# Wallpaper, chair rail, and baseboard. What order?



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Either way will work fine. The easiest way would be to paper first then add the trim.Younjust need to make sure where you cut the paper that it is going to be covered, some good measuring is involved.


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

Install the chair rail, caulk it to the wall. Paint the top wall, overlap wall paint onto chair rail. Then paint the chair rail, overlap the trim paint onto the lower wall. Then paint all the rest of the trim overlapping the paint onto the wall below the chair rail level, cutting in tight above the rail level. Then hang the paper.
BTW Welcome


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## family_man (May 19, 2011)

Well thanks both of you for your responses. 

Looks like I received two opposite opinions. Interestingly, last night after I posted I asked the store manager at Sherman Williams where I found the paper and he said he had never been asked that question before.

I originally thought that papering first would leave a crisper look if I did the chair rail and baseboard last. But I didn't want to get the wallpaper paste overrun on my new flat paint upper wall. And it would be harder to remove that way.
So I will do as Joe suggested and leave the paper for last. (although since its a stained chair rail I will not be painting over it 

Thanks for the input.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Well, take the advise of a painter not a paper hanger, see if I care.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

I agree with Joe. That's the way to do it. You can cut wallpaper to any terminating feature easily and with no mess.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

chrisn said:


> Well, take the advise of a painter not a paper hanger, see if I care.


Bubba, buck up and cheer up. :thumbup:

When I use paper hangers I approach things in this way. 

1. I give them the best primed, sized and ceilings and walls I can.

2. They get in first. They amaze me. I have many skill sets but hanging really expensive wallpaper on ceilings and walls of antique houses is not one of them. Good hangers can size up a room, look at the hideous pattern the client may have picked, and know exactly what they need to do so not everyone needs to hide the pattern gone bad in the corner with a tall plant.

Nothing says tacky to me like calling the paper hanger in last and finding paper trimmed to, not covered my chair rail or crown molding.

3. Mask off the work of your paper folks and paint the sections of wall you have in mind, 

4. Prime your chair molding, crown or whatever and then nail it in place. 

5. I only use it often with paper on the wall but get painter's tape or the Frog stuff. Run it all the way around all of your trim. Use a drywall blade to hold it in place. 

6. Caulk the trim where it meets wall or ceiling. Best finishing tools for caulk joints I have yet found? A certain middle finger I have been known to fly at others along with a nice soft wet cloth. I fill the nailing gun holes as I go but you can do them with something else later if you want.

7. Prime, two coat with finish. 

Your wall will look seamless. Trust me.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

sdsester said:


> Bubba, buck up and cheer up. :thumbup:
> 
> When I use paper hangers I approach things in this way.
> 
> ...


 
All well and good for a pro hanger.I was trying to make it easier for the DYI, thats all.


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## family_man (May 19, 2011)

Well, looks like there were a few more opinions on the subject at hand. As it turns out, I ended up doing the paper first in part due to my wife's request. She was uncomfortable doing the trim first. 

But now I have another question. One of the strips was not laid as perfectly as I would like. We used a tinted wallpaper primer before we papered and it was bare drywall before that. If we pull the paper to lay a new strip, do we need to reprime first? Or can we just put a new sheet down where the old one had been without priming?


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## jsheridan (Jan 30, 2011)

family_man said:


> Well, looks like there were a few more opinions on the subject at hand. As it turns out, I ended up doing the paper first in part due to my wife's request. She was uncomfortable doing the trim first.
> 
> But now I have another question. One of the strips was not laid as perfectly as I would like. We used a tinted wallpaper primer before we papered and it was bare drywall before that. If we pull the paper to lay a new strip, do we need to reprime first? Or can we just put a new sheet down where the old one had been without priming?


Now you're off the hook when you damage the paper:thumbsup:.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

If it was properly primed the first time, you need not do it again.:no:


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## family_man (May 19, 2011)

chrisn, thanks for the info. i was afraid the primer would come off with the paper. I never tried to pull paper so I wasnt sure.


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