Decorating, DIY, My Home

How To Apply Wallpaper – Photowall Review

Today I’m sharing how to apply wallpaper in your home! I added traditional wallpaper to my daughter’s shared bedroom, and I am SO excited with the result! See this sweet whimsical wallpaper I chose from Photowall and how it added some beautiful character to the room!

If you’ve ever been curious on how to apply wallpaper, look no further! I recently applied some traditional wallpaper to my daughter’s bedroom and was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was!

I have installed peel & stick wallpaper a few times, and have become familiar with the process. This time I wanted to try a traditional wallpaper to see how it compared, and found some tips and tricks to share with you!

How To Apply Wallpaper - Photowall Review by A Heart Filled Home

I received wallpaper to use for this post from Photowall, all opinions are my own.

My 2 youngest daughters just started sharing a room, so that definitely warranted a room makeover for them! I had painted an accent wall and added my youngest daughter’s name on the wall a few months ago when I first decorated her room. That needed to go in order to create a room for her to share with her sister!

Choosing A Wallpaper

I decided that wallpaper would be a great solution to cover up the previous accent wall I had created with paint and letters, and it helped that the wall already had a smooth surface with no texture. So I started browsing for a sweet feminine wallpaper that would be perfect for a kids bedroom and found so many options on the Photowall site!

I narrowed down my wallpaper choice to the Fauna pattern for the accent wall, and placed my order! The ordering process was very easy – simply adding in your wall measurements! I was so pleased that I could also add a wallpaper kit to my order that had just about everything I needed to get started. And I have to mention that I had my order in less than a week – it shipped SUPER fast!

Prepping The Wall For Wallpaper

The first thing I did to prep my wall for wallpaper was to move the furniture away from the wall. Then I started cleaning & prepping the surface. The wall had some damage from where I had placed some wall mounting tape and a hole from an old drywall anchor. I used this to repair the damaged areas. When it had dried I sanded them down with the sandpaper end and wiped off the dust.

Next I got out my wallpaper supply kit, scissors, measuring tape, a damp towel, and unboxed my wallpaper and bag of paste mix. You mix one bag of paste mix with one gallon of lukewarm water in a bucket (or in my case, a plastic shoe bin) and stir it well. Then you let it sit for 5 minutes to let it thicken up and then you are ready to go!

They make the process of matching up the pattern super easy because they number off each section for you! I had a total of 10 sections, so I located my first section by finding roll 1/10. I cut off the section above the dotted line where the section ended. They also add above each section “this end up” so you know which end goes on the top of the wall!

After I had my first section of wallpaper cut I used a measuring tape, pencil, and level to draw a level vertical line on the wall. The wallpaper is 17.72 inches wide, so I measured approximately 17.6 inches from the left wall and made a mark on the wall. (I measured it slightly shorter on purpose, so that it would have a slight overlap on the corner. Walls and ceilings are seldom straight and level, so creating an overlap in the corner meant that I could trim off the excess along the left side with a craft knife.) Then I used the level to make a straight line on the wall.

Applying the Wallpaper

Next I applied the paste to the wall using the paste brush for the first section. If you apply paste to the entire wall first you risk the paste starting to dry in the areas you haven’t applied the wallpaper yet. I applied it to just a 18 inch wide area the full height of the wall, and applied each panel afterwards.

Then I applied my #1 wallpaper panel aligning it to my level line I drew on the wall, overlapping it on the ceiling and left side. I smoothed the wallpaper down with the supplied wallpaper brush (long black brush). I applied pressure from the center and smoothed it out to the left and right.

Next I used the supplied straight edge and craft knife to carefully cut off the excess on the top, left side, and bottom sides. I made sure to press down firmly with the straight edge and slowly cut with the knife while keeping it running along the straight edge. The wallpaper is pretty thick, so there were areas I needed to go over twice to make sure I cut through the paper completely.

After my cuts were made, I ran my damp cloth over the edges to smooth down the top, left, and bottom edges and wiped off any excess paste. I waited to wipe down the right edge until I applied the second panel.

RELATED: HOW TO APPLY PEEL & STICK WALLPAPER

Next I applied my paste to the wall for my second section and placed my second panel on the wall. I again made sure I had the right side up. You want to make sure to line up the wallpaper edges so the patterns meet together perfectly. The wallpaper shouldn’t overlap, instead you want the panels to sit side by side on the wall.

After cutting off the top and bottom edges, I used the wallpaper brush for smoothing the surface. Then for the seam I used the supplied roller to roll down the entire seam, where it presses the edges on the seam down firmly. Then I used the damp cloth to wipe off any excess paste.

Wallpaper Accent Wall

The moment I first stepped away from the wall to see the entire wall from the other side of the room, I was floored! This beautiful wallpaper makes such an amazing impact on the room! I am SO pleased with how much texture and character it adds to my daughter’s room.

I love the muted colors, the cute animals, and classic repeating pattern of the wallpaper. When I picked out this Fauna pattern I imagined how my daughters would stare up at the little animals and create fond memories in their room.

Applying a wallpaper accent wall was such a fun way to liven up my girls bedroom, and add some pattern and visual interest to the room! Now that I’ve tried applying traditional wallpaper, I can confidently say that I would do it again!