Hanging wallpaper into a
door or window recess

Hanging wallpaper around and into a recess can, at first sight, seem somewhat daunting; but taken step-by-step, any diy'er should be able to wallpaper these areas without a problem.

Hanging wallpaper up to the recess

This assumes that the strips of wallpaper are being hung working towards a window or door recess - the advantage with this is that there should be a vertical wallpaper edge for lining up the length of wall paper which will turn into the recess.

Hang the length of wallpaper which overlap the recess, line the edge of the wallpaper with the previously hung length.

Brush the length down on to the face of the wall for the full height.

Use a pair of paper hanging scissors to make a horizontal cut in the wallpaper just above the head of the recess from the edge to the top corner of the recess.

If there is a bottom corner into the recess (there probably will be for a window), make another cut in the wallpaper at the bottom of the recess just below the top of the sill.

Fold back to the face of the wall, the piece of wallpaper over the recess which has been cut at the top and, possibly, the bottom.

From an offcut of wallpaper, identify and cut a suitable piece with matching pattern; it needs to be large enough to fit around the top corner of the recess - about 25mm (1 inch) wider than from the vertical edge of the wallpaper above the recess to the top corner and about 12mm (½ in) longer than the depth of the recess.

Brush paste on to this piece of wallpaper and, after allowing it to soak, position it around the top corner:

• Align one side with the vertical wallpaper edge above the recess, and the bottom edge with the back of the recess,
• Turn the other side around the corner on to the side of the recess,
  and
• Lift the front edge of the main piece of wallpaper away from the wall above the recess, and fold the front edge of the corner piece back onto the face of the wall, and brush down the main piece of wallpaper on top of the corner piece.

If the width of the piece of wallpaper folded back against the side of the recess is sufficient to reach the back of the recess, smooth this piece around the side corner of the recess and back onto the side using a wallpaper hanging brush. Mark the back of the recess on to the wallpaper by drawing closed scissors down the corner and trim off.

If the width of the piece is insufficient to reach the back of the recess, cut a piece of matching wallpaper to fill the gap at the back of the recess - allow about 12mm (½ in) to go under the side piece which will turn down on to it. Paste this piece of wallpaper and position it to the back of the recess then fold the side piece around the corner and smooth it down so that it overlaps on to the fill-in piece.

Papering above the recess

Just cut, paste and hang short lengths of wallpaper (this may give the opportunity to use some offcuts) and hang them from the ceiling aligning the vertical edges with the previously hung strip. Brush them around the front edge of the recess and trim to the back. Stop when the next length of wallpaper will meet the side of the recess.

Going away from the recess

Measure out the width of the wallpaper (plus 5mm) from the vertical edge of the last short length hung above the recess, make the mark as high as possible on the wall.

Suspend a plumb bob from this mark, and mark the wall behind the line using a pencil at several points down the height of the wall, then join these marks using a straight edge.

To hang this first piece which will go both on the wall to the side of the recess and onto the return of the recess, line it up with the vertical edge of the wallpaper strip above the recess and brush it down the wall adjusting its position so that the opposite edge is parallel to the marked plumb line.

Use the same procedure as outlined above to complete this second side of the recess.

Further lengths of wallpaper is then hung using the vertical edge of the previous length.