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Project Difficulty:
Moderate
Estimated
Project Time: 1/2 day
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Wallpaper border
Sandpaper
Level
Pencil
Measuring tape
Metal straightedge
Razor knife
Smoothing brush
Seam roller
Soft cloth (for embossed paper)
Small piece of wax paper or a piece of the border
Sponge and bucket of water
Wallpaper paste and brush, as needed
For painted walls:
Putty knife, as needed
Joint compound, as needed
Latex paint, as needed
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Paint roller or brush, as needed
Acrylic wallpaper primer-sealer, as needed
Water tray (for prepasted borders)
For papered walls:
White-pigmented primer-sealer, as needed
Vinyl-to-vinyl adhesive and brush
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Heading For the Border...
Like the perfect frame for a picture, the right wallpaper border can enhance a window, an entrance, or the entire room. Depending on whether the border is applied vertically or horizontally, it can also visually alter a room's dimensions. Choose a border with colors that complement those of your walls, floors and furnishings, and you'll have an exciting decorative accent for modest cost and effort.
Wallpaper borders come in many styles and widths. Most borders today are prepasted; those that aren't require you to brush wallpaper paste on their backside. Like wallpaper, borders are available almost anywhere home decorating products are sold, either as stock or as special orders. Sample books usually feature wallpaper and border sets with coordinated colors and complementary patterns, but you needn't limit yourself to these when matching a border to your wallpaper; the ideal design may be waiting on a store shelf or in another manufacturer's sample book.
Popular locations for wallpaper borders are along the ceiling line or chair rail, or just above the baseboard. Keep in mind that borders are meant to be noticed, and will draw attention to their surroundings--including any wall imperfections. For example, a ceiling line only a fraction of an inch out of level will suddenly appear quite crooked when juxtaposed against a straight, level border. (Fig. 1)
Conversely, a border can also draw attention away from structural defects. For instance, a chair rail border will draw the eye away from a crooked ceiling line.
How Much To Buy?
Manufacturers usually package borders on spools containing 5 yards. To determine how much to buy, first measure the width of the wall(s) on which the border will be applied; then add about 1-1/2 feet for every 15 feet measured to allow for matching the pattern when you start a new spool and for possible damage at the ends of the spool. In general, border patterns repeat about every 12 inches, though some maybe repeat at 24 inches or more. Check your paper and allow a little more reserve if the pattern is longer than 12 inches.
Note: If you plan to install a border around windows and doors, allow at least 1 extra foot at each corner for miter cuts. (Make sure the border design allows you to turn corners around a window or doorframe without creating a pattern mismatch.)
Preparing the Walls
Plan generally where you want your border to go, and examine that strip of wall around the room. Whether it's painted or papered, make sure it's clean and dust-free.
* If a painted wall is cracked where the border will lie, use a putty knife to push non-shrinking joint compound into the cracks, and let it dry. Then sand the surface smooth and cover it with a latex paint that matches the rest of the wall.
* If the border will cover existing wallpaper, make sure the wallpaper is fully pasted. If it is not, try to glue it back with a small amount of wallpaper paste. If that won't work, use a razor knife to cut off the loose or frayed edges that will lie under the border, leaving a beveled edge. Lightly sand the edges.
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1.
Marking the Walls
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1) At various points in the area where you will install the wallpaper border, hold a level to the ceiling next to the wall and check if the ceiling is perfectly level.
If your ceiling is level in all areas, use a pencil to lightly mark the wall where you'd like the top of the border to be. Hold a level against the mark and, when the bubble is centered, draw a light pencil line on the wall along the level's top edge. Continue around the room in this manner, making marks every few feet. Then connect the pencil marks until there's a continuous, level line against which to place the top of your border.
