Wallpaper. On a floor?

As cute as my toilet looks now it's had a lovely fresh coat of paint, it still needed the finishing touch - a new floor! 

There's not much you can do with bright red Lino, except burn it. Or so I thought. 

By now you've probably seen or at least heard of people wallpapering their floors. It's a growing trend that I heard of first about a year ago, but never really looked at as an option until I was pricing up laminate last week. It looked easy enough - a bit of paper, some glue and a good varnish. 

Would it be one of those things that looks too good to be true? 

Would it look great for a day until shoes go on it and it splits? 

If you're like me and were looking for a handy how-to guide, you've probably found that there are two conflicting methods.

The first, the more fiddly of the two, involves soaking the paper and folding it in a way only origami specialists would be comfortable with. 

The second, and the option I chose, was simple. Cover the area in adhesive, lay the paper, and then varnish. 

I did change up the details slightly, so here follows the method I used and a few tips and hints of what to expect.

Preparing the floor 

You'll want a nice clean floor. Give it a wash and then completely dry it. 

A really great idea I was given was to paint around the edges of the existing flooring with white paint. This would mean that any gaps between the paper and the wall would be camouflaged by the paint. It just allowed for a bit of reassurance and it was a great idea. 

 Now I used chalk paint for this, which wasn't ideal, but I had some Annie Sloan in white left over from painting the window ledge and wanted to use it up. It actually worked out well as it dries with a slight cream tinge, so it blended into the colour of the paper. However, as you'll see, with the cutting method I used, no areas were missed. 

And now we wait for the paint to dry before we can start laying the wallpaper. My advice? Yoga ;) 

Prepping the wallpaper

I measured my room from back to front and cut a piece of wallpaper that length. I allowed for 2-3 inches on either side and the ends to cut off, so take that into account when cutting and add a bit extra to the length.

I measured the width of my room and the paper and worked out that even with the extra width on the paper, I would only need two pieces stuck side by side. 

I found it best to roll the paper up lengthways so you can stick it against the wall and roll it out with no bubbles.

So now you're ready to apply the wallpaper. I know, that easy! 

Applying the wallpaper

Glue the floor in the area in which the paper will be placed. 

I used Diall wallpaper adhesive. It's already prepared and is nice and thick so easy to manage.

Now, I found one piece was too much to control and lay at the same time, so I cut it in half (well, almost. My guess was off but you get the idea!) 

Press the paper into the skirting board and then grab your Stanley knife and slide it down the line where the skirting meets the floor.

Press it into the crevices and cut as you go, especially with curves and corners.

Go slow and don't rush. It pays to be careful, but don't forget that you have extra paper to play with :) 

Spot the join ;) 

Now don't do as I did - start with the farthest piece and work forward. I kept standing on the first piece to lay the rear piece and it kept moving and bunching up and I had to constantly keep brushing it down with a dry wallpaper brush to remove the lines. 

So when it came to the right hand side, I started at the back ;) 

Now LEAVE IT ALONE for 2 hours!!

If your husband needs a wee, tell him to go in the sink ;) guard it with your life!!! 

I'm kidding (kind of!) - if you're very gentle, you can step on it but be barefoot and don't put too much pressure onto it.

Varnish the floor 

After two hours, you'll be able to feel that the paper has adhered and dried to the flooring. This is when you want to get that first coat of a polyethylene varnish on.

I used Ronseal diamond hard floor varnish in 'clear'. This stuff is expensive, but you want a nice hard finish that will protect the wallpaper from damage and discolouration so this is your man. 

I used the wallpaper pasting brush that I had previously used dry to smooth my wallpaper with (and remove bubbles). Make sure to paint the varnish right up to the skirting boards so it doesn't leave areas unvarnished that could peel back. 

This now needs to dry for 2 hours. It's annoying and you'll want to stick the next coat on after half an hour but don't.

Go make a pot of tea and let the dog out for a wee. 

Come back and repeat the process. Leave for another two hours. Make sure you let the husband know in between coats so he can use the bathroom before you varnish the next layer ;) 

I would recommend three coats. Some people say to lightly sand after the second but I didn't want to ruin the paper so I missed this step and went straight to later 3. It worked. Two hours later it was rock solid and looks absolutely amazing!

Any questions, please message me or head to the fantastic Facebook group 'Grillo designs' where Medina Grillo the creator, myself and other members live and breath crafts and DIY and will holefully between us answer any questions you may have!

Let me know what you think in the comments! :) 

Xo