How To Hang Wallpaper

Hanging wallpaper is a project most homeowners can finish in a weekend with a few basic tools and patience. The work breaks into four method categories depending on how the wallpaper handles paste: paste-the-wall (modern non-woven, the dominant residential format today), paste-the-paper (traditional paper wallpaper that absorbs paste and expands), prepasted (wallpaper with factory-applied dry paste that activates with water), and peel-and-stick (self-adhesive wallpaper requiring no paste at all). A small room takes one weekend; a single accent wall takes one afternoon.

This guide is the complete hanging-method reference. It covers the best general way to hang wallpaper, where to start on the wall, how to prepare your walls, the tools and materials you need, how to measure and cut, how to hang the first strip, how to handle seams and obstacles, how to trim and clean up, the four main install methods in dedicated sections (paste-the-wall, paste-the-paper, prepasted, peel-and-stick), and the most common DIY mistakes to avoid.

What is the best way to hang wallpaper?

The best modern method is paste-the-wall installation with non-woven wallpaper. You roll wallpaper paste onto the wall, then hang the dry wallpaper strip into the wet paste. The wallpaper does not absorb the paste, so it does not expand or shrink as you work. Each strip lines up cleanly with the previous strip, and you can adjust the position slightly while the paste is still wet.

Pasting the wall instead of the paper saves time and reduces mess. You skip the booking step (folding pasted wallpaper onto itself for several minutes) that traditional paper wallpaper requires. The dry wallpaper strip is also lighter and easier to handle than a soggy pasted one.

For other wallpaper formats, the method changes but the general principles stay the same. The sections below cover each method in detail. The basic preparation, measuring, cutting, and trimming steps apply across all four methods.

Where do you start on the wall when wallpapering?

Start in the least visible corner of the room. The first and last strips usually do not match up perfectly because the room corners are rarely exactly square. By starting in the corner behind a door, behind a piece of furniture, or in another low-visibility spot, you make the inevitable seam mismatch invisible.

Mark a vertical plumb line on the wall before you hang the first strip. Use a level or a plumb bob to draw a straight vertical line at the width of one wallpaper strip from your chosen starting corner. The line gives you the reference for hanging the first strip perfectly vertical. If the first strip is even slightly off vertical, every subsequent strip drifts further from level.

Work in one direction around the room from the starting point. Most installers move clockwise or counter-clockwise consistently. Either direction works, but pick one and stick with it. The pattern matches more easily when each strip aligns with the same neighbor every time.

How do you prepare walls for wallpapering?

Wall preparation is the same for every wallpaper format. The wall must be clean, smooth, primed, and free of old wallpaper before you hang new paper.

Strip any existing wallpaper completely. Old wallpaper does not provide a good bonding surface, and any patches that remain will show through the new install. The How to Remove Wallpaper guide covers stripping in detail.

Repair wall damage with joint compound. Fill cracks, holes, and dings. Sand the patches smooth once dry. Remove any loose or peeling paint. A perfectly smooth wall is the foundation of a clean wallpaper install.

Wash the wall with a mild detergent solution and let it dry fully. The wall must be clean before primer goes on. Skip this step and the primer can fail to bond.

Prime the wall with a wallpaper-specific primer like Zinsser Gardz or similar product. The primer creates an even bondable surface and seals the underlying drywall against the moisture in the paste. Let the primer dry fully (usually overnight) before you start hanging wallpaper.

What tools and materials do you need to hang wallpaper?

The basic toolkit is the same across methods. You need a wallpaper smoothing brush or plastic smoother for pressing strips against the wall, a sharp utility knife for trimming excess at the ceiling and floor, a wide putty knife for guiding the trim cut, a level or plumb line for marking the first vertical line, a tape measure for measuring strip length, and a step ladder.

A clean bucket of warm water and a sponge let you wipe excess paste off the wallpaper face as you work. A drop cloth protects the floor. Painter's tape masks trim and outlets. A wallpaper seam roller helps press the seams flat after hanging.

