Some Wallpaper Resources

I am a self-described grand-millennial and like what I call “eye texture”. I love lincrusta/anaglypta, and anything in homes that is applied to the home but also feels like art.

My finished dining room! My Morris and Co. paper ended up being the same paper Morris himself used in his dining room. I didn’t realized until after I looked this pattern up when it was already installed, so it just felt even more like the right choice. He invented this pattern 3 years before our house was built :)

I knew when we moved into the Big Red House that I would want wallpaper in a few rooms (something I was never able to do in a rental). So far, I’ve put it up in my bedroom and also the dining room, and here are some wallpaper resources I used for our home so far.

I had NO idea what I was doing in the beginning, but I knew that wallpaper has changed a bunch since our parents’ time and that it’s supposed to be much easier to install and also remove if you tire of it. I do not have experience with the peel and stick wallpaper that’s popular now, but have seen that those are not as easy to remove as they sometimes are advertised, so now I am wary.

I used the “paste the wall” method of wallpaper. The older type were pre-pasted papers and involves soaking the paper and then hanging this giant wet panel of paper. It sounded super messy to me, and to my knowledge, tends to be fussier to work with. With paste the wall, I rolled the water-based Zinsser Sure Grip paste on and got to remove and reapply the wallpaper as needed, which was very helpful as I was getting into the groove each time I started a room. It’s also a big help when you’re doing corners.

I got probably 50 wallpaper samples from various wallpaper companies in the beginning. I suggest picking a few samples from multiple companies and seeing what the quality of their samples are. I waited a really long time to pick some from Wallpaper Direct because I thought they looked cheap or maybe too broad on their website, but they ended up being some of the higher quality papers that I used. I put up their Morris and Co. Pimpernil print in my dining room. I used Milton and King in our bedroom and I absolutely loved them, too. They had incredible customer service and some pretty modern designs, which was fun. You can call them and immediately get to the most helpful human being, no wait times, no nada. Just help! Imagine that in the new Covid-world.

Most websites have how-to videos, FAQ sections, and I implore you to read them all. Watch a few Youtube videos, too. They were pretty helpful in figuring out what steps to do and in which order. It also helped you figure out the tools you’d need and gives insight to things like lining paper, etc.

I used lining paper in my dining room above the plate railing because on 3 out of 4 of my walls were paneled all the way up except for one. I have no idea why and will likely never know - you will never 100% know the answer to everything in your house. It was very obvious, so I wanted to unify the room visually. I actually found something in one of my preservation books about covering up paneling with joint compound to make a smooth wall, so I opted for that first and then put a medium-thick lining paper over it to make the lines even smoother. I try to make every single thing we do in this house un-doable.

Here’s a link to how I learned to put up the lining paper, though I am sure there are plenty others.

My biggest tips

Be VERY sure about the amount of wallpaper and lining paper that you need. I got Garret to double check all of my measurements haha.

I would also use a laser level or something else if you can get your hands on one (did you know some places have a lending library for TOOLS?!).

And finally, take your time with deciding - it took me 6+ months to decide on my dining room papers and I’m so glad I waited!