If your ceiling is not level in all areas, a border hung along the top of the wall may look slanted. Consider dropping the location of the border, such as halfway between the header of a door and the ceiling, or at chair-rail height. For a dropped border, measure down from the ceiling the distance you want the paper to start and make a light pencil mark. Proceed to do this around the room every 2 feet or so. Then take a straight edge and connect all marks. This will then become your top line for hanging the border. Note that in this case you are not using a level line, but following the unlevel line of the ceiling. Note: When two borders such as a ceiling line and a chair rail are not equally out of level, try to install the paper border with the truest line, or split the difference.
For papered walls, plan the top of your border so that the dominant pattern on the wallpaper underneath is 1 to 2 inches below the bottom of the border. You'll want to make sure the wallpaper's main pattern will not clash with or be partially covered by the border (Fig. 2).
2) Cut off a three-inch piece of the border.
If it's being applied to painted walls, apply paste to its backside (if unpasted) or submerge it in water for about 10 seconds (if prepasted). Let it expand for about 5 minutes, and then measure its height from top to bottom edge.
If it's being applied to papered walls, apply vinyl-to-vinyl adhesive to its backside (whether or not it's prepasted); let the border expand for 5 minutes.
Once the border has expanded, measure its height, and then subtract 1/2 inch from the measurement. Using this figure, draw a pencil line that much below the top line for your border; the second line should be parallel to the first. For instance, if the expanded border's width is 6 inches, mark the bottom line 5-1/2 inches beneath the first, so that the border will cover both lines when applied.
3) For papered walls: Check whether the existing wallpaper will show through the border by laying a bit of the border over it. (Do not use the same scrap piece used in Step 2.) If the wallpaper shows through your border, apply a white-pigmented wallpaper primer-sealer to the wallpaper between the top and bottom border guidelines. Allow it to dry.
If the wallaper doesn't show through the border, you can now go to the section "Against the Wall: Applying Your Border."
For painted walls: Apply acrylic wallpaper primer-sealer to the wall between the top and bottom border guidelines (the unprimed 1/2 inch of the border will not affect the its adhesion). Allow it to dry (Fig. 3).
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Against the Wall: Applying Your Border
1) Reverse-roll the border to minimize curling, and inspect it for flaws (Fig. 4)
2) For painted walls: Cover the back of an unpasted border with wallpaper paste, or submerge a prepasted border in the water tray for about 10 seconds (check your manufacturer's instructions) (Fig. 5).
For papered walls: Whether your border's unpasted or prepasted, evenly apply vinyl-to-vinyl adhesive to its backside. To keep the adhesive moist, fold the border loosely into accordion folds, being careful not to get adhesive on the front of the border. Let the strip relax and expand for about 5 minutes.
3) Pick an inconspicuous place to start the border, such as in a corner or above a door, so that any mismatch between the first and last border segments is less noticeable. Position the border so that the top is just covering your top border guideline. Smooth the border into place, using a smoothing brush or roller to get all the air bubbles out. Be careful not to press so hard as to stretch the paper. If the paper is embossed, smooth gently to avoid flattening the embossing.
4) When you reach an inside corner, cut the border off 1/8 inch beyond the corner. Starting exactly at the corner with a new piece, overlap the previous strip's 1/8-inch extension and continue (Fig. 6).
5) When you reach the end of one horizontal strip and need to continue with another, use this technique to make a matched seam:
a) Place a small scrap of wallpaper or wax paper under the end of the last strip (to protect the wall when you cut later).
b) Unroll the new border strip until you find the point where its design matches the end of the last strip. Matching the patterns exactly, lay the new strip over the last one, overlapping it by one or two inches.
c) Using a fresh razor blade in the razor knife, cut through both border layers at any point along the one or two inches where they overlap. Be careful not to cut through the wax paper; also, keep the razor perpendicular or the seam will show. The cut results in a neat butt seam.
d) Discard the cut ends and the wax paper.
e) Rejoin the new ends to form a seam, and use a seam roller (or soft cloth, if the paper is embossed) to secure it. Wipe off the excess paste with a damp sponge.
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