Renovation guides

How to hang wallpaper yourself: step by step

Quick review by a licensed contractor on Oct 7, 2026. This is not a certification. Follow product labels where they differ.

Wallpaper goes on last, after the trim and the final coat, on walls that are clean, flat, dry, and prepped for your paper type. Two very different jobs share one name: peel-and-stick, which most renters and condo owners buy, and traditional prepasted or unpasted paper hung with paste. You pick your path in step 1 and the rest of the guide follows it. The work that decides how it looks is not the hanging — it is the wall prep, the plumb line for the first drop, and the seams.

Difficulty 3 of 5 · 1 weekend · you can do this

Photo of your room, the look you pick, then this guide with the materials counted for your room.

Step by step

1. Step 1 of 13

   Read the roll label and pick your path

   

   Open one roll and read its label before anything else: it tells you peel-and-stick, prepasted, or unpasted; the pattern repeat; the match type (straight or drop); and whether drops are hung the same way up or reversed. Peel-and-stick means no water and no paste — you peel the backing as you go. Prepasted means the adhesive is already on the back and gets activated per the label, usually a water-tray soak and then a booking rest. Unpasted means you roll paste on the back yourself, with the paste the maker names. Write the repeat and the booking time on a piece of tape and stick it to the wall — you will use both numbers all day.

   Safe to start?

   • Breaker for this room's outlets and lights switched off, every outlet and switch checked dead with a non-contact tester
   • Walls dry — no damp patch, no active water stain, no musty smell, no mold behind old paper
   • No crumbling or drummy plaster, and no pre-1978 paint that would need aggressive dry sanding
   • Any primer or sizer already on the wall has cured the full time printed on its label
   • Peel-and-stick only: the wall paint has cured the time the wallpaper maker requires (often 2–4 weeks)
   • Room temperature and humidity within the range on the roll label
   • All rolls on hand, same run or batch number, one extra roll in the pile

2. Step 2 of 13

   Clear the room, kill the power, pull the cover plates

   

   Move the furniture to the middle, lay canvas drop cloths, and take down anything hanging. With the breaker already off, hold the tester to every outlet and switch on the walls you are papering to confirm they are dead, then unscrew the cover plates only — the receptacles and switches stay in their boxes, untouched. Bag the plates and the screws together so they come back on the right box.

3. Step 3 of 13

   Old wallpaper: strip it and wash off the paste

   

   Old wallpaper: peel the top layer dry, score what is left, soak it with warm water plus remover (or use a steamer), and scrape with a wide knife without gouging the drywall. Then wash off all paste residue and let the wall dry fully. Torn drywall paper gets an oil- or shellac-based primer before patching. No old paper? Skip this step.

4. Step 4 of 13

   Wash, fill, and sand the walls flat

   

   Wash the walls with a mild detergent solution, rinse, and let them dry completely — grease and smoke residue stop adhesive cold. Fill every nail hole, dent, and screw pop with lightweight spackling, let it dry per the label, and sand flush with a fine sanding sponge. Pasted paper on glossy or satin paint: scuff the whole surface with a medium sanding sponge until the sheen is gone. Peel-and-stick: do not scuff — it wants smooth, clean eggshell or satin paint, so prime and paint over the patches too. If the wall is pre-1978 painted plaster or drywall, do not dry sand: mist the area and wet-sand lightly, keep the debris wet, and if a whole wall needs flattening, stop and get a certified renovator instead. Vacuum and wipe the dust off — primer or paper over dust peels.

5. Step 5 of 13

   Pasted paper: prime with wallpaper primer or sizer

   

   Pasted paper: cut in the edges and roll the walls with a primer labeled for wallpaper, in a thin even coat. Do not skip this because the wall looks fine — the primer is what the paste holds onto and what lets the paper strip off later without tearing the drywall face. Let it cure the full time printed on the label, not the time it takes to feel dry. Peel-and-stick: skip the primer unless the paper maker calls for it; the paint must have cured the time the maker says (often 2–4 weeks) before you hang.

6. Step 6 of 13

   Measure the walls and count your drops with the repeat

   

   Measure each wall's width and the floor-to-ceiling height. Your drop length is the wall height plus 2" at the top and 2" at the bottom for trimming (or what the label says), rounded up to the next whole multiple of the pattern repeat on the label. For a drop match, add half the repeat to every other drop. Divide the roll length by that drop length and round down — that is how many usable drops you get per roll. Add up the drops you need wall by wall, include the short drops over doors and under windows, and confirm you have at least one spare roll before the first cut.

7. Step 7 of 13

   Pick the starting corner and draw the plumb line

   

   Start in the least visible corner — usually behind the door — because the last drop will not match the first one where they meet. Measure out from that corner the paper width minus 1/2" and mark the wall top and bottom; that 1/2" is what wraps around the corner. Draw a true plumb line through those marks with a level, a laser, or a plumb bob, in pencil, top to bottom. Then dry-fit the first strip against the line with painter's tape and step back: check the pattern height against the ceiling and confirm nothing important in the print lands right at the trim.

