Loose wallpaper?....Get stripping!!!!

....Not THAT kind of stripping you filthy animals! On watching the mundane yet strangely captivating daytime trash that is Loose Women I was horrified to spot the wallpaper on the background of the studio was the same that I had (foolishly now, come to think of it) spent £64 per roll on and had hung in my living room! Now, Im not opposed to daytime rubbish on the box, Loose Women is even number 2 (after This Morning of course) on my list of faves...however, I am 100 squillion per cent not prepared to share interior decor with the cackling, frumpy, moaning middle aged women on the show. I'm not sure If this blunder was my bad taste or the impeccable taste of the ITV's interior designers...(I'm going to go for the latter just to make myself feel better), Either way the Designers Guild luxury paper had to go.....The sooner the better!!

p.s I do realise this photo isn't focussing solely on the 'Loose' wallpaper....however, I forgot to take a before pic so this one will have to do...my bad!

  If you have never attempted to A, remove wallpaper or B, hang wallpaper then keep reading and I'll attempt to guide you through the process,
I (obviously) had to remove the black and dark purple paper that had been professionally put up a mere 12 months before so first things first I got a bucket of warm water and sponge and wet the paper and waited for it to soak in....Then, ingeniously I remembered that being the fashionista that I am (har har.) I own a clothes steamer...Perfect for delicates and even sheets, duvet covers and pillows that I thought would do the same job as a wallpaper steamer...(my logic being they both have the word 'steamer' in the title...Note: I'm not sure a food steamer would be as effective)
So in enters my £79 clothes steamer purchased from the one and only Argos and used lovingly on every item of my clothing....It heats up in a mere 30 seconds and steams anything I can get my hands on...(apparantly wallpaper inclusive!!) I found that holding against the 'old' paper for a few seconds it came away easily from the wall, The small areas that didn't come away instantly I proceeded to use a metal scraper tool (not toooo sure of it's official title) and that seemed to do the trick!!! (I can't get a picture up but it's the blue homepure clothes steamer...can be found at: www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0890887.htm )

Share|.Once switched on it takes 30secs to be raring to go (you all really should put one on your chrimbly lists!!!) Held against the old paper for a few seconds I found it came off very easily (a couple of bits that didn't I removed without a hint of a problem with a metal scraper tool...Not too sure of it's official title?!)

Once all of the 'Loose' wallpaper had been removed (As shown above) I then needed to prime the wall ready for the new paper to be hung (A very pretty Chinese-esque cherry blossom print from habitat at a much more reasonable £19.50 a roll) Now, you can buy 'primer' from D.I.Y shops but my dear 'ol mother (who is a dab hand at wallpaper doing) simply makes a very dilute wallpaper paste (like a thick water consistency if that makes sense??) and paints across the whole wall...Once this has dried it's time to get started,
  Unroll your chosen wallpaper and firstly put the straight edge to the ceiling...You will most likely need to be standing on a step ladder unless you are 8ft tall, then walking your hands down the paper (trying very hard not to move the paper) reach the bottom and with your fingers make an indentation across the length of the paper of where the skirting board starts/you want your paper to finish, note: the paper will almost definately be falling down from the top over your head but try not to let this distract you...
now take the paper to your pasting table and cut your 'measured' section roughly an inch lower than your mark of where the skirting starts (this is for any possible margin of errors), Now you need to make up your paste, I always use the loose (haha loose!) powder that you have to mix, follow the packet instructions and stir well until gloopy and generally wallpaper paste like, now turn your paper over and paste the entire back of the length of paper, you will have to do half the fold over then the other half as most walls are alot longer than pasting tables...don't worry about creasing the paper as once on the wall you can smooth out (obviously this is within reason so don't go stomping all over it) Once the paper is well pasted take back over to the wall and make sure you have it the correct way round (sounds pretty obvious doesn't it?....however I have made this mistake before and it's reeeeeaaaallllllyyy annoying to take it off and turn it around) and stick to the wall, Once you have the paper on the wall it is quite manouverable until the paste dries so push and manipulate into the desired position (e.g in a straight line up to the wall/ceiling) When satisfied with the positioning of the strip go over the whole strip with a clean, damp cloth to remove any air bubbles or paste that is on the front, Now cut any overlap you may have along the bottom with a sharp craft knife/pair of scissors. For the rest of the strips it's basically the same principle although you do have to match up any patterns that may be on the print...this can be quite frustrating as it feels as though you are 'wasting' lots of the paper... and to be honest...you are! (but theres nothing you can do about it-soz!)  Also be aware that if you are hanging a patterned paper you have to do the indentation/cutting thing at the top AND bottom as it will never simply fit where you cut the last strip (If it ever does please let me know and I'll give you a medal), If you are hanging a plain wallpaper then you won't have any of these problems (you will unfortunately though have a very boring room)...I've found that generally speaking a roll will do 3 strips but if you're not sure how much to buy they have a grid at the D.I.Y shop you can work out how much you need...I always guesstimate and end up either returning unused rolls or going to buy more...Again, highly annoying! Anyway, keep hanging the strips until you have either reached the end of your 'feature' wall or finished the room, Finish off by going over again any bits of paste on the front of the paper you may have missed with the clean, damp cloth.

Et Voila!! a MUCH better (albeit slightly girly for the home of rugby boys) result!!! It really is quite easy to do the whole wallpaper thing and this sounds so 'therapy speak' but it's also highly rewarding to look at your newly revamped room and think to yourself 'I did that!'
try it and see!

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