Wallpapering: Measuring and marking
BY READERS DIGEST
1st Jan 2015 Home & Garden
Wallpapering a room can be a daunting task but we've made it simple with these easy to follow instructions.
Start with a plumbed line
Mark a vertical guide on the wall before you start hanging wallpaper. Hold one end of a roll of paper into the corner, then make a mark for the line on the wall about 25 mm from the other end, so that when you hang the paper you can turn a narrow strip round the corner and onto the adjacent wall.
Pin the top of your plumb line to the wall at ceiling level, so it hangs down over the mark. Then make pencil marks down the wall immediately behind the line and join them up with a pencil and ruler. Draw a new plumbed line when you start papering the next wall, in case the corner is not vertical.
Read more: Your complete decorating and wallpaper guide
Keep track of wall plugs
Use matches or cocktail sticks to mark the positions of the wall plugs once you have unscrewed and taken down wall lights, shelves and wall-mounted display cabinets. If using matches, break off the heads so they can’t stain the wallpaper.
As you brush the length into place, the projecting stick will pierce the paper, giving you a clear indication of the whereabouts of every wall plug.
The right length every time
Don’t use a metal tape to measure the length of pieces of wallpaper. Instead, unwind the roll—the pattern will be the right way up—and hold the top of it against the edge of the ceiling, allowing an overlap for trimming. Then walk your hands down the wall, letting the paper roll up above them as you descend.
When you reach skirting board level, mark the paper for cutting, again allowing a margin for trimming.
Read more: How to remove wallpaper fast
Just fold and cut
Don’t bother with a pencil and ruler to draw a cutting line through the length mark across the wallpaper. Just fold the paper at the mark with its side edges carefully aligned, and cut along the creased line. This guarantees a line at right angles to the paper’s edge.
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