Wallpaper & Wallcovering

Wallpaper is back, and the supply of installers who know how to hang it properly has not kept up with demand. A bad install on a $400/roll paper is a heartbreak we see in client homes every month. We invested in formal training with the Wallcovering Installers Association and we treat this as a precision trade.

Substrate prep for wallpaper is different from prep for paint. Walls must be skim-coated to a Level 4 or 5 finish, primed with a wallpaper-specific primer (we use Roman PRO-977 Ultra Prime), and sanded smooth. Texture, popcorn ceilings and orange-peel walls all need to be eliminated before installation. The prep is roughly 60 percent of the labour on a quality install.

We hang every paper type: paste-the-wall non-wovens, traditional pre-pasted, grasscloth, silk, vinyl and the new digital murals. Pattern matching is done on the wall, seams are double-cut where the substrate allows, and grasscloth is hung with the awareness that visible seams are intrinsic to the material — we set client expectations in writing before we start.

Pricing is per single roll plus prep. A standard powder room is typically $650 to $950 installed (paper extra). A statement wall in a great room runs $1,400 to $2,800. We provide a written quote after measuring on-site.