Even before we found out that baby #2 was going to be a sweet, little girl I had her nursery planned out. Every detail, down to the jewelry box for her special, tiny, initial bracelet. The first thing I knew she needed in her nursery was some soft, blush wallpaper with some sort of precious baby animals romping through it. Luckily, my spirit animal, Joanna Gaines is a mindreader and had already created the perfect pre-pasted wallpaper!
Now I’ve used peel and stick wallpaper, which was a piece of cake to install but real wallpaper made me a little nervous. It always seemed to meticulous to work with. After watching a couple tutorials I decided to just go for it and I’m so glad, because it was a piece of cake too! Delicious, soft, blush cake! Check out my process below, with some tips on what to do and what you probably shouldn’t do.
SUPPLIES:
STEP 1:
First, you have to prep your wall. This step is super important to make sure you have a clean, smooth wall for the paper to adhere to correctly. Remove any nails or screws and sand the hole with a fine sandpaper so you won’t have any lumps under the wallpaper. Also, remove all outlet covers with a screwdriver. The wall needs to be clean and must have been previously painted (doesn’t need to be recent, just painted at some point).
STEP 2:
Measure the center of the wall. From there, draw a level line to use as a guide for your wallpaper. If your wallpaper is 24 inches wide, half of that would be 12, so you would measure 12 inches out from the center of the wall and draw the line there. That will leave your first panel level, in the center of the wall.
STEP 3:
Measure and cut wallpaper. Measure the length of the wall and add 2 inches to the top and 2 inches to the bottom. For instance, if your wall is 80 inches long, cut the wallpaper at 84 inches to give you the extra space at the top and bottom.
STEP 4:
Spray the back of the paper and book both ends together in the middle. Make sure to get the paper pretty saturated and thoroughly spray the edges. If the edges aren’t wet enough, the seam will bubble and show. To “book” just means to fold both ends up to the middle and let them sit for a couple minutes to activate the glue.
STEP 5:
Unfold the top section of the wallpaper and place it on the wall. Use the level line as a starting guide. Be sure to leave a couple inches at the top of the wall that you will cut off later. If you make a mistake, it’s okay! This paper is extremely easy to work with. Just pull it back from the wall and reset it. Use the smoothing tool to remove any bubbles in the paper. You’ll really want the edges to stick so they don’t bubble and show the seam. If you need to, respray the edges and use the seam roller to press them into the wall.
Cut around any outlets with the breakaway knife. Remember to turn the power off first! I always make small cuts and try to get as close as possible to the outlet so that the cover covers the cut. You can always cut more if you need to but you can’t cut less!
STEP 6:
Cut the extra inches of paper off the top and bottom of wall. Use the smoothing tool to create a guide against the ceiling and baseboard. Use the break away knife against the guide to trim off the extra paper. An important tip here is to make sure you don’t pick up the smoothing tool or knife to get a clean cut. Just slide it across the ceiling or baseboard until the cut is finished.
STEP 7:
Continue to add each panel using the same steps. If you have a patterned paper, be sure to line up the pattern! You’ll want to get the panels as close together as possible without overlapping them. The closer together, the less you will see the seam. Use the seam roller once smoothed to blend the seams together. Use a wet sponge to remove any paste that escapes onto the wallpaper.
That’s it! If you want to see some video clips of this whole process, check out the story highlight on my Instagram page. So, do you think you want to give it a try? I hope so! It adds just the right amount of delicate detail to the room.
Interested in something in the nursery? Shop the links below! I do get a small commission on some of the products, but at no extra cost to you. I also made the wallhanging above her crib and will have a tutorial up on that soon!
