How To Hang Wallpaper: A Step by Step Guide

Wallpaper is a creative way to instantly add character to any room in your house. But, many of us are uneasy when it comes to hanging wallpaper by ourselves. If you don't want to pay somebody else to do it, simply take advice from our step-by-step How to Hang Wallpaper guide to get the job done quickly, painlessly and cheaply.

What tools you need for hanging wallpaper

Stepladder

Pasting table

Wallpaper adhesive

Wallpaper brush

Masking Tape

Wallpaper trough

Sponge

Scissors

Putty knife

Spirit level

Seam roller

Pencil

For pre-pasted paper, if your wallpaper states that you can paste the wall and not the back of the paper for hanging:

Cover a section of your wall with the adhesive paste using a standard paint roller.
Then, simply pick up your wallpaper and unroll it from the top corner downwards.
Remember to smooth out any air bubbles and bumps with a wallpaper brush as you work, before trimming off the excess paper with wallpaper scissors. We go into more detail about this later.

For old-style wallpaper that needs pasting before it’ll stick to the wall:

Lie your wallpaper pattern-side down on your dry, clean pasting table.
Get your pasting brush and use upwards/downwards motions — never inwards from the edges to the centre — to spread a thin layer of adhesive all over the wallpaper.
You might need to let the adhesive soak for a while, as it’ll slightly expand the wallpaper to its maximum size. Your wallpaper ‘soak-time’ should be in your product guidelines.
You can also fold the paper in half while it’s soaking, as long as you don’t crease it. This can make it much easier to hang.

Begin at a corner near a window and work away from the light, so that the paper edges don’t cast a shadow if they overlap.
We also suggest choosing your starting point somewhere where you can get a clear, full-length of paper going from the ceiling to the skirting board — nowhere with doors, ledges or sockets to work around.
If your paper has a large, bold pattern, it’s best to hang your first length of paper on a focal point in the room, like a chimney breast.

And that’s it for our How to Hang Wallpaper guide! You should now feel confident and ready to hang your wallpaper alone. Take a look through our great wallpaper range if you haven't already picked out your next design.