I never do things by halves, do I?! This area of our hall is lovely, but I felt it could be more lovely. It was originally an under stairs cupboard, but had such lovely tiles underneath we decided to show them off. I don’t regret this decision but it did mean we had a) less storage in a hall that already lacked storage (!) and b) it is quite dark under here.
I added this Dunelm light last year but it still needed something, and I love the idea of wallpaper in small spaces (see our downstairs loo here) to add texture to a space. Realistically, to buy the quality of paper I wanted to, I would need to do the hanging of the wallpaper myself. And actually, it would be nice to learn a new life skill at the same time!
I browsed quite a few brand options and loved CommonRoom wallpaper, but it was just out of my budget; I’d only need two rolls but it adds up quickly. I looked at Dunelm for more affordable options but didn’t find anything I loved, so ended up buying Sophie Robinson’s range with Harlequin. The site had a discount so it worked out as £63.20 a roll. This is the ‘wiggle’ wallpaper in Lapis/Sky colour.
I had recently painted the latticework in our hall a bright blue so wanted to introduce brighter/lighter blues to the hall and thought this would go perfectly without introducing too many new colours.
I cleared my schedule for a few days and watched this tutorial (I was quite impressed they showed a woman doing it!), bought all the tools like a complete novice and got to it. In reality, it would’ve taken me around 6 hours altogether but I decided to film and work around kids pick ups, so it took me a few days working in 4 hour chunks. I must admit, once you finish your first wall it feels so satisfying and you can move on (as opposed to paint – waiting for it to dry and you just never really feel like you’re done!). I do believe that good quality paper is key to being able to do this efficiently, as I could easily peel back the paper and start again if I needed to, without it ripping.
WHAT I LEARNT
No matter what area you are doing, it will be tricky! Granted, I picked a tight corner with sloping walls, wonky Edwardian surfaces with dado rails and skirting boards (also uneven) but there will always be something. The plug socket was surprisingly easy (as long as you turn the electrics off, of course!).
My entire body ached – all those stretching, reaching and brushing motions!
Patterned wallpaper is very hard to match up. As well as considering angles, I would spend hours trying to replicate the pattern of a swirl, only to lose my place and have to start over again. These walls all go in different directions, too! But the great thing about a particularly busy pattern is that it’s quite hard to follow and see where you’ve made mistakes!
There is also quite a bit of waste if you are focused on matching the pattern at every angle – I’d find a missing piece in the middle of the roll and have to cut into it to use.
There’s a lot of guesswork and cutting random bits to stuff in gaps, but it all worked out okay! My love for Jigsaw puzzles really came in handy here, I (almost) relished the challenge.
Honestly, it wasn’t as time consuming as I thought it would be, once you’re on a roll (pun intended) it’s quite quick! And as I went straight over dark paint in some areas, it was quicker than painting it white (as I did with the rest of the hallway) – one layer and it was covered.
Did I enjoy the process – yes! Would I do it again? Maybe…but it’d have to be a square, neat room all prepped with no windows, sloped walls or plug sockets.
