Beadboard Wallpaper Installation Tutorial

I’m ecstatic to say that the guest bathroom makeover is almost complete! I finally got around to installing the beadboard (about a month ago….), which means I’m very close to the end of this makeover!! I was a little nervous about doing it (I thought it would be complicated), but it was literally one of the easiest DIY projects I’ve ever done! I was only doing one wall, so it took me less than an hour from start to finish..my kind of project!

Here’s what you’ll need to get ‘er done:

• pre-pasted beadboard wallpaper (you can pick it up at Menards or Lowe’s)
• a wallpapering sponge
• measuring tape
• level
• brad nails
• a hammer (or a pneumatic brad nailer if you’ve got one)
• chair rail trim
• paint

Like I said, I just did one wall that was about 7′ long, so 1 roll of the wallpaper was plenty for me and I still have leftovers. Also, I’ve read that if your wall already had semi-gloss or glossy paint, you might want to prime over it to ensure that the paste sticks.

First things first, you need to decide how high you want your beadboard to go. I wanted mine to go approximately 2/3 of the way up the wall, which ended up being about 4 1/2′. I rolled out my first strip and measured it the length I needed and attempted to cut as straight of a line as possible. The roll is a little over 21″ wide, so I calculated that I would need 4 strips. I used my first one as a guide and cut 3 more. Don’t worry if your cuts aren’t perfect..you can cover it up in the end.

Once you have all your cuts made, take the very first strip you cut (I’ll explain why later) and dunk it in water (I filled the bathtub with a few inches of water), making sure to get the back side wet since the water is what activates the adhesive. You don’t need to leave it sitting in the water, just dunk it long enough to ensure the whole strip is wet. Then let it sit for 5 minutes, paste side up.

Now, you’re ready to apply it to the wall. I just kind of slapped it up there at first, just to get it to stick to the wall. The paper is very forgiving, and you can move it around pretty easily. And it’s easy to peel it off and start again if it’s just not working right. Once I had it on the wall, I skooshed (technical term) it down to where it lined up with the baseboard. This is why it’s important that you use the first sheet you cut (with the one guaranteed straight edge) so that you can butt the straight edge up against the baseboard and make sure the paper is hanging level. If your paper is hanging crooked at this point, all your other sheets will too because you’ll just line up the seams from here on out.

Once you’ve got it even against the baseboard, you can smooth it out from the bottom up. This is where you’ll want to use the wallpapering sponge to help you smooth out all the air bubbles. Don’t be afraid to apply a little bit of pressure as you smooth the bubbles out; this will help the paper adhere to the wall evenly. You might notice that as you’re smoothing out the paper, some of the adhesive squishes out the top or sides..just use your sponge to wipe it up.

And the wallpapering part is as simple as that! You just wet your next strip and line up the seam with the first one. Don’t worry about it being flush with the baseboard at this point, it’s more important that the seams line up. And, I will say this, there is definitely one seam that will match the previously laid paper, and one that doesn’t. At first, I hung my second strip upside down and I could tell it didn’t look right. So, I flipped it around and it matched up perfectly.

If there is excess hanging down around your baseboard, you can cut it off with a straight razor after the paper dries. And if there is a gap between the baseboard and the paper, you can fill it in with a piece of quarter round.

After you’ve hung all your paper, you can do one of two things: go ahead and paint it whatever color you choose or go straight to putting up the chair rail. I went ahead and painted mine, the same color I used on the walls. Then, I moved on to the chair rail!

I bought a pre-primed piece of chair rail from Home Depot and had them cut it down to size for me. I also picked up some Liquid Nails and brad nails. Now, for whatever reason the Liquid Nails that I purchased specifically for this project (the one in the red bottle that’s supposed to be for ‘Projects’)  did not hold at all…I have no idea why, but it just would not adhere. Luckily, I had another kind on hand, a clear silicone adhesive in a blue bottle.

I could tell it was going to hold the instant I stuck it on the wall. Go figure. Once you adhere it to the wall, you’ve got a few minutes where you can readjust and make sure it’s level.

Once I had it on the wall, I used a very high-tech system to keep it in place until the adhesive could dry.

Yep, Frog Tape. We keep it classy. According to the directions on the bottle, it takes a full 48 hours for the adhesive to clear. So I waited (impatiently) and removed the tape. I was pleased to find that the trim was very snugly adhered to the wall, so I decided to forgo the nails. Of course, if it starts to come loose, I will reinforce it with the brad nails.

Check out my wall now!

Gotta do something about those brassy doorknobs, yikes!

I looooove the way it looks..big impact for not a lot of work!

Have any of you guys been scared to do a project that turns out to be SO simple? If you’re still holding out…conquer your fear, show that project who’s boss!

{Sidenote: Facebook has changed some things, so if you follow Lemon Drop Life’s page you might not be getting all the posts. Go read Chelsea’s post for more info. And if you’ve yet to become a fan on Facebook, go do it now!}