anyone apply wallpaper border before?

[binny]

I just won some prepasted wallpaper border off ebay. It arrived today and it is all one roll!

45 yards of it!!! How do I book this? I am thinking I will have to cut it up and deal with it in peices. What do you think?

 

[aahmom1]

It usually comes in 5 yard rolls.

 

[binny]

whoops youre right I meant 45 FEET sorry. It is all in one roll though.

so it is a triple roll basically.

 

[RUDisney]

You just need someone to help you with it.

Everytime I've used pre-pasted stuff, I've bought the special glue (activator) to make it less messy. If you're putting the border up against wallpaper, there is a special glue for this, if not, the regular activator will do. Also, if you're putting it on over paint, size the part of the wall that the border will cover so when you want to take it down, it will come down very easily. You don't have to be perfect with the sizing, just don't go above or below what the border will cover.

Hmm, how to explain this? For booking purposes, book it in managable pieces and then flap them so you are left at the end with something that resembles the petals of a flower... booked piece, droop, booked piece droop, etc.

Whatever you do, you don't want to cut a border unless you have to. You'll need the other person to hold the books and droops while you place the open piece onto the wall.

Borders are very easy and spruce up a room very nicely.

Good luck with your project and let us know how it turns out!

 

[aahmom1]

For 'booking' you'll need to wet the paper, then fold it accordion (sp) style, so that glued sides are touching eachother.

 

[AZKathy]

You will need at least four hands to do this! Be patient and it will turn out very nice. It is easier to do borders along the chair level that ceilings! We have done both and MUCH prefer to do the chair level border. Find a color in the border that goes well with the border and paint the lower part of the room and then put the border up around 32 inches from floor. Have fun!

 

[RUDisney]

If you use the activator, you don't have to wet the border, so no dripping to cause a mess.

 

[binny]

ok all of this will help~ Thank you!!

The good thing is the woman who lived here before had a border at the ceiling so everything is is allready marked ( she left a level line in pencil then used that as a guide. ) I cant do a chair rail unfortunately this is the bathroom lol and the shower takes up a whole wall so I need something that will go up at the ceiling to add some pizzazz to the room lol

She had a birdhouse border in there before now it will be lighthouses

 

[aahmom1]

If you use the activator, you don't have to wet the border, so no dripping to cause a mess.

How does an activator work so that you don't have to wet the paper?

 

[AZKathy]

Originally posted by aahmom1
How does an activator work so that you don't have to wet the paper?

and where can it be purchased? Home Depot? It was truly such a pain to wet those borders...such a drippy sticky mess!

binny, our family room and kitchen are decorated with lighthouses. We love that theme!!! (reminds us of OKW!!!!)

 

[Boots]

DH has put up wall paper border before. I think, but I really don't know, that hecut the piece the lenght of the wall as he put it up.

 

[WillyJ]

I've applied wallpaper border before. . but only with the medical staff and SO present in the room. .

 

[minnieandmickey]

Due to my house being new and as all new house built within 90 days, my wall are not very square, so I have to do short pieces vs the nice long ones. Although, because of this I can now match up the seems so you can't see where one piece ends and one begins. I too have a lighthouse theme running in my great room!

 

[RUDisney]

The activator is sold in Home Depot and Lowes near the other wallpaper supplies and it is called "wallpaper activator."

I always used an old piece of sheetrock or plywood or cardboard, depending on what the project du jour was. You lay out the back of the border or paper so it is face up. With a paintbrush, you apply the activator and book the paper as usual.

It's something they hardly show on HGTV and DIY when they do wallpaper and I'm forever yelling at the TV, "if you'd only show an easier way, maybe more people would be willing to try!"

The other good thing about the activator is that it wipes up easily and washes out of clothes if any gets onto it.

 

[Tiggeroo]

Book the paper?? What does that term mean?

 

[binny]

booking the paper is when you fold the paper glue sides in to activate the paper.


Still didnt get this done this weekend I painted my foyer that took me 3 hours it was faux treatment but its really cool it looks almost like suede. Then yesterday I came down with a cold that had out of commision all day hoping today will be more productive

 

[MerryPoppins]

I pulled off an old border in one of my rooms. I have a new border to take it's place. This thread will help, since I've only put up a wallpaper border once before. I think I'll go get some of the activator.

Just one question, though. My old border left some paper backing. Do I need to remove that? Will it matter if the new border will cover it? Thought we might get to this project over the holidays.

 

[RUDisney]

I'd try to get as much of the old paper off as possible. Better to be safe than to have it buckle on you once your new border is up.

The easiest way to get off the old residue paper is to fill a spray bottle with water and spray the paper until it is saturated. If you're afraid of having drips run down your wall, use a wet sponge to soak the old paper. Sometimes, it will loosen to the point that you can just peel it off easily, other times, you'll need to use a plastic putty knife to help it along.

This is the reason that I suggested sizing the area before you get started. It makes taking down the old stuff SO much easier.

As with the activator, sizing can be found in the wallpaper section of Home Depot or Lowes. It is in a bucket called "wallpaper sizing." Spread it on according to directions with a paint brush and wait for it to dry. I've removed paper that was on a sized wall and that which wasn't. The removal is like night and day.