Introduction

Wallpaper borders are an attractive way to divide up walls so that the height of ceilings appears 'optically' lower. Look for accent colours in your existing furnishing fabrics for your border colour ideas.

There are hundreds of attractive styles of paper borders for you to choose from - some are even designed specifically to look like dado rails. Borders are hung horizontally around the room so you'll need to make sure they are absolutely level. If you are hanging a border up at the ceiling angle, you'll need to have easy and safe access for working at heights.

Hanging the border is quite straightforward as most run in one continuous 'strip'. Don't work around or into corners in one piece, however: follow the guidelines for papering around the corners in a room. Most borders are pasted like other wallpaper, but ordinary paste won't adhere very well over vinyl or washable papers so you should choose a self-adhesive paper for use over these.

Step by Step Instructions

1 Measure and mark

The first step in border hanging is to measure and mark down from the ceiling or cornice to where the bottom of the border will be. For a dado effect, measure from the skirting board upwards. Use a spirit level and a straight edge to guide you and mark a pencil line all around the room at this height.

2 Hanging the border

Measure the length of each wall and cut your border strips allowing a 50mm (2in) overlap on each one. Try to cover each wall in one continuous strip and form neat seams in the corners. If you have to use two strips, overlap their ends and match up the pattern precisely. Then use a sharp knife to cut through both layers, peel away the off-cuts and press the seam flat.