Wallpapering

[SarahMichaels]

I just tried my hand at wallpapering for the first time but I'm having a hard time cutting the pieces to the right size? How do you know what size to cut the pieces for the parts of the wall you can't reach a ruler too. Also how do you cut around the windows and doors? I tried using an xacto knife to cut around the pieces while holding the wallpaper up to the walls but I had a hard time staying next to the windows I kept going into the wall. Any tips you people have are really appriecieted.

[havanaholly]

Hi, Sara, There are tricks to mini-ing and one of the tricks to wallpapering after assembly is to take a piece of newspaper & cut/tear it to slightly larger than the wall you want to paper, lay it flat against that wall and crease it along the four wall edges, trim it, and you have a pattern for the wallpaper. With a marker write some sort of notation as to which wall it goes on, trim the sheet of wallpaper and paste it in. When it's dry, trim out the window & door holes with a sharp craft knife. If you're using a cardstock template to paper on (for later decor change, troubleshoot wiring, etc) you can take a soft-lead pencil & rub it around the window & door openings on the newspaper pattern while it's in place (you can use masking tape to hold the edges down on the adjacent surfaces to hold it steady, since you'll be trimming the excess anyway), and cut out the openings and then trace around the pattern onto the cardstock. I usually trim around the door & window openings 1/8" after the wallpaper's dry to give some wood surface for the trim to stick to. In the case of the card template method, lay the trim pieces around the openings and trim to just the edge of the trim, since the purpose of using this method is to make the paper removable at a later date. I personally paper to stay!

I have found that it's much easier to drop-match the pattern after the back wall is papered, cut the paper for that wall 1/8"-1/4" wider at each end and "wrap" the ends around the corners. If you're using specific dh wallpaper you can lay it along the adjacent wall and foldit where the pattern matches in the inner corner and lay that edge after trimming flush with that edge of the pattern. For full sized tiny print wallpaper or other small design sources of wall coverings, cut a strip the height of your wall, match the top row of the pattern to the next row that will give some excess at the top and cut the next strip the same height to get a horizontal match (we won't go into how I learned to do that part...)

I didn't mean to write a book, but I hope this helps.

[judithfa]

Cut out the opennings for the windows and doors after the wallpaper is THOROUGHLY dry.

[shutterbugkc]

I agree, it is much easier to paper over the windows and cut the hole out with a razor blade after all the glue is dry. Unless, of course, you have already put the windows in! But the key to the paper templates is to keep test fitting and making adjustments untill it's just right and then carefully tracing them onto your wallpaper. It may take a while, but saves on advil later.

[Bee]

Sarah, everyone has her own method. This is mine.

First, I should say that I use a wallpaper gel/mucilage which allows me to position the paper on the wall, then slide it around before it dries if I have to. I also use proper dollhouse wallpaper-- Minigraphics, Brodnax-- because the paper is tougher, can be creased, won't tear easily, and afterwards will allow me to stick up a picture or shelves with min-wax, change my mind, remove the item and then scrape the wax off with my fingernail with no damage to the walls.

If I have a wall with a door or window, I first take the measure of the height of the wall with either a ruler or by putting the wallpaper in the room, flat against the wall, holding the top of it straight along the ceiling line while I crease it along the floor line. I then remove the wallpaper and cut off the excess bottom paper with a Fiskars paper cutter. Figuring on the kind of trim I will use for the skirt or shoe molding (which runs at the base of the wall and meets the floor), I usually cut about a quarter inch too short, so the wallpaper will not meet the floor. Wet wallpaper stretches a bit.

I then put the wallpaper back in, top edge straight along the ceiling line once more, stretching it to the farther corner to line up with it exactly. I crease the paper along the window opening nearest the corner, take it back out again, and cut it along this line vertically with the paper cutter. If I want to at this point I can go ahead and glue this back portion to the wall (after dry-fitting it to make sure it's right), between the window and the corner. I then take the remaining wallpaper and place it along the wall and crease it along the other window side, so that when I remove the paper to the paper cutter I will be cutting a strip the width of the window opening. Back goes this strip, lined up against the ceiling edge, and I crease it against the top and bottom edges of the window opening. Back to the Fiskars, and I cut off two pieces, a top and a bottom portion-- then fit them to insure that they meet the other paper correctly. The wall is papered above and below the window opening. I repeat the first step with the remaining paper for the other part of the wall, making sure again that the pattern is consistent.

A wall, in other words, is four pieces of wallpaper-- from window to left corner, from window to right corner, from top of window to ceiling, and from bottom of window to floor.

Window trim, curtains, cornice and shoe molding will disguise any gaps. Real wallpaper is put up in strips, so there is no reason why dollhouse wallpaper has to be glued up in one piece. With practice you will find that you get to be pretty good just eyeballing a room, creasing and cutting and matching patterns. For oddball spaces-- like attics-- always cut a little bit big, then take out and trim away until you have a proper fit. And-- in the beginning, for sure-- always have extra paper.

Hope this helps--- EVERYONE has trouble with her first papering job. Remember, it's only paper and glue. Anything can be fixed.

Bee

[SarahMichaels]

Thanks for all the help. The windows are already installed so I was having trouble getting the pieces to fit around the trim. The newspaper trick is working really good. I just took a few pictures of my work.