About Wall Borders

Today, there are more styles, themes, colors and uses for wallpaper borders than ever before. In addition, wall borders you can stencil yourself make your choices endless. So, when you think of wall borders, don't just picture a strip of wallpaper running parallel to the ceiling, marking where wall and ceiling meet. Think of chair rail borders, baseboard borders and even borders around door and window frames. Does this Spark an idea?

Function

Originally, the wall border functioned as a way to dress up the wall where it met the ceiling. It could cover flaws and imperfections beautifully.
The wall border also functioned as a handsome accent to a painted wall, or a coordinate to the actual wallpaper.
Now, the wall border is primarily a decorative addition, helping to establish mood and color theme.

Types

Wall borders you hang:
A basic wall border is a strip of wallpaper from six to ten inches high that must be applied to the wall just like regular wallpaper.
A kitchen wall border will have images and themes that are evocative of food and food preparation.
A bedroom wall border can set the decorating style for the whole room, whether it be a teddy bear border for the nursery, a ballet border for a girl's room, a sports theme border for a boy's room, or an elegant master bedroom border.
A border for the bathroom can be whimsical, juvenile, or sophisticated and abstract. Often bathroom borders use water themes, incorporating dolphins or ducks.
Wall borders you stencil:
The stenciled wall border is the most versatile of all. Web sites like HowStuffWorks actually offer wall border stencils you can download as .pdf files, and step by step directions for stenciling them on a wall. Techniques and paint suggestions are made as well. An interesting variation is the ability to use only part of the stencil for different rooms. For instance, the children's room could have a garden border, and the bathroom could have a border just using the birds from the design.

Features

Here are innovative ways to feature wall border paper or stencils in your home décor:
Laminate a section of wall border to use as a place mat
Apply a wall border to the backsplash in your kitchen
Decorate a room with the wall border about one third up on the wall, where a chair rail would be, and use coordinating wallpaper above or below it
Mat the pictures to be hung in the room with all or part of the wall border paper
Wrap wall border paper around buckets, waste cans, or any cylinder shape
Wrap boxes of different sizes in wall border paper and stack them as decorator accents
Cover an address book, journal or scrapbook
Refurbish an old table by covering the top with wall border paper, then adding a glass top. Pick up one of the wall border colors and paint the table legs
Cover your switchplates or outlets
Remove dresser drawers and cover the fronts
Apply wall border around the door or window frame
Scan the border into your computer, and then select part of the pattern to use in notepaper or greeting cards
Use the scanned border image to resize pattern elements and print out for use in decoupage
Stencil one part of the wall border design on dresser drawer fronts or trunks
Feature one element, such as a bird, and stencil it above a window
Feature birds or bees on the ceiling around the fan
Stencil just the flower on flower pots
Enlarge one part of the design and paint it on a closet door or door to the room

Considerations

To hang a wall border you'll need:
Wall prep or sizing liquid to roll on before you hang border
Small paint rollers
Vinyl adhesive to apply, if hanging border over wallpaper (even if it's prepasted)
Paste activator to apply if hanging over paint
Ruler, level
Scissors, knife
Sponge to smooth border and squeeze out extra paste
Pail for paste
Pail to rinse out sponge
To stencil a wall border you'll need:
Yardstick
Pencil
Level
Painter's tape
Sponge roller
Background paint
Different color paints for the stencil pattern
Quarter inch stencil brushes
Smaller stencil brushes for detail

Expert Insight

Standard wall border paper rolls are 5 yards long, or 15 feet. This is often the length of a wall, and it may just be simpler to buy one roll of border paper for each wall. If your walls are not as long, you'll want to measure them, and add up the yards you'll need, allowing extra for repeats in the pattern. Find measuring calculators online. If you have more rolls than you need, you can return them, or use some for creative ideas like those listed under "Features." Online wall border rolls are priced anywhere from $12 to $20.
Offline, you can shop for wall borders wherever wallpaper is sold, and at paint stores and decorator shops.

Resources

• My Wallpaper Borders
• HowStuffWorks
• Measuring for your Wall Border