Method-specific tools and materials depend on the wallpaper format. Paste-the-wall needs a paint roller, roller tray, and non-woven paste. Paste-the-paper needs a paste brush and a clean pasting table. Prepasted needs a wallpaper soaking tray. Peel-and-stick needs only the basic toolkit plus the wallpaper itself. The dedicated method sections below cover each set.

How do you measure and cut wallpaper correctly?

Measure the height of the wall at multiple points along its length. Floors and ceilings are rarely perfectly level, so the wall height can vary by an inch or more across a single wall. Use the longest measurement as your strip length, plus four inches for trimming (two inches at the top, two inches at the bottom).

For patterned wallpaper, add the pattern repeat length to your strip length so you can align the pattern across strips. The pattern repeat is the vertical distance between identical points in the pattern. A common pattern repeat is 21 inches; your strip would be the wall height plus four inches plus 21 inches to allow pattern matching.

Cut all your strips before you start pasting. The install goes faster when you do not have to stop and cut a new strip between every hanging step. Stack the cut strips in order in a clean dry area until you are ready to paste.

Use a sharp utility knife with fresh blades. Dull blades tear the wallpaper instead of cutting it. Cut on a flat surface with a metal straightedge. Measure twice, cut once.

Cut all your strips from the same roll in sequence if possible. Wallpaper rolls are printed in batches, and small color variations can occur between batches. Same-roll strips guarantee color consistency across the wall.

How to hang paste-the-wall (non-woven) wallpaper

Paste-the-wall non-woven is the modern residential standard and the easiest format for first-time DIY installers. Most heritage wallpaper, including the William Morris Wallpaper collection, uses this format.

Mix non-woven wallpaper paste according to the package instructions. Most paste comes as powder that you stir into cold water. Let the paste hydrate for the time specified (usually fifteen to twenty minutes) before using it. Use paste rated for non-woven; standard wallpaper paste is too thin for the format.

Use a paint roller with a medium nap to apply paste to the wall. Pour mixed paste into a roller tray. Roll the paste onto the wall in even strokes, working in a section roughly two wallpaper-strip widths wide. The paste layer should be even, not patchy, but not pooled. Aim for a thin uniform coat.

Hang the dry wallpaper strip into the wet paste immediately. Position the top edge slightly above the ceiling line, leaving about two inches of overhang for trimming. Align the strip edge to the plumb line. Smooth the strip onto the wall starting from the top center, working outward and downward with a wallpaper brush or plastic smoother.

Working too slowly is the most common paste-the-wall mistake. The paste skins over within ten or fifteen minutes of application. You should hang the wallpaper into the wet paste within five minutes of rolling it onto the wall. Pre-cut all your strips before you start pasting so the install moves quickly.

The non-woven substrate stays dimensionally stable, so the wallpaper does not expand or shrink during install. You skip the booking step traditional paper wallpaper requires. Each strip stays the same width across the wall.

How to hang traditional paste-the-paper wallpaper

Traditional paper wallpaper paste-the-paper installation is the older method, still used for specialty paper wallpaper, grasscloth, and some heritage reproductions. The paper absorbs water from the paste and expands, so the installation procedure includes a booking step.

Mix standard wallpaper paste according to the package instructions. Standard paste suits traditional paper wallpaper; non-woven paste is too heavy for paper. Let the paste hydrate for the time specified before using it.

Lay the cut wallpaper strip face-down on a clean pasting table or floor. Use a wallpaper paste brush to apply paste from the center of the strip outward. Cover every part of the back, including the edges. Patchy paste at the edges causes seam lifting later.

Book the pasted strip. Fold the bottom third of the strip up so the pasted side meets the middle. Fold the top third down so the pasted side meets the middle. The strip is now folded into thirds with all the pasted surfaces touching. Let the booked strip rest for the time the manufacturer specifies, usually five to ten minutes. The booking time lets the paper finish expanding before it goes on the wall.

