Perhaps you've found a wallpaper you love but can't afford to cover an entire wall with it. Here's a great way to make an expensive piece of wallpaper into a framed piece of wall art. Materials:
Prepasted wallpaper
L-shaped cardboard strips
Pencil
Razor knife
Straightedge
Wallpaper wetting tray
Wallpaper smoother
Miter box
Wood trim
Glue
Brads
Hammer
- Pick out wallpaper, and determine the size of your panel. Lay L-shaped wood frames or strips of cardboard on your wallpaper to determine the size of the piece, based on the wallpaper pattern. Whether the pattern is small (figure A) or large (figure B), pay attention to the pattern to avoid cutting figures in half.
- Draw pencil lines on the wall to mark the desired placement of the panel.
- Cut the wallpaper with a razor knife and a straightedge.
- Roll the wallpaper into a wetting tray to activate the glue. Book the wallpaper by folding it onto itself to allow the glue to set up.
- Unfold one end of the booked wallpaper (figure C), and stick it to the wall at the penciled line.
- Smooth the paper in place, from the inside out, with a wallpaper smoother or smoothing brush (figure D).
- Unfold the booked sections of wallpaper as you go (figure E), and smooth in place.
- Build a frame around the wallpaper panel with wood trim. Use a miter box to cut a 45-degree angle at each end of each piece of trim (figure F).
- Finish the trim with paint or stain. We chose a gold-leaf finish to complement the fancy wallpaper.
- Use a caulking gun to put a line of glue along the back of the first frame piece.
- Set the frame piece in place on the wall, and tack in place with wire brads to hold it until the glue dries (figure G).
- After the first side is up, glue and tack the other three sides in place.
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