Cleaning your wallpaper borders can be an overlooked but necessary task when you add your border to your room. But if you follow these simple steps, you can eliminate the problems that might come up. Any time you want to wallpaper your house, you are changing the look of it. You want it to be a fresh new look that you can be proud of and that your friends and neighbors will love.

Step One: Placement Issues

Decide where you want to place the border. Will you want it to accent the ceiling and be at the top of the wall? Or would you rather it be like a chair railing and split the room into two halves with a top and a bottom half?

Step Two: Preparing the Surface

This is where you will need to make sure that the surface is very clean. Use mild soapy warm water to clean the area free of cobwebs, grime, or anything else that might be on your wall. Clean walls will help in keeping the border adhered to the wall long after your job is completed.

Step Three: Have Correct Amount

Make sure that you have the right amount of wallpaper. Most wallpaper comes in rolls of 15 feet. You would hate to run out and need to go to the store for more paper right in the middle of your project. You can use a tape measure to make sure that you have enough but not too much wallpaper for your project.

Step Four: Adhesive

Just having the wall clean for the border is not enough. Before you add the border you must use a special liquid that will prepare the wall and allow the border to adhere.

Step Five: Using Primer

Apply the prep liquid to the area about a half inch from the edge. You don't want any of this liquid to escape from underneath the border area. Make sure that you have enough to help it stick, but not too much to have it expand beyond the border.

Step Six: Working out Bubbles

While you apply the border, you might want to use something to smooth out the bumps on the border. A book or a ruler usually work very well to make sure that the air bubbles are completely eliminated from your project. The fewer bubbles there are the better the paper will stick.

Step Seven: Cut Excess

If there is excess material in the corners, you will need to use scissors or a cutting knife to cut off the excess. Be careful with this as the corners indicate that the job was done professionally. Pros make it look seamless, but you can too with a little extra care on this step.

Step Eight: Sponge Over It

Once you have the border in place, you can go over it with a sponge. That will ensure that you have removed any of the excess liquid prep on the wall that might have leaked out. A sponge can also be the last thing to get the bubbles out from under the border.

Step Nine: Allow Time To Dry

The border of the wallpaper should dry quickly. You should be able to go back to normal use in the room without having to worry about disturbing your work. Invite your friends over and let them tell you what a good job you did with the wallpaper. Before you know it, they'll ask you to come over and help them with theirs.

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