How to put wallpaper on the wall alone

As you know, I am in the process of doing an extreme makeover of my living room. My biggest challenge was to learn how to put wallpaper on the wall alone because I have never done this before. Let me tell you, it was not easy at all. I made tons of mistakes on the way and am still not entirely satisfied with the result, but overall, I succeeded, and it looks amazing.

How to put wallpaper on the wall alone

The challenge is not only that I have never done this before and used this YouTube video as the reference, but also, I had to do it all alone because all my friends were at work during the day.

My idea was always to have a nice dark colour in the living room and one of my favorite colours is petrol, which is some sort of a mix between green and blue (and it is hard to show the real colour from the photos).

I like how petrol makes this amazing contrast with white and red and kind of gives the feeling of being home and comfort.

After I measured my room, I cut the wallpaper. Then I applied the wallpaper glue to the wallpaper using a brush and folder the wallpaper like it was shown on the video.

I climbed the ladder and put the wallpaper carefully trying to see if it falls straight down. With a special tool, I made sure there were no bubbles left behind the wallpaper.

The easiest part for me was the fact that my wallpaper didn’t have a pattern I needed to follow, so it was relatively easy. Just put one piece after another.

The first mistake I made was the cloth I used to put under the wallpaper to protect the floor when I was applying the glue. The cloth is so messy, and the brush caught many parts of it, so I would suggest NEVER using this one. Just find old newspapers and use them on the floor.

One more thing to know, I have put this petrol wallpaper on top of wood-chip wallpaper, as it is used almost everywhere in Germany. I hate wood-chip wallpaper and it is super difficult to get rid of it. I would need to use a steamer and to be honest, at this point, I didn’t want to waste my time, as it is anyways a rented apartment and if I decide to move out, I will have to put back the boring white wood-chip wallpaper. The good thing is, wood-chip wallpaper didn’t cause any problems and my new wallpaper, when it dried, got stretched and you could not see the wood-chip pattern behind anymore.

When I completed the room, I gave it a day to dry. Then I needed to fix the upper part of the wallpaper, where it touches the ceiling. Using a metal ruler and a razor, I have cut even part of the entire room on the top and voila! It looks amazing and somehow even professional, giving to the walls this beautiful white stripe on the top.

I had to fix some parts here and there and apply some more glue in some places as the wallpaper was not fully attached, but it seems like it sticks to the wall perfectly now and it won’t fall off! Fingers crossed, it will remain on my walls for months (and years).

Have you ever had this experience putting wallpaper on the wall alone? If so, please, share your experience with us and if you have some tips to give, go ahead.

Featured photo by ommik.com