How to install your mural

A custom mural can be installed in an afternoon by two people. No prior experience is necessary, but you must follow the order: most of the problems reported to us stem from the wall, not the wallpaper.

First of all: if you are going to hire a professional, do not schedule them until the mural has arrived and you have inspected it. And always work in temperatures between 18 and 25 °C (64–77 °F), with no drafts.

1. Prepare the wall

This is the part that determines whether the mural stays up for ten years or peels off in six months. It is worth doing it right.

New plaster or rendered wall

It must be clean, dry, and free of loose debris. If the plaster is recent, wait for it to cure completely. Finish with a quality primer: unsealed plaster absorbs the glue, leaving the paper without a grip.

Painted wall

Only on matte paint. The paper does not adhere well to satin or enamel finishes. If the paint is old or peeling, scrape it off and sand it down until smooth, then seal it.

If you have just painted, wait at least four weeks before installing. Paint continues to release moisture long after it is dry to the touch, and a mural put up prematurely will peel.

Wallpapered wall

Remove the previous wallpaper. Always. And do not put lining paper under the mural: it adds a layer that can peel off entirely with the mural on top.

Walls that don't work

Exposed brick, heavy popcorn texture, rough render, and any surface with marked texture. The material is designed for smooth or lightly textured walls. If in doubt, order a sample and test it in a corner.

Also, keep in mind that all three materials are semi-opaque: on a dark wall, the color underneath might show through. If your wall is not white, test with a sample before ordering the entire mural.

2. Gather your tools

For paste-the-wall paper: non-woven wallpaper paste, bucket, medium-nap roller or brush, smoothing spatula, utility knife with new blades, tape measure, pencil, level or plumb line, clean sponge, and ladder.

For water-activated paper: the same, replacing the glue with a water tray or a sponge.

For self-adhesive: tape measure, pencil, level, utility knife, and a spatula. No glue or water needed.

3. Lay out the strips and organize them

The mural arrives rolled up and divided into strips 76 cm wide, numbered in the order in which they are placed, from left to right. The edges are factory-trimmed.

Lay them flat for at least five hours before starting. The paper arrives rolled and needs to lose its "roll memory"; if you install it fresh out of the tube, the edges will tend to lift.

At that time, verify that all strips are present and that the design matches from one strip to the next. If something does not align, let us know before sticking anything down.

4. Mark the vertical

Using the level or plumb line, draw a vertical line at the distance of one strip width from the corner, excluding the excess margin.

Do not trust the corner of the wall: almost none are perfectly plumb, and if you use the corner as a reference, the error will accumulate strip by strip until the last one is visibly crooked.

5. Install the first strip

Paste-the-wall: Apply the glue directly to the wall with the roller, covering the width of one strip plus a few extra centimeters. The strip itself is not glued: it is non-woven paper; the wall is what gets the glue. Position the strip from the top, allowing for excess at the ceiling and baseboard, and smooth it out with the spatula from the center toward the edges to remove air.

Water-activated: Moisten the back with the sponge or pass it through the tray, wait the minute indicated on the sheet for the adhesive to activate, and install it in the same way.

Self-adhesive: Peel off a few centimeters of the backing at the top, position the strip, and continue downward while removing the backing and smoothing with the spatula. Do not peel the whole thing off at once.

Be careful not to squeeze glue out at the edges: it is much harder to clean it off the adjacent paper than it is to prevent it.

6. Fit the following strips

The strips go edge to edge, without overlapping and without leaving gaps. The design should align perfectly from one strip to the next, so slide each strip until the motif continues before smoothing it down.

Smooth after each strip, not at the end. And clean any glue residue with the damp sponge before it dries: once it dries on the paper, it will not come off.

7. Trim the excess

When they are all up, trim the top, bottom, and both sides. Use the spatula as a guide and run the utility knife with a new blade along it. Change the blade as soon as you notice it dragging instead of cutting: a dull blade will tear the paper.

8. Let it dry

Wait 24 to 48 hours, without direct ventilation or heating aimed at the wall. Drying too fast is worse than drying slowly.

It is normal for the joints to be slightly visible while the paper is wet. As it dries, the material tightens and they disappear.

If something goes wrong

Bubbles appear. While the glue is fresh, lift the strip from the nearest edge and smooth it again. Once dry, most small bubbles disappear on their own as the paper tightens.

A joint opens. This is almost always a lack of glue at the edge. Lift slightly, add glue with a fine brush, and press down.

The design doesn't match. Check the strip number: they go in order from left to right. If the order is correct and it still doesn't match, stop and write to us.

The last strip is too short or there is too much left over. This is usually due to the initial vertical line being marked incorrectly. This is why we insist on using a plumb line.

How to clean it later

Use a slightly damp cloth, without scrubbing and without detergents or abrasive products. The murals will last more than two years without fading under direct light.