Booking too briefly means the paper finishes expanding on the wall, which creates bubbles and seam mismatches. Booking too long lets the paste dry and the paper start to delaminate from itself, which makes the strip hard to unfold and hang. Follow the manufacturer's booking time exactly.

After booking, unfold the strip and hang it on the wall. Smooth the strip from the center outward with a wallpaper brush or plastic smoother. Trim the top and bottom excess with a sharp utility knife.

How to hang prepasted wallpaper

Prepasted wallpaper comes with dry paste already applied to the back. You activate the paste by soaking each strip in warm water for thirty to sixty seconds, then hang the wet strip on the wall. The format sits between traditional paste-the-paper and modern peel-and-stick.

Use a water tray or wallpaper soaking tray. The tray should be long enough to hold the full length of your cut strip without folding it. Most hardware stores sell prepasted wallpaper trays for $10 to $20. A clean bathtub also works in a pinch.

Fill the tray with warm water, not hot. Hot water can activate the paste too aggressively and cause the wallpaper to weaken or tear. Cool water does not activate the paste fully. Warm tap water in the eighty- to ninety-degree-Fahrenheit range works best.

Roll each cut strip loosely from the bottom up before placing it in the water. The loose roll keeps the paper from sticking to itself in the tray. Soak for thirty to sixty seconds depending on the manufacturer's instructions. Soaking too briefly leaves dry paste that does not activate. Soaking too long washes paste off the back of the strip, which weakens the bond.

Lift the strip slowly out of the water, letting excess water drip back into the tray. Unroll the strip gradually as you lift, holding it by the unsoaked top edge. The activated paste is now ready to bond to the wall.

For most prepasted wallpapers, fold the activated strip onto itself with the paste sides meeting (the booking step). Let the booked strip sit for three to five minutes. The booking lets the paper finish expanding before it goes on the wall. After booking, unfold and hang as described in the general hanging section above.

Most prepasted wallpaper does not need extra glue. The factory-applied paste provides enough adhesion for a standard install on a primed wall. Some installations benefit from extra paste at the seams; some installations over unprimed or slick surfaces need additional paste. Check the wallpaper manufacturer's instructions.

How to hang unpasted wallpaper

Unpasted wallpaper ships with no paste applied. You buy the wallpaper paste separately, mix it according to the package, and apply it either to the wall (for non-woven) or to the back of each strip (for traditional paper). The two methods are covered in the paste-the-wall and paste-the-paper sections above.

Most modern unpasted wallpaper is non-woven and installs using paste-the-wall. The William Morris Wallpaper collection ships unpasted non-woven and installs using the paste-the-wall method. Some specialty unpasted wallpaper is traditional paper and installs using paste-the-paper with the booking step.

The wallpaper label tells you which paste method the manufacturer recommends. For non-woven unpasted wallpaper, use non-woven paste rated for paste-the-wall installation. For traditional paper unpasted wallpaper, use standard wallpaper paste rated for paste-the-paper. Using the wrong paste leads to bond failure or seam separation.

Unpasted wallpaper gives you better long-term performance than prepasted because the wet paste applied during install creates a stronger bond than the dry factory paste activated with water. Unpasted is also more flexible: you can choose the paste type (such as fungicide-treated paste for bathrooms), the application thickness, and the booking time. For premium heritage wallpaper, unpasted is the standard.

How to hang peel-and-stick wallpaper

Peel-and-stick wallpaper has a self-adhesive backing. You peel off the release liner and press the wallpaper onto the wall, the same way you apply a sticker. No paste, no water, no mixing.

The format suits renters, short-term projects, and DIY beginners. The wallpaper strips off cleanly when removed correctly, so it does not damage the underlying paint. Print quality has improved since 2020 but still lags behind traditional non-woven paste-the-wall on long-term performance.

For the easiest peel-and-stick install, work with a partner. One person holds the top of the strip against the wall while the other peels the release liner and smooths the wallpaper down with a plastic smoother. The two-person approach prevents the wallpaper from contacting the wall in unintended places during positioning.

