Wallpaper

Posted in: Wallpaper
Wallpaper Borders
By Martin Smith
Jul 27, 2008 - 3:10:21 AM

Question: I would like to refurbish the rooms in my home, but my resources are limited. An idea came that I should just paint the walls and tote up with some lively wallpaper borders. Does that sound difficult? What appliances and aptitude one might need for the same? if I look at the cost of borders they do add to the overall cost and I'm not sure if they are worth paying for.

Answer: Wallpaper borders are hassle free and within your means. It would not make much difference to your pockets to afford a reasonable one which would add a distinctive style and pattern to a bare, unadorned room. In fact, most of the interior decorators keep this undisclosed.

These borders are derived from wallpapers; still they have some basic structural and functional differences. The conventional ones are usually hung in a vertical manner from ceiling to the floor, however, the borders sling in a horizontal fashion.

While going for a wallpaper border, the sizing is the most important factor. It acts in a manner similar to the way a ribbon would embellish a gift box. The customary ones are 21 inches wide and 20-30 feet long, however, a 6 to 9 inches high border would be considered the ideal choice.

These could be installed in various manners. As a practice, I have always mounted them about 36 inches high off the floor though the common practice is to fix it up to the wall surface at the point where it meets the ceiling. Occasionally, the borders might be used as a separator for two wallpapers in a room.

I have applied this theme in my basement bathroom. Two wallpapers are installed at the same place, a bamboo wallpaper and a light-colored one with tropical leaves as the setting. Now, a similar themed wallpaper border has been used to separate these two giving an impression that they are all one.

When compared to a conventional wallpaper, setting up borders are easier and need lesser efforts. This could be as the items needed are less and not much troublesome. Its just a plain, simple, narrow piece of paper based on a theme and the configuration has to be matched in the right manner.

The gears needed for a wallpaper border are more or less the same as for a wallpaper. It would include a special wallpaper razor knife, a smoothing brush and a broad knife. Additional tools would be a measuring tape, a stepladder, a sponge, a 4-inch-wide paintbrush and buckets of water. The utility of the razor knife would be to dapper the additional sheet, the brush to even out the border, the broad knife to spruce the borders for an inconsistent ceiling and the paintbrush to smear the paste activator.

While applying the liquid paste all over, it would be feasible if you have a large table serving as a platform. You would need to apply the paste activator all across the back of the wallpaper border and hence, it should be firmly placed on a supporting table.

The kind of paste used would be the prime reason to determine whether your border will stay for long or come off in a few months. Even though often borders come already glued to fixative materials, it might not be sufficient and you would have to use additional quantities of the special adhesives. Do a little survey to find out the right material which is good in quality and would last long. While applying it over the borders, follow the guidelines carefully.
 
If the wall is already painted and you are just adding the border as a décor, the pre-pasted adhesives should be enough. To make it effective, add on water on the borders to set the glue in motion. A better option would be to add paste-activating gels instead of water which would further accelerate the process.

Now, once ready, the question comes as to how to hang the borders? It would be the same as you hang traditional wallpaper. Make sure you are aware of methods like ‘booking’ which means to trigger the adhesives applied on the border and then fold it back on itself. This would make the paper loosen up and then expand.

While the paper relaxes and inflates, you might save your time by working on another piece of paper. The reason it should be allowed some time is because if you try to hang it right away, the border starts expanding on the wall. This would leave swellings and eruption on it. This would result in pushing the paper off the wall and it would not stick for a longer period.

Once you fit the border on the wall, do not drape or cover the inside corners. Once the fixative material dries, the corners may automatically come apart. How to properly install it would be a bit challenging! Start from one corner at a time and run the border along thus leaving just 3/16ths inch of border on the next wall. With the use of an identical outline, run a new paper stripe in the corner, which should lie on the top of the small flab, left from the previous paper border.

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