How to put wallpaper

Although wallpaper was the star trend of the 1960s and 1970s, it is still a quick, simple, and inexpensive option to decorate the walls of your home today. It is easy to put on and the wide variety of colors and patterns that exist allows us to adapt each of the spaces to our style, giving them a distinguished and elegant air.

If you are thinking of using this technique and giving a different touch to the rooms at home, pay attention to the following article. Next, we explain how to put wallpaper and achieve a perfect finish. Discover the best techniques, guidelines, and tips to renovate your home with this safe bet.

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Tips for choosing wallpaper

Wallpaper is an ideal and practical option to dress the walls of your home and, in addition, it offers endless and varied decorative options. Patterns, flowers, smooth papers, children’s, details… There is so much to choose from! And their advantages are varied: their maintenance is easy since they are washable. They protect your wall from scratches, they can be combined with painted walls. They can recreate different environments and textures on each wall and they are ideal for covering cracks, stains, or any other damage.

Before choosing the wallpaper for the desired room. You must take into account your needs and what you want to achieve with it:

Highlight a wall: if your goal is to highlight one of the walls of the selected room, we encourage you to do a combination of papers. Opt for one in light tones and another in bold tones. It is also a good option to bet on vinyl letters or some specific reason, to give the wall the prominence it deserves.
Expand the room: if you want the room to appear larger, opt for smooth papers and, if possible, light tones. These will give a feeling of spaciousness and light to the room. Remember that if the objective is just the opposite. To reduce the width of the largest spaces, you should bet on dark colors.
Cozy room: with warm-toned wallpapers, you will achieve a cozy effect in any room.
Transform your furniture: if the wallpaper is characterized by something, it is its power to create a different environment in your home. Therefore, they are a safe bet if you want to renovate furniture without having to get rid of your furniture. With wallpaper on the wall, in the background on a shelf, or in a closet, you will get a quick, easy, and cheap renovation. And if what you are looking for is to renew a piece of furniture with this technique, do not miss this other article: “ How to decorate a piece of furniture with wallpaper ”.

Types of Wallpaper

The options when it comes to getting wallpaper are endless since there is a wide variety of paper styles (smooth, patterned, imitation materials…) and different textures. However, if you are thinking of decorating your walls with them. It is important to know the most common types to put the most appropriate wallpaper:

Vinyl: Consists of a paper base and a vinyl layer. It is strong and resistant to light and moisture. So it is recommended for use on busy walls. The best thing about vinyl, in addition to its multiple decorative possibilities, is its quick and easy placement: you glue the paper and you can stick it freely on the wall you want.
TNT (Non-woven fabric): it is a textile and vinyl-based paper. It is ideal for children’s rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, or corridors, given its resistance to wear. Like vinyl, TNT has a simple glue-based placement.
Paper: paper as such is more delicate than the previous options. So it is recommended to place it on walls with less traffic. Its textile and paper-based composition allows the results after placement to be very elegant and sophisticated. It is the least fast option since paper and wall must be glued, however, the results are extraordinary.

When choosing a paper you must also take into account the surface that you are going to wallpaper. For this reason, for example, walls with gotele or wood are not recommended. In these cases, putting wallpaper is more complicated. With the hotel, you will get the paper to be wrinkled, which will give a feeling of poor placement, and the result will not be pretty or satisfactory. In the case of wood, you could do it as long as its surface is smooth and stable. In these cases, it is recommended to use TNT papers, as they are the most suitable for furniture and wooden surfaces.

How to put wallpaper on the wall

Now that you know what wallpaper is and what options you have when decorating the walls of your home. You should know how to put wallpaper on the wall. Thus, we recommend you follow these instructions for wallpapering :

Prepare the room. Before starting the task of wallpapering the wall, you must prepare the room where you are going to work. Although placement is usually simple, it is important to move any furniture that prevents you from working comfortably. Clear the room to work without obstacles.
Prepare the surface. Preparing the surface where you are going to wallpaper is basic, both to choose the paper and to work properly. The wall must be smooth, smooth, and absorbent. In case there are cracks or gaps, it is advisable to caulk the wall to make it uniform. And if the room you want to wallpaper already has wallpaper, you must remove it to be able to place a new one. To do this, do not miss this article: ” Tricks to remove the paper from the wall .”
Cut the paper. Next, you must cut the paper that you are going to use. The recommendation is to measure the height of the wall at various points and always leave about 5 cm more margin at the top and bottom. Cut the paper into strips using the following calculation: divide the length of the roll by the height of the wall plus half the repetition.
Glue. With the paper that you are going to use prepared, it is time to glue to place the wallpaper on the wall. Remember that if it is vinyl or TNT it will be enough to put glue on the base, on the other hand, if it is paper, you must also glue the wall. Prepare the paste consulting the instructions and help yourself with a brush to spread it on the paper.

To wallpaper! It’s time to put the wallpaper on the wall. Go place strip by strip, so that they are glued and extended on the wall, without leaving gaps between them. Pass the wallpaper brush or your hand so that the paper is completely smooth. It is a precision job because the important thing is that the paper is aligned with each other so that the strips are not visible. When wallpapering corners, door or window frames, or jumping over an obstacle, as in the case of radiators. You should leave a few centimeters left over and cut them with the help of a cutter or scissors.

Wallpapering a wall is not a very difficult task, but it does require patience, care, and dedication. If you want the result to be satisfactory, don’t try to do it quickly. Now that you know how to apply wallpaper correctly. Take your time to obtain a result that meets your expectations.