Laundry Room 3: Wallpaper, Outlet, and Doors

I am by no means an expert at wallpapering.  Ha!  I am by no means an expert at anything!!!  But I do have some tips for you if you try to take on wallpapering for the first time, like I did in my laundry room. Today I was merely completing a job I had started a few years prior.  Yeah, no joke.  My laundry room renovation started out just fine (Laundry Room 1: The Initial Renovation), but when I ran out of wallpaper, I ran out of steam.  Even though I ordered more paper right away, the momentum was gone and the project stalled.  But not anymore!  I finally finished!! Yay!!

Here are my tips:

1) If you will be hanging anything heavy on the walls (like shelves or cabinets) locate the studs and mark them on the ceiling.  I used a stud finder, but double checked by hammering a nail into the wall and then removing it.

2) Think ahead!  I realized I hated that the washing machine was plugged into an outlet above the counter top.  It was much easier for my husband (because I don't touch electrical) to add an additional outlet below the counter top BEFORE I wallpapered!

3) Prep the walls by filling holes and sanding down bumps.  Make sure walls are clean before you start to wallpaper.

4) Paint door/window trim before you wallpaper.  Who cares if you get paint on the wall underneath?  I painted not only the trim, but the doors themselves.  And hubby replaced all the hinges and doorknobs while I had the doors off.  Yey!  

 

5) Choose a forgiving pattern of wallpaper.  Something that doesn't have a lot of overlap at the seams is easier.  Most of the starfish in my print are whole/complete starfish.  There is only one starfish that is cut off, and that one made it easy for me to match up the next piece.  I bought my paper at Steve's Blinds & Wallpaper.

6) Order extra paper initially.  Otherwise you might end up like me, with a project that went unfinished for over a year!  Yes it sat like that for waaaaay too long!

7) Use pre-pasted wallpaper, it only needs water to activate the glue.  This is my BIG TIP: If you buy a double role of wall paper (as I did) you'll find it does not fit into even the biggest wallpaper tray sold at Lowe's.  My solution??  Soak the extra wide paper in the bottom of your (clean!) shower.  It worked like a charm!

8) Here are some websites that explain all the basics of wallpapering:

• This Old House gives you more info than you'll need.  Don't let it overwhelm you!
• The info on the For Dummies site breaks the info down so you can read the sections that apply to you.
• Brewster Home Fashions has a nice tutorial and videos.

Happy wallpapering!!!!

Thanks for visiting,
          Smart Girl

*You can check out the entire laundry room renovation by reading these posts:
Laundry Room 1: The Initial Renovation 
Laundry Room 2: Shelf Over Stacked Washer/Dryer 
Laundry Room 4: Laundry Basket Shelf and Counter top
Laundry Room 5: Wall Shelves {Tutorial}
Laundry Room 6: WASH Letters