How to Install Wallpaper Borders

Installing a wallpaper border is easier with two people.

Wallpaper borders can dramatically change the look of a room. With just a border, you can turn a plain room into a fun, elegant or themed room. Borders can go at the top of the wall or in the middle. Try putting them around the windows and doors to make them pop out. Borders are not hard to put up, but it helps to have more than one pair of hands. Once you have all of your materials together, it should take only a couple of hours to do an average-sized room.

Things You'll Need

• Wallpaper border
• Wallpaper paste
• Wallpaper scraper
• Bucket
• Sponges
• Paintbrush
• Utility knife
• Measuring tape
• Two ladders

Instructions

1. Gather all of your materials in the room where you will be installing the border. Prepare to start at an inconspicuous corner near the door, because the pattern might not match as the two ends come together. Put a ladder at your starting point and another at the end of the length of the first roll.

2. Unroll the first roll of border and put something heavy over the end to keep it from rolling back up. Using a paintbrush, apply the paste from one end to the other and from edge to edge. Take one end while a helper takes the other and go up your ladders. Place your end on the wall and have the other person temporarily stick the other end on.

3. Using the scraper, start working your way across the border. Line it up and scrape, pushing the excess paste out. Scrape until you can see no air bubbles. Wipe the paste off with a damp sponge and move down a little. Line up some more border and scrape it. Wipe off the excess paste and keep repeating until you get to the other end. It takes going up and down the ladder quite a bit, and you need to work fast before the paste starts to dry.

4. Take the next roll up to the end where you left off and mark the pattern where it matches. Come back down the ladder and cut the piece at the mark. Then unroll the rest of the roll and start the process over. Do this at the beginning of each new roll.

5. When you get back to the beginning point, you will probably not be able to match the pattern, so just measure the last open space and cut the paper. Install so the ends butt and there is no gap.

6. Wipe down the entire border with clean, warm water again. Check to see if any of the excess paste dripped down the wall and clean it off now. Some papers do not take to well to being very wet, so just wipe over it, do not try to scrub it.

7. If you are installing the border in the middle of the wall, use a laser level and put a line at the top of where the border will be installed for a guide line. Cover the line with the top edge of the paper and follow all the other steps.

Tips & Warnings

• When purchasing your materials, be sure to buy the correct wallpaper paste. One is made for paper over paper and one is for paper over paint. Having two or three people doing this project together makes it much easier. The paste dries rather quickly, so the faster you can get it on the wall, the better it will stick. Use paste even if you have a self-stick border. The paste will hold it for a long time, with little risk of peeling off.