How to Wallpaper a Ceiling
Building a platform, choosing which way the lengths run, supporting a pasted length overhead, working around a light fitting, and being honest about whether to do it yourself
Wallpaper a ceiling before the walls, with two people and a boarded platform rather than a ladder. Hang the lengths parallel to the wall containing the main window, working away from the light, and support the folded length on a spare roll or a broom handle while you set each section.
A papered ceiling is one of the most striking things you can do to a room. It is also the hardest surface in the house to hang, and worth being honest about before you start.
Before you commit
- It is a two-person job. Gravity is working against you the entire time, and a pasted length that folds back on itself is finished.
- Do the ceiling first, before the walls. Trimming a ceiling length into the wall junction is far easier when the wall is not yet papered.
- The ceiling must be in good order. Fill, sand and seal exactly as you would a wall. Flaking distemper or an unsealed skim will not hold paper up.
- If it is Artex or textured, it needs skimming first. Nothing hides texture, and gravity makes a poorly bonded ceiling fail quickly. Take care with older textured coatings, which carry an asbestos warning.
Build a proper platform
Two step ladders with a scaffold board between them, set at a height where your head is just below the ceiling and you can reach it with slightly bent arms. You want to walk the length of the room without climbing down, and to have both hands free.
Clear the room completely and cover the floor. Turn the power off at the consumer unit before you go near a light fitting.
Which direction to hang
Run the lengths parallel to the wall with the main window in it, so you work away from the light. Any join then runs in the same direction as the daylight rather than across it, which makes seams far less visible.
Where a room has windows on two walls, run the lengths parallel to the longer window wall, or simply along the shorter dimension of the room so each length is as short as possible.
Step by step
- Mark your line. Measure 48cm out from the starting wall at both ends of the ceiling and snap or draw a straight line between the marks. Ceilings are no squarer than walls, and the line is what you hang to.
- Cut your lengths, adding 3cm at each end for trimming, and rounding up to the pattern repeat.
- Fold the length loosely, printed side out, in a concertina so you can release it a section at a time.
- Paste the ceiling, an area slightly wider than one length, working in the direction you will hang.
- Set the first section against your line and the wall junction, leaving the trimming margin.
- Support the rest of the folded length on a spare roll, a broom handle or your second person's hands while you smooth the section you have set.
- Release and smooth section by section along the ceiling, working from the centre of the width outwards each time.
- Trim at each end into the wall junction or cornice, creasing first, then cutting against a broad knife.
Light fittings
- Turn the power off at the consumer unit.
- Loosen the ceiling rose cover and drop it down the flex.
- Hang the length over the fitting, feel for the centre, and pierce it.
- Make small radial cuts out from the hole so the paper folds around the base, then trim so about 5mm sits behind the rose cover.
- Slide the cover back up and refit once the paper is dry, then restore the power.
If you are not comfortable working around a light fitting, have an electrician take it down and refit it.
The wall junction
Take the ceiling paper about 5mm down onto the wall rather than trying to cut exactly into the angle. The wall lengths, hung afterwards, cover it, and you get a clean line at the junction instead of a wavering one.
Where there is a cornice or coving, crease firmly against its top edge and trim there.
Realistically
A ceiling takes roughly twice as long as the same area of wall, and it is tiring in a way walls are not. If you are papering a whole room, consider doing the ceiling on its own day. And if it is a high ceiling, or a large room, this is the job most worth handing to a decorator.
Can you wallpaper a ceiling?
Yes. It needs the same preparation as a wall, a platform to work from, and a second pair of hands.
Which way should ceiling wallpaper run?
Parallel to the wall with the main window, so you work away from the light and the seams do not cast shadows.
Do I paper the ceiling or the walls first?
The ceiling, always. Trimming into the junction is easier, and the wall lengths cover the ceiling paper's edge.
Can I do it on my own?
We would not recommend it. Supporting a pasted length overhead while smoothing it is genuinely a two-person task.
How do I deal with the light fitting?
Power off at the consumer unit, drop the rose cover, pierce and radial-cut the paper around the base, trim, and refit once dry.
Can I wallpaper a textured or Artex ceiling?
Not until it has been skimmed flat.
