How to Wallpaper Sloping Ceilings and Loft Rooms
Deciding where the paper stops, running lengths up a slope, papering a dormer, and measuring an eaves wall so you do not come up short
Decide first whether the paper stops at the point where the wall meets the slope, or carries on up it. Then hang the wall lengths plumb as normal, and, if you are papering the slope, run separate lengths straight up it, keeping each one parallel to the last rather than trying to bend a single length around the angle.
Loft rooms and attic bedrooms are among the best rooms in a house to paper, because the angles that make them awkward are the same angles that make an enveloping design look considered rather than busy.
First decision: how far up do you go?
- Stop at the slope. Paper the vertical walls only and paint the sloping sections. Simplest, and it keeps the ceiling light, which is useful in a small loft room with one window.
- Carry on over the slope. Paper the wall and the slope in one continuous run. The room reads as larger and more enclosing because the eye finds no dividing line.
- Slope only. Paper the sloping sections and paint the walls. Unusual, and effective in a room where the slopes are the dominant surface.
There is no technical reason to prefer one. It is a decision about how much of the room you want the design to hold.
Measuring an eaves wall
Measure the tallest point of each wall and use that measurement for every length on it. You will trim the slope in as you hang, and the offcuts from the short end are usually large enough to be useful elsewhere in the room.
Add the sloping sections as their own calculation, measured along the slope rather than horizontally, because a slope is longer than its plan measurement, and this is where people run short.
Papering the walls up to the slope
- Mark a plumb line as normal and hang the wall lengths vertically, running them past the junction with the slope.
- Crease the paper firmly into the angle where wall meets slope, using the back of your smoother.
- Trim along the crease with a fresh blade against a broad knife.
Do not try to hang a wall length so that it stops exactly at the angle. Hang it long, crease, trim.
Carrying the design up the slope
Treat the slope as a separate plane with its own lengths, running straight up it from the junction to the ridge or the flat ceiling above.
- Mark a line on the slope, square to the junction with the wall, and hang the first length to it.
- Paste the slope generously, because gravity gives you less working time than on a wall.
- Hang from the bottom of the slope upwards, smoothing as you go, with a second person supporting the loose end.
- Butt each length to the last and check the pattern at the junction line, which is where the eye lands.
- Trim at the top into the flat ceiling or ridge, and at the bottom onto the wall.
Where the wall and the slope both carry paper, align the pattern across the junction as closely as you can on the most visible wall, and accept a compromise elsewhere. A design continuing up a slope will not match perfectly all the way round a room, because the geometry does not allow it.
Dormer windows
A dormer is a small box built into the slope, with two returns, a head and a window. Paper it as its own small room:
- Mark a plumb line on the dormer's face wall and hang that first.
- Paper the two returns, each turned from the face at its external corner with about 2cm.
- Paper the underside of the head last, so its edges cover the turns.
- Trim to the window frame with relief cuts.
Things that make it easier
- Work with someone. Anything overhead needs a second pair of hands.
- Paste more. The slope has longer to dry while you position each length.
- Use the heavy-grade paper sparingly here. It is stiff, and a slope asks the paper to sit against gravity. Our traditional paper is easier on an overhead surface.
- Keep the room warm and still while it dries, as always.
Can you wallpaper a sloping ceiling?
Yes. Hang the slope as its own plane with lengths running up it, rather than trying to bend a wall length around the angle.
Should I paper the slope or stop at the wall?
Either. Carrying the design over the slope makes a loft room feel larger and more enveloping; stopping at the angle keeps it lighter.
How do I measure a wall with a slope?
Use the tallest point for every length on that wall, and calculate the sloping sections separately, measured along the slope.
Will the pattern match where the wall meets the slope?
On the wall you look at most, if you plan it. All the way round a room, no, because the geometry does not allow it.
Which paper is best for a loft room?
Our traditional 150gsm paper. It is lighter and more willing to sit on an overhead surface than the heavy-grade.
Can I do it alone?
The vertical walls, yes. The slopes, not comfortably.
