Love Of Family & Home: Beadboard Wallpaper Tutorial

Happy Wednesday Y'all!!

I thought I would drop in today & give you the scoop on the beadboard wallpaper project going on in the hallway bathroom! I also thought I share a little tutorial on how to use this fabulous product!

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I bought this roll of beadboard wallpaper at Lowes. It was just under $20.00 a roll.

?I was ALMOST able to wallpaper the entire room on this one roll, but I did end up having to go back to Lowes for a second row to finish a small section of wall around the toilet! Bummer!?

The first thing I did before starting this project was prep the wall for the wallpaper!

Removing the baseboards..... ?

And the light switch covers.....

I also took a wet rag & just wiped down the wall to ensure that I would have a clean surface to work on. The directions on the package say to prime the wall, but I'm guessing this is only for walls that haven't been painted before or those with a gloss or semi-gloss finish. We pretty much always use a flat finish on all of our interior paints, so I didn't really see any reason to prime the wall.

I then had to figure out how high I wanted the wallpaper to go up the wall. I knew I wanted it to go just a few inches above the light switches, so I ended up deciding on a height of 50 inches. I ended up cutting the wallpaper at 51 inches just to give myself a little wiggle room, knowing I could always trim any excess or cover it later with the chairrail. I used a measuring tape to mark the length on several spots across the paper & then used a level to draw a straight line across.?

Then I just grabbed a pair of scissors to cut the paper.?

After you get the paper cut to its desired length, you have to immerse the paper in water for 30 seconds. I just filled up the bottom of the bathtub & put the paper in it. When you pull the paper out of the water, let the excess water drip off & then sit it on a table or open counter space. Fold the paper paste side to paste side for 5 minutes (according to the instructions) to allow the paste to activate.?

Once the 5 minutes is up, apply the strip of wallpaper to the wall. Make sure that you have a rag or a sponge available to smooth the paper out on the wall. This will also help to get rid of any air bubbles trapped between the paper & the wall and remove excess paste. You'll want to use a level to make sure that the first strip of wallpaper is straight before you start applying the subsequent strips. This will ensure that the lines of the beadboard will be straight all the way down the wall. I did this periodically throughout the project to make sure I was keeping things straight!

And this is what it looked like when I was done.....

You'll notice that things aren't quite straight along the top edge of the paper, that's no big deal! We'll be covering it up later with the chairrail & you'll never know the difference!!

One awesome thing about using the wallpaper verses the regular beadboard wainscoting, is that cutting around outlets is a breeze!!?

No power tools needed, just a pair of scissors will do! :)

Once you get a coat of paint on the beadboard wallpaper, the seams are barely noticeable....

In my last post, I asked you guys for advice on the back wall behind the vanity. It was already beadboard from floor to ceiling & I was trying to decide if I should leave it the color it was or paint it white to coordinate with the beadboard on the side walls.....

After much thought & taking into consideration your guys' opinions, I decided white would be best.....

And I LOVE how much it has brightened up the space!!! I'm even starting to reconsider the aqua color above the beadboard now!! Am I crazy?! Perhaps a cream or off-white that will just contrast a little bit with the beadboard walls?! I think it might help to brighten up the room that much more!

I tried matching the wallpaper color with the vanity as best as I could. I ended up going with "Ultra White" by Valspar. The first coat of paint was done with a flat finish, but after thinking about it a bit more, I've decided to go back over it again with a semi-gloss finish just to give it a little harder of a finish & to make the paper a little more durable.?

Overall, I'm really happy with the wallpaper!

?The application was fairly simple & I think it looks pretty much like the real thing!!?

I've had many of you asking on Facebook about it's durability....

I will say that it isn't as durable as regular beadboard wainscoting or paneling. Given the fact that the paper is somewhat foamy, it will leave indentations should the kiddos be pressing on it. The boys don't usually mess with walls too much in this space. Often times they are just running in to go potty & run right back out. I think as long as I make sure that I get my point across that "we don't play with the wallpaper", that we won't have too many problems! However, I will keep you updated!!?

Another thing to consider when using the wallpaper is the type of walls you have. Our walls have a slight texture to them, & if you look closely, you can see a little bit of the texture through the paper. It's not enough to be super noticeable, but if your walls have a heavy texture to them, I would probably suggest going with the regular beadboard wainscoting/paneling instead.?

If you been following along on Facebook, then you saw this picture that I posted on Monday.?

Needless to say, things got a little more involved in terms of this makeover!?

More about the shower tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Hope you all have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

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Source: http://www.loveoffamilyandhome.net/2012/10/beadboard-wallpaper-tutorial.html

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