PASTING - If the paper is not pre-pasted, cover your table or plywood piece with newspaper. Pasting is a technique all by itself. Use a wide brush and run a generous brush full down the middle of the strip. Then with a fresh brush full, paste sideways from the middle to the edge. After you hang each strip, be sure to wipe it clean with a wet sponge, rinsing the sponge often. This is very important. If you don't wash it carefully, you'll leave paste residue on the top of the wallcovering that will dry and show.

Use a piece of plywood on your kitchen or dining room table (with plenty of protection) or on a bed to create a "pasting table". A 4 foot long spirit level has a long straight edge and will measure plumb vertically and level horizontally.

HANGING - Start at a corner, preferably behind a door.

If your paper is 24" wide, make a vertical pencil mark 23-1/2 inches from the corner. Use your long spirit level to make the line as it measures both vertical as well as horizontal. Then cut several strips of the paper at least the length of the wall height and a little extra for safety. If you have a pattern, make extra sure that you cut the strips long enough to allow you to match the pattern. If you are working toward the right, remember that all matching with the former strip takes place on the left side of the new strip, not the right side.

Align the first strip along the pencil line you have drawn, allowing the paper to turn the corner by half an inch. Smooth the paper from the top down with the wide smoothing brush. And it certainly can't hurt to press the edge with the seam roller. Cut the top and bottom off with a sharp utility directory2@barbarajennings.comife. If your directory2@barbarajennings.comife starts to tear the paper rather than cutting it, it's time to replace the blade.

Continue hanging each strip, being careful to butt the seams snugly and making sure all patterns are aligned properly. When you get to the next corner, cut the strip that will touch the corner vertically so that it is 1/2 inch wider than you need. You want the paper to "turn" the corner by 1/2 inch. Be sure you don't turn the corner with more than 1/2 inch, because if you do you'll have hopeless wrinkling problems. When the whole room is done and you have caught up to where you began, you may notice that your pattern doesn't match perfectly. This is common and there is nothing that can be done about it. Since you started behind a door, no one is likely to ever know about it except you.