Wallpaper border is simple, but do read instructions
Tim Carter
Q: Trends and designs change and I’m convinced wallpaper will rise from the ashes. I’d like to start the resurgence and install some wallpaper borders in a few rooms in my home. What can you share to make this job go smoothly? Have you ever put in a border halfway up a wall? What are the biggest mistakes you can make working with wallpaper borders?
A: Trends do come back, although I’m not holding my breath for the avocado kitchen appliances and the pink-and-gray bathroom tile!
I don’t know whether wallpaper borders ever really fell out of favor. They’re an inexpensive way to add themed character to otherwise bland painted walls.
I’ve installed countless rolls of wallpaper border in my lifetime. My favorite border was one that had palm trees on it in a tropical setting. I installed it about 48 inches from the floor in a themed half bathroom.
If you haven’t worked with wallpaper before, you should know that hanging giant strips of it is challenging. Those old comedy movies showing actors getting wrapped up in the sticky paper are not too farfetched. Wallpaper borders, on the other hand, are simple to work with. It’s almost impossible to goof up.
The biggest mistake you can make, in my opinion, is to ignore any written instructions that come with the border. It’s important to use the correct adhesive. Some borders come prepasted. Instead of using water to activate the adhesive, I’d suggest a clear paste activator. These inexpensive products brush on or roll on with ease.
Be sure to allow the border to expand once the adhesive has been activated. Pros call this booking. This simply means you fold the back of the border onto itself so the A wallpaper border with palm trees added the right touch to a powder room.
adhesive is not exposed to the air. Allow the border to rest or expand for about 10 minutes before putting it on the wall.
I highly recommend
painting the wall with a special wallpaper primer a week before you install the border. These glossy paints allow you to remove the border in the future with little effort. If you apply the border to normal painted drywall, there’s a good chance you’ll rip off the facing paper of the drywall when you try to remove the border.
One of the biggest rookie mistakes I see is when a person wraps the border around an inside corner where two walls meet. When the border dries, it pulls away from the inside of the corner leaving an unsightly quarter-inch gap.
This problem can be solved by pressing the border into the corner very tightly. Use a sharp razor knife to make a straight cut through the border about
inch away from the inside corner. Overlap the border that was about to run across the wall just ¼-inch over this small strip of paper that wrapped around the corner. Trust me, you’ll never see this overlap after the job is complete.