Paint vs Wallpaper

Frequently asked questions

Why does the pattern repeat matter so much for quantity?

Because paper is bought by the roll and used by the drop, and the repeat decides how many usable drops a roll yields. Each drop has to align with the one beside it, so it is cut not to the wall height but to the next point in the pattern that lines up — and the larger the repeat, the more is trimmed off the top of each drop to get there. With a straight match the waste is bounded by the repeat length; with an offset or drop match, where alternate drops are shifted by half a repeat, the cutting is less efficient still. The practical consequence is that two papers at the same price per roll can differ substantially in price per wall, and a plain or random-match paper uses nearly the whole roll. Always work in drops per roll rather than square metres per roll.

Does wallpaper hide bad walls or reveal them?

It hides a different class of defect than paint does, which is why the answer surprises people. Paint is a thin film that follows the surface exactly, so hairline cracks, filled patches, roller-lap variations and undulation all show through it — especially in a sheen finish, and especially where light rakes across a wall from a window. Paper, being a sheet laid over the top, bridges hairline cracking and minor unevenness, and lining paper exists precisely to give a uniform surface over a wall that has seen a lot of history. What paper cannot tolerate is a surface that will not HOLD it: anything powdery, flaking, previously distempered, or unsealed, because the adhesion is the whole system. So a cracked but sound wall favours paper, and a smooth but crumbling one favours stabilising and painting.

Where should I start hanging?

From a plumb line, struck a little less than one roll width from a corner — never from the corner itself. Rooms are not square and walls are not plumb, so a first drop hung to a corner carries that corner's error into every subsequent drop, and by the far side of the room a vertical pattern is visibly leaning. Striking a true vertical line first means the first drop is right and everything after it follows. Corners are then turned with a small overlap rather than a single sheet wrapped round, because an out-of-plumb corner creases paper wrapped through it. The usual convention is to start at the most visible wall or beside the main window and work away from it, so that the inevitable pattern mismatch where the papering meets itself again lands in the least noticed corner.

What is sizing and do I need it?

Sizing means sealing the wall before papering, usually with a diluted paste or a proprietary size, and on new or repaired plaster it is not optional. Bare plaster is porous and pulls the water out of the paste almost on contact, which does two things: the paper grabs before it can be slid into position — so you cannot align the pattern or butt the seam — and the adhesive is starved, so the bond is poor. Sizing evens the porosity and gives you working time. It has a second benefit that only appears years later: sized plaster releases the paper when it is stripped, whereas paste bonded directly to raw plaster can take the plaster face off with it. That is the difference between an afternoon with a steamer and a room that needs re-skimming.

Can I paint over wallpaper?

Sometimes, and it is more often a postponement than a solution. It can work where the paper is sound, thoroughly stuck down with no lifting seams, and reasonably flat — seal first, because water-based paint soaks the paper and can loosen it, then paint. It goes wrong in predictable ways: seams and embossing show through and are emphasised rather than hidden by paint; any lifted edge gets worse once wetted; and a vinyl surface will not take paint without a suitable primer. The bigger cost is deferred, because painted paper is much harder to strip than paper — the paint film resists steam and water, so the removal job you avoided has become larger. Where the paper is sound and the room is temporary, it is a pragmatic choice; where the room is being done properly, strip it.

How many coats of paint should I plan for?

Usually two over a prepared and primed surface, and more in specific cases that are worth predicting rather than discovering. A strong colour change — particularly to or from a saturated colour, or over a dark wall — commonly needs an extra coat, and a tinted primer close to the final colour saves one. New plaster needs a mist coat, a thinned first coat that soaks in and gives the subsequent coats something to bond to, and this is not the same as a full coat. Bare or patch-filled areas are more absorbent than the surrounding wall and will flash — show as duller patches — unless primed first. Spot-priming filler is the single most common omission in a quick repaint, and it produces a wall that looks fine wet and patchy dry.

Is a feature wall a sensible compromise?

Often, yes, and for practical reasons as much as aesthetic ones. It confines the cost and the labour to one elevation, which makes an expensive paper affordable; it puts the pattern where it is seen rather than wrapping a room in it; and it removes the hardest parts of the job, since a single flat wall has no corners to turn and far fewer obstacles. Two things to get right. Choose the wall that is actually looked at — usually the one behind a bed or opposite the door, not the one with the window in it, which is backlit and shows the paper least. And pick the paint colour from the paper rather than the other way round, matching a recessive colour within the pattern so the remaining walls support it instead of competing.

How do I remove wallpaper?

Score, wet, wait, and scrape — with the waiting being the part people cut short. Perforating the surface lets water through, which matters most with washable and vinyl papers whose whole purpose is to resist it; a scoring tool used lightly is enough, since pressing hard scores the plaster too. Then soak with hot water and a stripping agent, or steam, and give it time to reach the paste rather than scraping at the first sign of softening. Many vinyls peel their top layer dry, leaving the backing paper to be soaked off, which is much easier than attacking the whole thing at once. A broad, sharpened scraper held at a shallow angle lifts paper; a narrow one held steeply gouges plaster. If the plaster starts coming away in sheets, the paper was hung on an unsized surface, and the job has become a re-skim.