Wallpaper Installation Guide

Finding an installer

Thank you for bringing Grow House Grow’s wallpapers into your space! Professional installation is highly recommended. To find a paperhanger in your area, searching the Wallcovering Installers Association database is a great place to start. We also keep a short list of qualified installers on hand, and are happy to share it. On a related note, if you’re working with an installer who’s doing a great job, let us know! We would love to add them to our list.

Prior to Installation

It’s important to inspect your wallpaper before trimming or pasting, and to alert us of any issues before installation begins. Please note we are not responsible for wallpaper that has been hung on the wall, or damaged during installation. Grow House Grow’s wallpaper is hand silk screened with care using hand-mixed inks. Slight color, print, and alignment variation may occur and is considered normal.

Surface Preparation

Make sure walls are clean, patched, and even. Walls should be primed and prepped with a coat of sizing. Hanging blank stock or lining papers under our wallpaper is not necessary, but recommended. Its benefits include a smoother hanging surface (for older walls) as well as the control of seams and bubbles through moisture reduction.

For Dark Colorways

To minimize the appearance of seams when hanging a dark or vibrant colorway, choose a paint similar to the main background color of your pattern. Measure where each strip of wallpaper will meet on the wall, and paint the vertical area where the seams will align.

Additionally, we recommend tinting the edge of your trimmed paper with a small amount of diluted guache, colored pencil, crayon, or acrylic paint in a similar color (see “Trimming” below).

Layout

Take a moment to determine where to begin installation. In most spaces, hanging your first strip along the right side of a door, window, built-in shelf, or inconspicuous corner is easiest (for lefties, you’d want to begin to the left).

For rooms with a feature area (such as a fireplace), or for patterns with large graphic repeats, hanging the first strip in the center of your focal point will achieve the most balanced look.

Once you’ve determined where to begin, mark your first vertical plumb line on the wall. Next, cut your strip of wallpaper, taking into account pattern repeat and match. If your intended strip is close in length to the wall height, be sure to include at least 4-6 extra inches to give enough leeway when positioning your paper.

Note that most of Grow House Grow’s wallpapers have a 36 inch screen repeat. In cases where the printed pattern crosses over the vertical seam, it may be necessary to cut longer strips to ensure the best pattern match. For example: if your walls are nine feet, you may need to section your wallpaper from strips closer to 12 feet to properly align the JOIN marks every 36 inches.

Trimming

Like many hand-crafted brands, Grow House Grow’s wallpaper will arrive with something most machine-made papers won’t have: a selvedge. This is a narrow 1.5 inch strip of unpatterned paper on each side of the artwork itself. Selvedge is important for several reasons:

Protection: The most important purpose of a selvedge is to protect your printed paper’s printed edge in shipping.

Alignment: The selvedge provides important information for your installer, such as where to join the pattern side-to-side and what direction the pattern should be hung.

There are two ways to remove your selvedge: the double cut, and the dry cut/table trim methods. For most installations, carefully dry cutting the wallpaper on a flat surface using a long straight edge and sharp razor blade is preferred. Be sure to replace your blades often for a clean cut.

Our wallpapers are designed to be trimmed just inside the TRIM mark on each side of the pattern. Please use this mark as a guide for the approximate trim line. Prior to trimming your paper, take note of the JOIN marks on each side of the selvedge. For the best match, Grow House Grow’s wallpaper should be aligned using the JOIN mark, both for straight-match and drop-match patterns.

For dark colorways, trimmed paper can be re-rolled and the edges lightly tinted to help camouflage the white ground.

Pasting

Clear, strippable paste works best with our wallpapers. Roman Pro-880 is a popular choice, and available at most hardware stores.

Using a brush or roller, carefully apply an even, thin coat of paste to the back of your wallpaper strip from the center outward, ensuring full coverage.

Booking

Also referred to as “baking,” this important step allows the newly applied paste to genty moisten your paper so that it will expand properly. Without creasing, carefully take one end of your pasted wallpaper and fold it in on itself, joining the end of the paper to the center of the strip. Keep the edges of the folded paper aligned, to prevent them from drying out. Repeat with the opposite end, folding over and meeting in the middle, paste-to-paste. You can now loosely roll this strip up to keep it moist as it continues to bake.

