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The Practical Website Of Painting And Wallpapering

Selecting Wallpaper

You can decorate, enhance, change visual sizes, even cover up

Many homeowners prefer to use wallpaper in certain rooms of their homes rather than paint, or they may wish to combine the two, using one or the other for accenting a wall of a particular room. Since wallpaper is as important to a home's decor as paint, the subject has a place in this book.

The one thing which strikes one about modern wallpaper is the fact that in most cases it can be handled competently by the homeowner —even one who has never before hung wallpaper. Credit for this must go to the wallpaper manufacturers, who are now making products so accurate that paper can be hung with a minimum of measuring and cutting.

WALLPAPER OR PAINT?

Before discussing the various kinds of wallpaper you will be able to buy, and distinguishing between those which the inexperienced homeowner can handle and those he shouldn't attempt to hang himself, let us discuss the advantages wallpaper has over paint. These can be summed up as follows:

Wallpaper offers a wider choice of decorative selections. There are literally hundred of patterns and colors from which to select.

Wallpaper can cover surface irregularities much more effectively than paint. However, wall damage must be repaired as discussed in the chapter on "Interior Painting" since irregularities can appear through the wallpaper surface.

Wallpaper can make a room seem larger than it really is. A vertically stripped paper, for instance, hung in a room which has a low ceiling makes the room seem higher. A horizontally stripped wallpaper applied to the walls of a room which is narrow makes the room seem wider.