Smooth from the center outward to push air bubbles toward the edges. For small bubbles that remain, lance them with a sharp pin and press the wallpaper flat. The What Is Peel and Stick Wallpaper guide covers the format in detail.

How do you handle seams between wallpaper strips?

Butt the seams against each other with no overlap and no gap. The strips should align exactly edge to edge. Overlapping creates a thick ridge that becomes permanent once the paste dries. Gaps look like cracks in the wall.

To position a seam correctly, hang each new strip a half inch away from the previous strip first. Smooth the strip onto the wall, then slide it sideways with your hands or a wallpaper smoothing brush until the edges meet. Press the seam flat with a wallpaper seam roller.

Pattern-match at every seam. Most patterned wallpapers have a defined repeat that must align across each seam. Cut each strip with enough length above and below the pattern repeat to align properly. Pattern matching wastes a few inches per strip, but the result is much cleaner.

If a seam gaps slightly after install, the wallpaper is shrinking as it dries. This happens when the wallpaper was soaked too briefly (prepasted) or applied to a wall with low humidity. The fix is to soak each strip a few seconds longer and to allow more humidity in the room during install.

How do you wallpaper around obstacles like windows, doors, outlets, and corners?

For windows and doors, hang the wallpaper strip over the obstacle and cut around the frame after the strip is in place. Use a sharp utility knife and a wide putty knife to guide the cut. Trim slightly oversize, then make a final clean cut once the strip is positioned correctly.

For outlets and switches, turn off the power at the breaker before you start. Hang the wallpaper strip over the outlet box. Once the strip is in place, cut an X across the outlet opening with a utility knife and fold the four flaps back. Trim the flaps to leave about a quarter inch of overhang around the box. Replace the outlet cover, which holds the wallpaper in place.

For inside corners, do not try to hang one continuous strip around the corner. Walls are rarely perfectly square, and a corner-wrapping strip will pull out of plumb. Instead, cut the strip about a half inch past the corner, smooth it onto both walls, then start the next wall with a fresh strip that overlaps the first by that half inch.

For outside corners, hang one continuous strip around the corner when possible. The strip wraps cleanly around the convex angle. For severely out-of-square outside corners, cut and overlap the same way you would for inside corners.

For radiators, light fixtures, and other permanent fixtures, work around them rather than removing them when possible. Make small relief cuts in the wallpaper to fit around the obstacle, smooth the wallpaper flat, and trim the excess.

How do you trim excess wallpaper and clean up paste?

Trim excess wallpaper at the ceiling and floor with a sharp utility knife. Hold a wide putty knife against the ceiling or floor line, press the wallpaper into the corner, and cut along the putty knife edge with the utility knife. Change blades frequently; a sharp blade cuts cleanly while a dull blade tears.

Wipe excess paste off the wallpaper face with a clean damp sponge as you go. Do not let paste dry on the printed surface. Dried paste can leave shiny marks or color shifts that are hard to remove later.

Clean your tools at the end of each work session. Wallpaper paste washes off with warm water before it dries. Once dried, the paste becomes much harder to remove from brushes, rollers, and smoothers.

Inspect each finished wall for missed paste, lifted seams, and air bubbles. Press lifted seams down with a clean smoother. Lance small bubbles with a sharp pin and press the wallpaper flat against the wall while the paste underneath is still slightly wet.

What are the most common DIY wallpaper mistakes to avoid?

Skipping wall preparation is the most common mistake. The wall must be clean, smooth, primed, and free of old wallpaper before you hang new paper. Cracks, holes, and old wallpaper underneath will show through the new install.

Choosing the wrong wallpaper format for the room is the second mistake. Standard non-woven works in dry rooms only. Vinyl-on-non-woven works in kitchens and bathrooms. Traditional paper fails in any wet room. Match the format to the moisture level of the room before you buy.

Hanging the first strip out of plumb is the third mistake. The first strip sets the alignment for every other strip in the room. Use a level to mark a vertical plumb line on the wall before you start, and align the first strip exactly to that line.

