Wallpapering - estimating the number of rolls of Wallpaper

The standard UK roll of wallpaper is 20.5 inches wide by 11 yards (0.52m x 10.05m) long.

Some continental European wall papers are a little narrower while many American ones are about twice the width.

The type of pattern on the wallpaper will affect the amount of each roll you can use and so the number of rolls required; generally, the larger the vertical repeat of the pattern, the more rolls you will need as the waste will be greater.

There are ways to reduce the waste such as by cutting adjacent strips from different rolls or by cutting a roll into lengths and then selecting the best match from the cut lengths - this latter method is a bit 'hit and miss' so is not recommended.

Waste will also result from papering around corners, where strips are cut lengthways and this will often result in an unusable narrow off-cut.

Calculate how many rolls of wallpaper you will need

Unless there are large areas of windows or other areas which will not be papered, simply measure the perimeter of the room (including around any chimney breast and other projections), and the height to be papered and use the table below.

Add on a couple of rolls if you are using a large repeat pattern or if the supplier will take back any rolls unused.

Unless you are using a paper which you will paint, only buy wallpaper rolls with the same 'batch' or 'lot' number to ensure perfect colour matching.