Monthly Archives: June 2014

Unique Way to Wallpaper a Wall

woman holding wallpaper

Some walls just seem to cry out for something different. This is especially true with walls that may be the only wall in a room with wainscot or a narrow bit of wall at the end of a hallway or entryway. You might want to consider using wallpaper in a uniquely different manner.

Instead of hanging panels of wallpaper, get scraps, samples, short rolls, etc. and tear them into small pieces of a couple of inches square to create a mottled look on your wall. It does take some time but is simple to do and can be a fun, creative way to add color to a small part of your home.

The first thing to do is prepare the wall. If it has old wallpaper on it, you will want to remove that wallpaper. To do this, you can use a wallpaper remover to loosen it and then scrape it off. If the wall is painted with a smooth surface, just clean it well and put primer on it. If the wall is textured, you can use a joint compound to fill in the low areas, let it dry, sand it lightly and then cover with primer.

Finding wallpaper for this is fairly simple. Most stores that carry wallpaper have sample books and may have some old ones they will either give you or sell cheaply. Also check the bargain wallpaper for rolls of discontinued wallpaper, short rolls and scraps. It is best to have an idea of what colors you want before you start buying so you don’t end up with wallpaper you end up not being able to use. For example, you may want to use blue as the basic color so you look for various shades of blue. If you want to create some sort of pattern in another color or two, such as a night sky, also watch for whites and shades of yellow.

If possible, get prepasted wallpaper that only has to be wetted to put up. Since it may not be possible to get all of it in prepasted, get wallpaper paste too. Even the prepasted will stick better with a little more paste on it. The paste won’t be mixed as thick as it would if you were hanging full panels so you won’t need to buy as much.

Once you have most if not all of the wallpaper you will need, start tearing it into small pieces of two to three inches square. In a medium bowl or bucket (an ice cream bucket works well for this), mix the wallpaper paste so it is soupy. This would be about three parts water to one to one and a half parts wallpaper paste. Drop a couple of handfuls of the torn wallpaper pieces into the paste mixture and start sticking them to the wall, overlapping them slightly as you go. One nice thing about this method is that it is forgiving and there is no such thing as a mistake.

Once you have the entire wall covered with no bare wall showing, you can add a complimentary wallpaper border at the top and bottom for a finished look. Once it is completely dry, you can give it a couple of coats of spray or roller polyurethane to seal it.

Though it takes time, it can be fun to do and your wall will be unique. If you have more walls that are similarly crying out for something different, you might use the same technique and try different colors and effects for each one so each can make its own statement.

Vinyl Flooring Installing-Measure Twice and Cut Once

When faced with such flooring choices as carpet, tile, natural stone, and hardwood, vinyl flooring may seem a bit mundane. The first thing to do is clear your mind of the vision of the unflattering, discolored, and bubbling vinyl flooring that you remember from your grandmother’s kitchen. Vinyl flooring has undergone many improvements and is one of the most popular types of flooring in America today. Not only can you buy vinyl that closely resembles those other flooring materials, but with a minimal amount of maintenance, a vinyl floor can last a lifetime.

Vinyl has many qualities that make it so desirable. The vinyl of today is stylish, easy to clean, durable, doesn’t need waxing, and it is friendly to the budget, but one of the biggest reasons that so many people choose vinyl is the ease in which it can be installed. Vinyl is an easy DIY project for even the most inexperienced of handymen and it can be done in under a day.

Installing Vinyl Flooring

The first thing to do is prepare the room by clearing your workspace.

Remove all furniture and appliances (including toilet if you are working in the bathroom)
If there is a door that opens into the room, remove it from the hinges.
Remove the baseboards from around the floor with a pry bar. Gently ease the pry bar in between the baseboard and the wall and insert a small block of wood behind the bar. This gives you leverage to pry the trim away without damaging the wall.
Remove any nails from the wall and trim. If are reusing the same trim, remove the nails gently to prevent splitting the wood.

Cutting Your Vinyl Floor to Fit

Vinyl flooring is generally sold in both 6 and 12 foot widths making a seamless floor in smaller rooms, such as a hallway, kitchen, or bathroom, possible. There are two methods of installing your vinyl flooring depending on the room you are fitting.

  • For rooms that don’t have many obstacles or angles, you can cut the vinyl to the measurement of the room and allow 3 inches of excess on each side and then trim it after it is in place.
  • Once your flooring has been cut to fit the room (remember to leave 3 inches extra all the way around), place it in the room and allow the edges to curl upward onto the wall.
  • Trim around any outside corners or other objects that protrude by cutting a vertical slice down the vinyl. Be sure to cut from the top of the flooring down to where it meets the floor.
  • For fitting the vinyl to inside corners, press it into the corner and make v-shaped incisions where it overlaps. Cut only a small amount at a time and carefully work downward until the flooring rests flat.
  • Press a 2×4 along the walls to create a crease where the floor meets the wall. After the crease is made, use a straight edge and a good utility knife to cut the flooring. As it rests, the floor will expand a bit so leave around 1/8th inch of space between the flooring and the wall.
  • Once you’ve made sure that the vinyl is laying completely flat, you can put your baseboards back in place and your new floor is complete.

The alternative, for rooms with recesses, angles, or are hard to fit for other reasons, you can purchase an installation kit. These kits come complete with paper for creating a template of your floor plan, a marker, a cutting blade, tape, and precise instructions for making a pattern of your floor. With these kits you simply make the template, transfer it to the flooring, and then cut the vinyl to fit before installing it.

With so many beautiful styles and colors available, combined with the ease of installation, it is little wonder that so many people are choosing vinyl flooring for their homes and offices.