   Ready for the first drop?

   • Primer (pasted paper) or paint (peel-and-stick) cured the full time its label or the paper maker requires, and the wall is dust-free
   • Plumb line drawn floor to ceiling, checked with a level or laser — not measured off the corner
   • Line set at the paper width minus 1/2" so the first drop wraps the corner
   • First strip dry-fit and taped up, pattern position at the ceiling checked and approved
   • Drop length confirmed: wall height + 2" top + 2" bottom (or per the label), rounded up to a whole pattern repeat
   • Booking or soak time from the roll label written down (prepasted and unpasted only)
   • Fresh blade in the knife and a clean sponge and bucket within reach

8. Step 8 of 13

   Cut the drops, match the pattern, and book if the label says to

   

   Roll the paper face up on the table, cut the first drop to length, then use it to match the next: slide the roll along it until the pattern lines up edge to edge, and cut there. Number the backs in hanging order and keep them in a stack. For peel-and-stick, stop here — no water, no booking. For prepasted, wet the drop in the tray or per the label, then fold it paste-to-paste, loosely, without creasing the fold, and let it book for exactly the time the label gives. For unpasted, roll the paste evenly over the whole back, edges included, and book it the same way. If the label says "paste the wall", roll paste on the wall one drop wide and hang the paper dry — no booking.

9. Step 9 of 13

   Hang the first drop on the line and push the air out

   

   Take the drop to the wall, line its edge up with the plumb line, and let 2" (or what the label says) run over at the ceiling. Peel-and-stick goes on a foot at a time: unpeel the top of the backing, set the edge on the line, then work down, peeling and smoothing as you go. Pasted paper goes on whole and slides — nudge it until the edge sits on the line. Smooth from the center out to the edges and down with the smoothing tool, in overlapping strokes, pushing every bubble out to an edge rather than trapping it. Wipe paste off the ceiling and the trim with a damp sponge before it dries, and off the face only if the label says the paper is washable or scrubbable.

10. Step 10 of 13

    Butt the next drops and set the seams

    

    Hang each following drop the same way, matching the pattern at the seam first and then sliding the whole drop until its edge just touches the previous one — butted, never overlapped, and never with a gap. Peel-and-stick will not bond to itself, so an overlap there is guaranteed to peel; pasted paper overlaps leave a ridge that catches the light. Give each seam one light pass with the seam roller after it has sat a few minutes (never on embossed, flocked, or grasscloth paper), and wipe the seam clean if the label says the face can take water. If a small bubble is still trapped after smoothing, pierce it with a fresh blade tip and press the air out through the slit.

11. Step 11 of 13

    Turn the corners

    

    Never carry a full drop around a corner — it will wrinkle and it will not stay plumb. At an inside corner, cut the drop so it wraps 1/4" to 1/2" onto the next wall, draw a new plumb line on that wall, and hang the next drop over the wrap, matching the pattern as closely as the corner allows. At an outside corner, wrap about 1" past the corner onto the flat and hang the next drop to a fresh plumb line, overlapping that wrap. Where the two layers overlap, you can cut a double seam: slice through both layers with a fresh blade against a straightedge, peel out both waste strips, and butt the edges back together. On vinyl paper, glue the overlap with vinyl-over-vinyl adhesive.

12. Step 12 of 13

    Cut the outlets and switches

    

    With the breaker still off and the devices still in their boxes, hang the drop straight over the opening and smooth it down. Feel the box edges through the paper, then cut an X from corner to corner of the opening with a fresh blade, fold the four flaps in, and trim them back to the inside edges of the box. Cut a hair inside the box line so the cover plate covers the cut edge. Never pull a receptacle or a switch forward to tuck paper behind it, and do not loosen its screws — the plate goes back on exactly as it came off.

13. Step 13 of 13

    Trim at the ceiling and the baseboard, then clean up

    

    Press the wide taping knife into the corner at the ceiling and cut along its edge in one continuous pull with a fresh blade; snap the blade to a new edge and repeat at the baseboard, at the door casings, and at the window trim. Wipe paste off the face with a damp sponge only if the label says the paper is washable or scrubbable, while the adhesive is still soft, and rinse the sponge often. Grasscloth, fabric, and flocked papers: keep paste off the face; do not wet them. Peel-and-stick needs no sponging. Put the cover plates back on their own boxes, switch the breaker on, and check every outlet and switch works. Walk the room once in raking light from a low lamp, looking for lifted seams — a dab of seam adhesive and a light roll fixes those now, not in a month.

    Quality check

    • Every drop plumb and the pattern matched across every seam
    • Seams butted flat, no overlaps, no gaps, no shiny roller lines
    • No trapped bubbles or wrinkles in raking light
    • Ceiling and baseboard cuts straight and tight, no tears
    • Outlet and switch cutouts fully covered by the plates, plates back on, power restored and tested
    • Corner wraps flat, no lifted edges at inside or outside corners
    • Face and seams wiped clean, no dried adhesive shine
    • Leftover roll and its batch number kept for repairs

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