Not pattern-matching at the seams is the fourth mistake. Most patterned wallpapers have a defined repeat that must align across each seam. Cut each strip with enough length to align the pattern across the seam.

Rushing the work is the fifth mistake. Wallpaper rewards patience. Take ten minutes per strip rather than five. Smooth out each strip carefully before you move on. A hurried install shows immediately in lifted edges, misaligned patterns, and visible seam mistakes.

Using the wrong paste for the wallpaper format is the sixth mistake. Non-woven needs non-woven paste. Traditional paper needs standard wallpaper paste. Vinyl wallpaper needs vinyl-rated paste with fungicide. Always check the wallpaper manufacturer's paste recommendation.

How long does it take to hang wallpaper?

A small room takes one weekend for a careful DIY installer. A single accent wall takes one afternoon. The work goes faster after the first few strips, once you have the rhythm of measuring, cutting, pasting, hanging, and trimming.

Larger rooms, multiple wallpaper layers (if you skip stripping old wallpaper, which you should not), unprimed walls (which require more careful seam alignment), and complex pattern repeats all increase the time required. A 12 by 14 foot room with 8-foot ceilings is the standard residential reference; that room typically takes 6 to 10 hours including wall prep, install, and cleanup.

Pro installation runs $400 to $800 per room depending on pattern complexity, wall prep needs, and regional labor rates. Most professional installers can finish a single residential room in 4 to 6 hours.

How to hang wallpaper questions

What is the easiest way to hang wallpaper?

Paste-the-wall non-woven wallpaper is the easiest format for DIY installers. You roll paste onto the wall, hang the dry strip into the wet paste, line up the seams, and trim the edges. Most beginners can finish a small room in a single weekend.

Where should I start hanging wallpaper?

Start in the least visible corner of the room, typically behind a door or behind a piece of furniture. Mark a vertical plumb line at one wallpaper-strip width from the corner, and align the first strip to that line. Work in one direction around the room from the starting point.

Do you paste the wall or the paper?

For modern non-woven wallpaper, paste the wall. For traditional paper wallpaper, paste the paper and book it before hanging. Most modern heritage collections, including William Morris Wallpaper, are paste-the-wall non-woven. The wallpaper label tells you which method to use.

How long do you soak prepasted wallpaper?

Thirty to sixty seconds in warm water (eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit), depending on the manufacturer's instructions. Use a wallpaper water tray long enough to hold a full strip. Hot water can weaken the wallpaper; cool water does not activate the paste fully.

What is wallpaper booking?

Booking is the step in paste-the-paper installation (and prepasted activation) where you fold a pasted wallpaper strip onto itself so the pasted sides meet. The strip rests folded for several minutes while the paper absorbs the paste and finishes expanding. Booking prevents bubbles and seam mismatches.

Is unpasted or prepasted wallpaper better?

Unpasted gives better long-term performance through a stronger paste bond and lets you choose the paste type. Prepasted saves time on simple installations but uses dry factory paste that activates with water. For large rooms, wet rooms, and premium heritage wallpaper, unpasted is the better choice.

How long does it take to hang wallpaper?

A small room takes one weekend (6 to 10 hours including wall prep) for a careful DIY installer. A single accent wall takes one afternoon. Pro installation runs $400 to $800 per room and typically takes 4 to 6 hours.

What tools do I need to hang wallpaper?

Wallpaper smoothing brush, sharp utility knife, wide putty knife, level or plumb line, tape measure, step ladder, clean sponge, bucket of warm water, drop cloth, painter's tape, and wallpaper seam roller. Method-specific additions: paint roller and tray (paste-the-wall), pasting table and paste brush (paste-the-paper), wallpaper water tray (prepasted).

Where can I buy paste-the-wall wallpaper online?

The William Morris Wallpaper collection at williammorriswallpaper.co carries the full Morris heritage range plus contemporary botanical, chinoiserie, geometric, watercolor, and metallic wallpapers in paste-the-wall non-woven format.