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Our PVC-free designs not only go easy on the environment, but also go easy on you: incredibly simple and straight forward to hang, all it takes is a swipe of adhesive paste and a little insider know-how.
In this series, we reveal everything you always wanted to know about wallpaper (but were afraid to ask) - then you can just follow along with our handy video and step-by-step guide to achieve a perfect finish by yourself, no decorator required. Get ready to coat your walls in wonder...
What is House of Hackney wallpaper from?
Our wallpaper is PVC-free and printed on a quality-assured, non-woven material made from wood pulp, complete with added textile fibres to make it strong and dimensionally stable – in other words, easy to hang.
It’s crafted at a little factory at the forefront of sustainability, which sources the wood pulp from young trees (not ancient ones) grown purposefully in a forest managed to the FSC’s standards. While printing the wallpaper in small batches, thus avoiding unnecessary waste, the factory also ingeniously powers its machinery using recycled energy generated from the off-cuts. As a result, ours ranks amongst the most eco-friendly wallpaper produced in Europe.
How do I make sure the paper is hung straight and all lines up?
Our wallpaper is not made in the traditional way – instead, it comes in rolls of four panels that seamlessly match up to create a mural effect, effectively doing all the hard work for you. So, following our step-by-step guide, mark up certain points on the walls using a plumb line and an edge cutter, then simply align the sheets one by one, working in order (each sheet is numbered #1 to #4, so you’ll know which is which).
How to best avoid lumps and bumps?
First, make sure to use the paste sparingly while coating the wall – then press the wallpaper in position and smooth it down with a firm, dampened sponge (never a spatula, as this could scratch the design), working in circular motions and double checking that all air bubbles have been ironed out. And, take care not to stretch the paper, as it becomes very pliable when wet with paste.
One roll of wallpaper features four panels that each measure 45cm in width and either 200 or 300cm in length. The pattern will automatically align across the panels (so when you start on the second roll of wallpaper, panel #1 will match up with panel #4 of the first roll), so you don’t need to worry about trying to line the print up or account for the pattern repeat during installation.
Just be sure to roll out the panels before starting, taking time to check that there are no faults – there shouldn’t be any, but if there are please contact our Customer Services team.
What if the walls are old or slightly curved?
We recommend a technique called “wallpaper stitching” to ensure a perfect finish.
Simply follow our step-by-step guide as usual, ensuring the room is cool and well-aired to prevent the wallpaper from shrinking.
Next, reach for some low-tack painter’s masking tape (we recommend FrogTape Yellow for delicate surfaces – just avoid using masking tape as this could damage the protective finish of your wallpaper).
Apply approx. 15cm of the tape across the seams (every 30 – 40cm) to keep them held together. Wait 24 hours for the adhesive paste applied behind your wallpaper to air-dry, then use a hairdryer or a sponge/soft cloth with a little hot water to gently go over the tape – this makes its glue dissolve, so the tape can then peel off more easily.
By keeping the seams tightly together, this technique prevents them from opening up when the paper dries. As well as old walls with uneven, bumpy surfaces, “wallpaper stitching” works well on dark wallpaper and the designs in our ‘Climbing Walls’ collection – preventing any white edges of the wallpaper from showing between the solid block-colour backdrops.
How do I wallpaper the corners of a room?
For internal corners, start by pasting the wall into the corner and a little way around. Match up the left edge of the wallpaper and brush it into the corner and around it. It may be that the corner is not perfectly vertical – you’ll only need to go around the corner with the paper by approx. 2-3cm or until the wall is vertical again.
As per our step-by-step guide, the first sheet of wallpaper should have been hung 40cm out from the corner, so do the same here (or match up to that line) and overlap the paper. It’s perfectly fine for the paper in the corner to overlap and, though it could be left to dry, for a professional finish you should take a very sharp or fresh blade, along with a steel straight-edge, to cut the papers where they overlap. Remove the excess off the top paper, then peel the top paper back and remove the excess of the bottom paper.
Next, push the top paper down: it should match and meet perfectly with the bottom paper and join like two seams of wallpaper. (This is why it’s a good idea to overlap in a corner, so any potential mismatches don’t show!)
As for external corners? When you hang the paper to the wall, wrap it around the corner. Again, the wall may not be “true”, so some overlapping may be required – in which case, follow our instructions above to ensure that the overlap in not in sight, but around the corner instead.
How do I tackle plug sockets and fittings?
Start by unscrewing and removing the outer casing of the socket or switch. Apply the sheet of wallpaper as normal and let it hang over the socket area. Next, use a knife to slice a cross-shaped opening, diagonally from corner to corner across the socket area, then cut away the excess. Smooth the paper down with a brush or sponge before reattaching the front cover of the socket.
