straight line with any sheet, then maybe woodchip is your answer. You can overlap it without too bad a consequence, you do not have to pattern match, and of course, it's nearly always painted afterwards and you can cover up a whole multitude of decorating sin!

Wallpapering is never the 'easy option' so go easy on yourself and choose the right type of paper in the first instance.

NB: recent experience indicates to me that there is currently a massive amount of European and chinese imported wallpaper on the uk market. Much of this is apparently, high quality and not inexpensive. However, it does not appear to have been manufactured to the normal higher standards and suffers from either too much stretch when pasted, twisting, or it actually seems to shrink after pasting. This causes problems. The fault is not in the design of the pattern but in the poor manufacture of the backing paper. Personally, I am now considering either only using uk manufactured papers or no longer paperhanging at all. I need to look into this further, but I would advise anyone purchasing wallpapers to take great care and buy only quality British papers at this time.

Painting the woodwork

Painting the woodwork. Ho hum. By woodwork I am referring to the skirting, the window and door frames (inside) and the doors. All of these areas will probably need preparation. By preparation I mean the following:

Remove nails and bits sticking out, whatever they are. Fill in any holes or cracks with a good quality filler, let it dry and sand it smooth. Rub down doors with a solution of sugar soap and water, or hot water and washing up liquid if you don't have sugar soap. Make 'em clean basically.

Vacuum. Yes vacuum all your dust and bits so they are totally gone. There is NOTHING in the world of decorating more infuriating than seeing bits of stuff all over your newly-glossed woodwork. o vacuum. If you can't use a vacuum cleaner, ask your other half. She'll know. If she doesn't, you probably won't be civilised enough to do painting. Watch telly instead.

Using a one-inch, a one-and-a-half-inch or even (max) a two-inch paintbrush, apply a good, full coating of acrylic primer undercoat (dries fast) to all woodwork, using smooth, even strokes. Do all the woodwork except the actual door. We'll come to this in a minute.

When it's dry (one hour on a warm day) do exactly the same with your top coat, which will probably be a white gloss. Smooth even strokes remember. Use enough paint to put a good coat on, but if it's running after a few seconds, you're using too much. In fact, why not use something like Crown Non-Drip-one-coat? A fantastic product. Can't go wrong with it.

When it's done. Leave it alone, don't mess with it. any touching up can be done when it's dry (about five hours in a warm room or whatever it says on the can).

The door is another matter. I prefer to use a mini foam roller and a mini roller tray and put several coats on. That applies to primer/undercoat and the gloss. Use a different roller for different paints of course. Throw the rollers away when you're done. Wrap the gloss roller up in a plastic bag between coats. You'll probably need three coats of gloss because it doesn't go on too thick, but does give a nice finish.

That's it!

Keep the kids and the cat and the dog away until it's dry.