Wallpapering the walls is not such a complicated process, which is possible for everyone who is eager to change the design of their rooms on their own. Even a novice can do this. But so that the repair does not turn into a laborious and very unpleasant work, you need to know some rules and nuances of this process. In addition, the selection of wallpaper can be a fascinating activity, since there can be a lot of options for pasting walls. We will talk more about this and that later in this article.
Wallpapering options for wallpaper
Modern design solutions allow you to visually transform any room, dividing them into zones, raising or lowering ceilings, expanding or narrowing the space, emphasizing advantages and hiding disadvantages. All this is made possible through the use of various patterns, colors or textures within the same room.
Pasting the walls with wallpapers of different types can be done in several ways: horizontal, vertical, patchwork and insert. All of them can look original, if you choose the right materials. Horizontal division allows you to combine wallpapers of various thicknesses. For example, the lower part of the wall may be dark and embossed, and the upper part may be lighter and smoother. With this arrangement, at the junction between the two types of wallpaper, a decorative border is glued.
Vertical wallpaper sharing is a great option for living rooms. Two different materials can have their own color or pattern, but they must have the same thickness, width and texture. A good solution may be to use a contrasting combination or monochrome, when the wallpaper is the same color but different shades.
A patchwork combination of wallpapers suggests a general background, but different images. As for the individual inserts, their purpose is to highlight a certain area, for example, a playroom in a children's room. Below are photos of pasting the walls with different wallpapers that successfully combine with each other. Let us consider in more detail each of the above options.
Horizontal combination
This is a classic technique that has been used for a very long time. Nowadays, when the choice of textures and colors is simply huge, it sounded in a completely new way. This combination is perfect for rooms with a high ceiling and small area. It is able to smooth out the so-called well effect. Horizontal combination implies the presence of at least one strip that surrounds the room along the entire perimeter, and capturing only part of it.
According to the rules, the division zone can be located either in the upper third of the wall or in the lower. The first of them should be lighter, and the second, respectively, darker. Sometimes designers violate this rule and place a strip at eye level, where they place additional decorative elements.
Vertical division
Such as in the photo below, wallpapering the walls can adjust the height of the ceiling, especially if the pattern is striped. However, it is not necessary that their rotation be regular. In modern design, a similar image is often used on one wall, and on the rest - either plain wallpaper or with a barely noticeable ornament.
However, this is not the only option. Vertical stripes can be located not only on one, but also on two, or even three walls. In this type of combination, there is one unusual trick with which you can make a low room higher. To do this, one strip lead directly to the ceiling. So the border of the transition seems to be blurred, from which there is a feeling of increased volume.
Wallpaper may differ in pattern and color, but not in texture. For such a combination, it is better to take material from the same collection. This is not difficult to do, since many manufacturers produce several patterns that are combined with each other at once, and even in different colors. Typically, each collection has three or four kinds of images and the same number of plain backgrounds.
Zoning and decorative inserts
Wallpapering of walls with wallpaper of two colors and more is often used in small studio apartments in order to delimit space and highlight individual functional areas, for example, a kitchen and a resting place. Exactly the same principle is often used in children's rooms. Here you can organize separate areas such as sleeping, games and training. The same is done in cases where two children live in the same room.
Decorative inserts or panels are suitable for the design of classic interiors. To create them, use textured or embossed wallpaper, as well as silk screen printing. Sometimes a panel is framed by a molding. Such an insert will look great not only in the classic interior, but also in the styles of country and provence. Some use the principle of panels in modern designs, such as modern. In this case, the border from the same collection as the wallpaper can serve as a frame.
After reading the second part of the article, someone might think that this work cannot be done on their own, but believe me, this is much easier than it seems.
Necessary fixtures
For the work to progress quickly, you need to have at least a minimal set of tools that you will definitely need when wallpapering the walls. Before you start the main process, you should make sure that you have:
- plastic film to be used as litter;
- plumb or level to determine the correct location of the wallpaper;
- a bucket for diluting the adhesive composition;
- large scissors for cutting canvases;
- a roller for pressing wallpapers after gluing them to the wall;
- sharp construction or office knife for cutting wallpaper;
- metal spatula for cleaning the surface of the walls;
- marker or pencil to make marks;
- a brush or a special brush for applying glue to walls and wallpapers;
- centimeter tape or tape measure necessary for measurements.
Surface cleaning and priming
First of all, you need to do the preparation of the walls for wallpapering. It is worth starting with cleaning the surface of old paint, the remains of wallpaper and other things. There are materials for gluing walls that do not need perfect surface leveling. In other cases, it’s still worthwhile to clean them up, as well as to close up the most noticeable depressions, cracks, other defects and irregularities.
The following process is mandatory, as it makes the plane smooth and greatly simplifies wallpapering the walls. In addition, most primers are characterized by the presence of antiseptic properties, and also contribute to improved adhesion to the surface. It is noticed that many are trying to skip this process, but in vain. Wallpaper can go away from unprocessed primer walls, stick poorly and lie unevenly.
Having done this work, you must wait until the surface is completely dry. Only after that you can safely proceed to wallpapering. It is very important that during this process there are no drafts, therefore all windows must be closed and the air conditioner turned off.
Glue preparation, measurements and cutting
All of the above actions are a necessary intermediate stage, without which it is impossible to do without. It's time to start making wallpaper glue. It must be diluted with water in the proportions indicated on the packaging, and then thoroughly mixed until it is completely dissolved. Then this mass must be left for some time, so that it settles down, and proceed to measurements.
To paste the walls with wallpaper with your own hands, you need to cut them into strips. To do this, you need to determine the height of the walls and add another 10 cm to this value. The resulting figure is the desired length of the strip. Now you need to calculate their number. This is done as follows: the width of the wall and the roll is measured, and then the first value is divided into the second. This figure will be the number of stripes that will be needed to glue this surface.
It is most convenient to cut the wallpaper on the floor, after spreading a film on it. To cut the strip of the desired length, the roll is rolled out, measured and cut with a construction knife or large scissors.
Application of adhesive
Having made the required number of blanks, they proceed to the next process, which has its own nuances. The fact is that the technology of pasting surfaces with ordinary paper and vinyl wallpapers that have the same basis is somewhat different from that used when working with non-woven tapestries.
The difference lies in applying the adhesive. In the case of vinyl and paper wallpaper, they lubricate the canvas, after which it should lie down for about 5-7 minutes. Only after this time they can be glued to the wall. Wallpaper with a non-woven base does not need to be smeared, since the composition is applied to the surface itself. This allows you to immediately proceed to the next step.
Wall paper technology
This process is also quite simple, but it requires utmost discretion and accuracy. The first canvas always begins to be glued from the inner corner of the room. In this case, it is necessary to make a lap of 1.5-2 cm in size. After attaching this strip, the next one is glued to the adjacent surface so that in the corner one sheet overlaps the other by the width indicated above. Further, the room is glued around the entire perimeter. At this time, it is necessary to ensure that the wallpaper fits snugly against the surface of the wall and air bubbles do not form under them.
Non-woven wallpaper glued butt to butt. If you have a picture of the strip, you need to carefully adjust it so as not to violate the integrity of the image. It so happens that the pasting of the walls is carried out for further painting. In this case, if the wallpaper does not have a pronounced structural pattern, the work is much simplified, since the fitting process is excluded, which significantly reduces the consumption of materials.