You’ve picked out your animal print wallpaper and have brought it home in anticipation to putting it up on the walls. But, now you need to know how to install wallpaper. Wallpaper installation is actually quite easy all you have to do is know a few simple things about installing wallpaper and you will be a pro in no time.
Before you can put your wallpaper on those walls they need to be prep’d so that your hard work won’t be for nothing. The best choice for preparing your walls is to clean them with a product made for walls. Knowing the walls are free of any contaminants will ensure that your primer and paper stay where you put them. Once the cleaning is done the next step is to fix any damage to the surface of your walls. This means filling in any nail holes or chips along the surface. Don’t forget to sand down any rough spots after you’ve filled the holes and imperfections. To finish off your wall preparations don’t forget wallpaper primer paint. A coat of this will aid in the adhesion of the wallpaper glue to the wall.
You’ll need a sturdy workplace that’s big enough to accommodate your paper, your roller, and your tray. A good suggestion is to use two sawhorses and a strong sheet of plywood. Vacuum off the surface and pick any lint off of your roller so you don’t end up with interference for your glue that will cause your paper to fall down later. Wearing rubber, plastic, or latex gloves it wise to keep the glue off of your hands and any oils or dust from getting on the paper from your hands. To make sure you have a straight and level line to follow use a pencil and a level or laser line to mark where your first piece of wallpaper should go. To ensure a good fit once your paper is up on the wall, always cut your strips with an extra 2 inches on top and bottom that way when the paper is on the wall you can use a box cutter to trim it at the ceiling and floor. This way there will be no accidental gaps to ruin the look of the wallpaper.
If you purchased paper that is pre-glued on the backside you’re already ahead of the game. If you need to apply the glue yourself, be sure to purchase glue specifically made for wallpaper applications and then follow the directions on the container to apply it to your paper. If your glue needs to cure fold the paper like you’re folding a letter to send in the mail so that the glued sides face each other and then set it aside until the glue is tacky. You’ll know it’s tacky when you put your finger on it and it sticks for a moment then releases.
For the next step you’ll need a smoothing tool to remove the bubbles from your paper once you put it up on the wall. Use the guiding line you made to keep the first piece straight. If this piece goes up crooked the rest will too. Use the smoothing tool from the middle of your paper out to the edges to push out any air that would make bubbles. Don’t panic if the piece is crooked in places, you have about 10 or 15 minutes to fix it before the glue completely dries. Take your time and put up one piece of wallpaper at a time. But the edges of your pieces close without overlapping and then use a wallpaper roller to press down the seams.
To finish off your work take a sponge, don’t use one made of a synthetic fiber, and wet it just enough that it’s no longer dry. Apply the sponge to your paper to get rid of any glue that stayed behind and to finish getting any lumps, bumps, or bubbles out of the paper. You did it! Now you know how to put up wallpaper. You installed your magnificent animal print wallpaper and added an exotic flare to your room.