10 Things I Learned About Wallpaper: Kids Bedroom Update
I wish I could blog full-time. I really hate it when a week went by without any post. When you have a baby in the house, 24 hours seem like just 12. Kenya just turned one today and honestly, for the past 12 months, our house is in chaos. Although I did care about it, I just didn’t bother re-organizing it because I just didn’t have any energy left for the house when most of my focus was on Kenya. Now that she’s becoming a little bit independent, I’m also gaining my freedom back! Yey, more time for DIY projects!
Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m redecorating the kids bedroom and here is what I have done for the past week. Bryce had been sleeping on the floor for weeks so I really had to finish this room.
If you saw my moodboard for this room, you know now that I would be attempting to install wallpaper by myself with a little help from the hubby, of course. I already psyched myself that it wouldn’t be an easy task but it turned out to be quite doable for a first-timer like me considering all the challenges we encountered. Since this is a DIY project, I used this brick wallpaper from Heim (Wilcon Depot) which, I think, was really affordable for P660/roll.
And don’t start at 8 in the evening and expect to finish before 10, especially if you have kids to put in bed. Yep, I thought, since there’s the two of us working, it could be done in an hour! Me and my excellent scheduling!
2. Using a level ruler, draw a straight vertical line from ceiling to floor somewhere in the middle of the wall. Do NOT start from the edge because not all edges are perfectly straight. This straight line will be your guide when hanging the wallpaper. (I nailed this one! Haha!)
The lesson: If you’re using patterned wallpaper on a wall with a window, cut your strips as if there was no window. Install the whole strip but do not put paste on the area where the window is. Once installed, cut a hole in the window area using an X-acto knife, leaving 2-3 inches allowance around the edges.
4. And because I didn’t include the window area in my measurement, I got short of wallpaper (see photo above.) The following day, I went to Wilcon Quirino to buy another roll and surprise, that model was out of stock and the nearest branch that had one was in Ali Mall, Cubao. Of course, I had to rush there so we could finish installing the wallpaper before the paste hardens.
The lesson: Save yourself from unnecessary trips to the store. Always measure the entire wall and never exclude the windows. It is better to have an extra roll especially if the pattern is quite complicated. Twice, we had to cut off almost a foot long before we could find the correct pattern that would match the previous strip. Having a lot of excess wallpaper is way better because you can use the extra for other DIY projects.
5. Before diving into this project, I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to hang wallpaper. Those two involve soaking the entire roll in water but the instruction from Heim said just to wet the back of the wallpaper with water using a clean brush before applying the paste. I didn’t know why it had to be done but when I hung the second strip, I’m really grateful that the paper was wet enough so it can easily be moved to close the seams and match the pattern.
6. When smoothing out the wallpaper (I used a piece of foam board), do not apply too much pressure. Hubby did one strip and it started having air bubbles after a few minutes. Apparently, he pressed too hard that almost all of the paste were pushed out during the process.
7. I didn’t adhere the edges around the inside of the window, thinking I would just trim it when the paste has settled (after 4 days). But after a couple of days, I didn’t think it would hold up considering the two little dwellers in that room. So I applied water and paste again and adhered it inside.
The lesson: Do not wait for days to do this so you wouldn’t have to accidentally peel off the already installed paper.
8. When trimming the excess paper off the edges, use super sharp blade. The wallpaper is still soft from water and it might be torn if the blade is dull. Good thing I have lots of spare X-acto blades.
9. Make sure that there are no wrinkles on the wallpaper when adhered on the wall. There was one on my last strip and I thought it would work if I press hard enough. The following day, the area had air bubbles. I had to make several slits to smoothen it out again.
The lesson: The wall should be completely smooth for the wallpaper to adhere properly. Any bumps or unevenness on the wall would create air bubbles and you wouldn’t want that.
10. Slight gaps between sheets are inevitable so I painted them with my left-over brown paint. It is not exactly the same color as my wallpaper but it would do. I also painted the inside on the windows where the edges of the wallpaper didn’t quite “make it.”
So there’s my first try on hanging a wallpaper. Maybe next time, I’ll try doing a bigger wall or an entire room. Haha! For now, I’m thinking of what I would do with my left-over wallpaper and paste.
Here’s how the room currently looks like (Sorry for the bad quality of the photo.) No curtains, proper beddings and chair for Bryce yet. I hope I can finish decorating it next week since this week would be very, very busy.