Take care to keep paste from smearing onto the paper’s printed surface. Should paste make its way onto the face of your wallpaper, remove it quickly and gently with a soft, clean, damp sponge.

Allow your wallpaper to book for 5-10 minutes. Booking times will vary according to ink coverage and the conditions of your space (for example, a very humid room may need less soaking time. Heavily inked patterns may need more soaking time). Do your best to be consistent with how long you book your wallpaper, so that each strip expands and dries at a similar rate. This will assist in the best pattern alignment.

Hanging your first strip

Take your fully booked wallpaper to the wall, and unfold the top portion of the strip. It can be helpful to do this step once you’re already on your stool or ladder. Press the top of your strip against the wall, leaving 2-3 inches overage along the ceiling (this is the allowance accounted for earlier, and will be trimmed off later). Using the palm of your (clean) hands and following your plumb line as a guide, begin to smooth the paper from the center out to the edges, working your way down the strip.

At the center of the strip, unfold the bottom booked portion, and continue to gently smooth and slide the paper into place down the wall. Once the strip is matched to the plumb line, smooth out all existing bubbles and air pockets from the center of the paper out. In some instances, areas of the paper may need to be pulled from the wall and repositioned to remove air pockets. When positioning your wallpaper, avoid pulling on its edges.

Take care when using smoothing tools not to burnish the paper; pressing too firmly with a wallpaper smoother can loosen metallics or scratch dark pigments. For delicate papers, keeping a high-quality wallpaper hanging brush or wallpaper roller on hand is wise.

Take care not to squeeze excess paste from the seams. Address any paste on the face of the paper as soon as possible. Paste that is allowed to dry on the paper’s surface may cause it to stain.

Once your strip is in position, using your smoother and a straight edge, trim the excess wallpaper from the top and bottom of the wall.

If necessary, use clean, warm water and a microfiber cloth to gently rinse your wallpaper of any remaining excess paste. Replace your rinsing water frequently.

Hanging additional strips

Taking your pattern repeat and match into account, cut your next strip of wallpaper, including 4-6 inches extra. Book your paper similarly to the first, and when ready bring your new strip to the wall. Starting with the top section of paper, use the palms of your hands to press your strip at the top of the wall, aligning the pattern where the “JOIN” marks were placed. Carefully slide the seams of the new strip and previous strip together, butting them well without overlapping.

Continue down the full length of paper, and once everything is properly matched use your smoothing brush to remove any pockets of air bubbles. Trim excess paper from top and bottom, wash away any excess paste, and continue to the next strip.

Once you’ve hung three strips, roll each of the butted seams with a seam roller using light pressure.

Inspect your strips for alignment and placement, and then continue with the rest of the space. Keep an eye on seams and re-roll gently as necessary. Allow for adequate ventilation and time for the paper to dry naturally. New wallpaper and pastes can have a light scent, similar to new paint, which will dissipate as it dries.

Cleaning + Maintenance

Using a soft cloth or duster every few months to keep the surface of your paper free from debris is the easiest way to keep your wallpaper maintained. Start at the top and work your way down to keep dust from spreading around. For small marks and stains, using a bleach-free household spray cleaner can assist in spot cleaning. Always use a soft cloth or sponge and a light touch to avoid burnishing, and test your preferred cleaner in an inconspicuous spot to ensure it won’t damage the pigments. For larger areas, the surface of the paper can be cleaned using warm water with mild dish soap and a microfiber cloth. Avoid hard scrubbing, and rinse well with clean, warm water.

Thank You!

We love that you’ve chosen to bring our wallpapers into your space. As always, seeing in-progress and final install shots is wonderful, and we love to share them on our social media. Tag us on Instagram @growhousegrow so we can promote your project, and help others visualize their own space–it helps them, and is a treat for us!

Download a PDF of our installation guide here.