When re-papering an old wall the first thing to be done is to remove the old paper. Now although this is very necessary in order to produce a good job, as well as for sanitary reasons, it is very frequently neglected altogether, and one paper is pasted over another time after time, the accumulation of dirt, decayed paste, and perhaps various insects forming a most unsanitary dwelling place. The paper may be usually removed by washing it over with hot water, giving a liberal quantity, and allow this to soak in, and then scraping off with an old chisel or scraper.

If the paper is varnished, or is printed in oil, that is, if it is of the quality known as sanitary paper, it may be necessary to score over the surface with a chisel before applying the water, so as to give an opportunity for the moisture to soak in. Commence at the top, taking care not to injure the cornice or ceiling, and to get every particle of the paper away. Sometimes plastered walls which have been papered with half a dozen or more papers are in such a bad condition that when these papers are removed a considerable portion of the plaster will be pulled away. In such a ease it may be quite necessary to leave the old paper on. In a fairly good wall the paper may be removed without injury, provided that plenty of water is used, it is very probable that there will be some breaks, which will require mending before the new paper is applied. This can be done without much difficulty by means of plaster of Paris mixed in small quantities at the time with a little glue water, and applied with a knife or piece of wood, and smoothed off to a level surface.

In mending the walls of an ordinary room in this way it may be necessary to mix the plaster half a dozen times, as if sufficient is mixed at one time for the whole job it will be found to be set quite hard, and therefore to be useless before the mending is completed. A few drops of glycerine added to the plaster will retard its setting, but this is not necessary if glue water is used. It is best not to paper over a patched wall for several days, but if time presses a coat of knotting may be given over all the patches to prevent the plaster affecting the color of the newly-applied paper. Coarse sandpaper should now be rubbed over the whole surface, so as to make it as level as possible, and then the room is ready for papering.

Choosing The Paper

This choice is usually left to the lady of the house, probably on the supposition that she has better taste in such matters than her husband. If the paper is of a cheap grade in most cases the wallpaper dealer will send a book of patterns measuring, perhaps, 24 by 18 inches, and from these small samples the occupant of the house is expected to make a selection. It is this which gives rise to so much disappointment. A small piece conveys a very little idea of the appearance the room will present when the walls are covered all over with the same pattern, and it is far better, where it is practicable, especially in the principal rooms, to obtain a roll or two of those papers which appear to be most suitable, and to pin them on the wall, so as to gain a good idea of the appearance they will present. The following hints should be borne in mind. For a small room choose a small pattern paper, never a large one, which will make it look smaller still. A room with a low ceiling will look higher than it is if a pattern having vertical stripes is chosen. The reverse of this is true of an unusually high room, which will not look so high if a paper having horizontal stripes is used.

Gold papers, or those which have bronze or imitation gold in the design, are now rarely used, being rightly considered as somewhat vulgar, excepting in public or important rooms. Large pronounced patterns are usually not desirable, because they detract from the repose or quiet appearance a living room should present. A bedroom should always be papered with a cheerful design, and geometrical figures be avoided as far as possible.

In choosing a paper for a hall or staircase, or any room or apartment which is somewhat bare in appearance or devoid of furniture, it is always well to select a hanging of bold design and somewhat vivid coloring. Conversely a room full of furniture, especially if small and with many pictures on the walls, would be wholly spoilt by a bold design. During the last few years there has been a distinct tendency toward employing papers with little or no pattern at all, ingrains are much in vogue. These papers are dyed in the process of manufacturing instead of being grounded or treated with the distemper color on the surface, as is usual with ordinary wall papers. An excellent effect is produced in decorating a room with such a plain ingrain, especially if a good bold frieze is employed to form a finish, and take away from the bare effect. The objections to ingrains, however, is that they are very apt to lose their color, and also that they are very difficult to hang, as they are almost like blotting paper in texture, and they rapidly absorb the moisture from the paste. For many purposes an ingrain paper or its equivalent, having printed upon it a very small set design, produces good results.

In selecting papers it should be remembered that it is not necessary to pay a high price in order to get good designs.

Having made a selection of the paper, the next thing to be done is to cut off one or more of the margins. This is readily done by means of scissors or a trimmer. In some wall-paper shops will be found a machine by which the selvedge or margins may be rapidly removed, and in some cases the paper may be purchased already trimmed, which, of course, saves a good deal of trouble. It must be remembered, however, that the wall-paper manufacturer left the selvedge on for a definite purpose, to protect the body of the paper, and that without it there is a likelihood of the paper becoming quickly soiled. It should be remembered, therefore, that when wall paper is bought ready trimmed it is necessary to take great care in handling, so as not to dirty or mar the edges. There are two ways of hanging paper, one with what is called a butt edge, the other a lapped edge. In the former both margins are cut off, and the edges of the paper must then be drawn together, so as to exactly meet, the pattern, of course, uniting accurately. The difficulty of the paperhanger using the butt edge is that he sometimes finds a difficulty in bringing the edges to meet, and if there is a space between, the white wall underneath shows through.

Sometimes the paper shrinks after being hung, and produces the same objectionable effect. To prevent this it is not a bad plan to mix a little distemper to match the ground of the paper, and to paint this down the wall exactly where the several seams will come. If in this case there is an opening of, say, a thirty-second part of an inch it will not be noticed. As a rule, the unskilled workman will prefer to use a lapped edge. In this case only one margin is cut off, and the paper is lapped or placed over the other, care being taken to match the pattern as before. The objection to lapping is that the joints show somewhat conspicuously, as it will be clear that there will be two thicknesses of paper instead of one wherever the joins occur. A hint of importance is to remember that the laps should be away from the light, as this will render them less conspicuous than it would otherwise be.