Do You Start In The Middle Of The Wall When Wallpapering?

If you are a novice wallpaperer then one question that has obviously popped into your head is just where to start. Do you start at the edge of the wall or should you start in the middle? Let’s have a look and find out.

If using a large patterned paper then it is best practice to centre the pattern and start from the middle of the wall. If your wallpaper is not patterned or has a smaller pattern then this does not matter.

Starting in the position that best helps you easily cover the wall with no thin strips of wallpaper is the ideal choice.

Starting In The Middle

Starting in the middle is great to centre the wallpaper pattern. This looks the most natural when completed and is what you should definitely do with large patterns.

It does though mean you may have to cut two sheets of wallpaper horizontally when you reach the corners. This can make it difficult to achieve a perfect finish as cutting a full length of wallpaper down is not simple.

So if the wallpaper doesn’t have a huge dominating pattern then I advise you to start in a corner of the room instead.

Starting In The Corner

When starting your wallpapering in the corner of a room it is important you don’t use the wall as a straight edge.

Walls in any house, especially those which have been plastered, are pretty much never straight. If you use this as your vertical level then you will end up with wonky paper.

This will then throw the rest of the wall out of line, making your job tougher.

Instead of using the wall, you should use a chalk line to get a straight vertical line.

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04/10/2024 12:02 am GMT

Wall With Windows

Windows on the wall can also affect where you should start the paper. The one thing you want to avoid is having thin strips of wallpaper down the sides of the windows.

This thin strip will more than likely rip, especially when the paper is wet with paste.

So do what you can to avoid this, whether that means starting in the middle, corner or even slightly offset.

The image above demonstrates what I am saying. look how thin some of the strips would be around this window.

This would be practically begging the paper to rip, making this a real tough job.

If you have a wall like this then I would suggest planning it out and figuring out how best it would work around the window and then start from there.

Remember to think about both sides of the window when planning this out.

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Sam Wood

Wood by name, wood by nature. I am a fully qualified, time-served, award-winning joiner with an NVQ Level 3 in Carpentry and Joinery as well as an HNC in Construction. Beyond my joinery qualifications, I have also earned a degree in building surveying. I believe these qualifications make me perfectly positioned to provide expert advice on many different areas of DIY as well as share all of the tips I have picked up in over a decade working on building sites!

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