The patterns in Martin’s recent photographs are a better guide to what is going up locally than a shop’s “trend” wall. They are real rooms in ordinary houses: a dark floral downstairs toilet, a willow-leaf feature wall in a bedroom, marble-effect paper in a hall, botanicals above sage panelling on a stairs, leaf paper over a painted dado, and an art-deco fan paper in a living room. None of that is a claim about what the whole of Northern Ireland is buying. It is what he has actually been asked to hang.
What those jobs have in common
Small rooms can take a loud paper. The cloakroom with the burgundy and pink floral works because the room is tiny and the daylight is limited. The same paper across an open living room would be a lot. If you like a maximal pattern, a downstairs toilet or a short stretch of hall is the low-risk place.
One wall is often enough. The willow-leaf bedroom leaves the other walls painted. The dining room with the animal-portrait paper paints the return wall a dusky pink. The pattern does the work. The paint gives the eye a rest and keeps the cost of the paper down, because you are not buying it for every wall.
Halls are being split in half. Floral stripes, mottled papers and stone effects are going above panelling or a painted dado, not from skirting to ceiling. The lower wall takes the knocks from bags and children. Paint on that half can be washed. The paper stays at eye level, which is where you notice a hallway.
Stairs need a paper that can turn a corner. Large repeats and fake stone veins show every seam that drifts. A busy botanical can hide a slight mismatch better than a stripe. Either way, a stairs uses more paper than the floor area suggests, because the drops are long.
Prep, in the order that matters
- Check for damp. If the wall is wet, stop. Paper hides the mark and then stains or peels. Martin is not there to cover a leak with a floral. The cause needs dealing with first. He does not install damp-proof courses.
- Strip what is failing. Papering over paper is how bubbles and peeling edges start. The leaf-pattern job in the gallery shows the scarred plaster that can be waiting underneath. That gets filled before anything is hung.
- Fill and sand. A pattern will not disguise a lump. Side light on a landing shows it. Repairs are part of making the wall good, and they are easier before the paper is up than after.
- Size or line a patchy wall. Bare filler, old plaster and new skim drink paste at different rates. A sealer or a lining paper gives the finish a flatter base, especially under a pale or lightly textured design. A heavy pattern is more forgiving, but it still wants a sound wall.
- Same batch. Rolls bought later can differ even with the same name on the label. Order enough for the stairs and the mistakes. A spare roll is cheaper than a seam in a different shade halfway up the hall.
- Sockets and switches. Plates come off so the paper runs behind them, then go back. The power is off while that is done. It is part of the job, not a finishing shortcut of paper cut roughly around the plate.
- Match the pattern on purpose. Stripes, florals and stone effects need the repeat lined up. On a stairs the waste is in those matches. A “free match” paper is more economical. Ask before you fall for a large drop that will halve the useful length of each roll.
Choosing between paper and paint
Paint is the simpler finish on a wall that is slightly out of true, and it is easier to refresh in five years. Paper is the finish when you want the room to have a design you cannot get from a tin. Many of the houses in the gallery use both: paper where it earns its place, paint on the panels, the chimney breast, the woodwork and the ceiling.
The photographs are on our work, and the service is described on the wallpapering page. If you already have the rolls, say so when you ask for a quote, and say whether the old paper is still on the wall. That is the difference between a hang and a strip-and-hang.