For someone who loves home decorating but has little patience, wallpaper is the key to transforming a room in a matter of hours.
Television transformation shows are the equivalent of a home decor horror movie.
No-one can paint and then decorate a room in the timeframe shown without having a bad result long term.
However, if they hung wallpaper all would be well.
Wallpaper moves in and out of fashion and painted walls have been popular for some time.
The cost of wallpaper in New Zealand has made painting seem a good alternative but it lacks the depth and feel of a hung covering.
Paint a wall that is less than perfectly finished and every flaw will be highlighted.
Wallpaper’s few millimetres of thickness will conceal many a plastering flaw.
Hanging wallpaper is straightforward.
I started when we built a cottage for visitors and had a living room, bedroom and bathroom to do.
My dad had always done wallpapering in our houses when I was growing up and he generously offered me his box of tools and plenty of good advice.
The only downside now I have the hang of doing it is that no vertical surface is safe from potential improvement, from the inside of bookcases to perfectly fine, if rather dull, walls that could do with a paper perk-up.
Tool kit
You will need wallpaper to cover the room.
Measure several times and check you have allowed for any extra needed to match a pattern.
There are online calculators and shop staff will help if you take your measurements with you.
Also stock up on size, a paste-like wall prep, a plumb bob, which is essentially a vertical spirit level, scissors, tape measure, a pencil, paste, pasting brush, smoothing tool, damp cloths and a Stanley knife.
Choose your wallpaper
Mum used to bring home several different rolls to choose from. Now you get a small sample in a bulky book that won’t stay open. However, take the book home and check it in the room you are planning to hang it in. Feel the weight of the paper.
A very light one will possibly tear when you slide it on the wall. Is it suitable for a wet area if it is for a kitchen or bathroom?
I have bought wallpaper from the UK and had samples posted before making a final choice.
Trust me, it’s worth the wait.
There are five rolls of brand new wallpaper in my store room if anyone is interested ...
Prepare your walls
Strip and size is the key here.
If walls have previously been wallpapered, now is the time to perfect your stripping routine.
Pull it all off.
Steam may help if it is really stuck or very old.
Hire a machine if you have a large area.
Steam from a recently boiled kettle may help in a pinch for a small area.
If the walls are painted, wash down with sugar soap to remove dirt and grease.
If they are shiny, question the life choices of the previous decorator and lightly sand.
Paint the walls with size and let it dry.
Tedious, but crucial as it seals the wall and gives the wallpaper a little slip when you are getting it into place.
Hang the paper
This is best done in daylight.
I do not recommend starting at 10pm with a glass of whisky to hand ... even though that wall turned out just fine.
Start behind a door or near a window, but not right against it, and work in one direction around the room. Hang the plumb bob at the top of the wall and make the line.
This is what you will line up your first strip with.
The corners in the room will not be square, trust me, and if you start with that it will end in tears.
Trust me.
Measure carefully and allow extra top and bottom for trimming later.
Cut two or three strips, making sure to match any pattern before cutting.
Paste either the paper or the wall according to the information on the wallpaper wrapper and then hang it up.
Slide gently around to get it lined up with the vertical line you made earlier.
Use the smoothing tool to press the wallpaper on to the wall and shift any bubbles away at the edges.
Use a damp cloth to wipe off any excess paste now not later.
Congratulate yourself and carry on around the room.
Finishing up
The following day trim the extra you left at the top and bottom with a sharp blade and straight edge such as a metal ruler.
Doing it sooner may tear the paper or too much longer and it will be very difficult to get off the skirting boards or cornices.
Ask me how I know ...
Now is the time for that whisky and to plot the next room in need of transformation.
