How to measure for wallpaper
Congrats on starting to select your wallcoverings! Whether you knew it the moment you saw it or it’s going to take some time and a family vote to decide- eventually you will come to the question: HOW MUCH WALLPAPER DO I NEED?
We are here to help! There are some nuances but let’s start with the basics. Each paper you look at will have different specifications so start with the constant: your space. We will need to know the height and width of EACH wall. Yes there will be an overall square footage for the room but the best calculations are done by wall.
Measuring the height and width of the wall including doors or windows.
Once you have established the height and width of each wall you can determine your overall square footage needed. Now to order the correct number of rolls, you will need some information on the paper. When there is a design, pattern or repeat, 10-20% extra can be needed to account for the match. Papers without a match can be the most straight forward to order. Then every paper has a width that will tell you how many drops you will need once you know the height of the wall.
Knowing the height of your walls will determine how many drops each roll will provide in your space. You can not accurately calculate without your wall height!
Let’s use an example of someone doing an accent wall and how the wall height can effect what they’ll need.
Let’s use a small accent wall example. Let’s say this wall is 8 feet tall and 5feet wide. Always round up.
This example of an 8x5 wall will need 40sqft of wallpaper.
If we chose a roll with a width of 20.5 inches and length of 11 yards it is 56 square feet. It will give us 4 drops of 8 feet and for this wall we only need 3 so this wall height would allow for ONE roll.
Keep in mind if this wall was taller- 10x5 we would need 50 square feet and if the pattern match was very large, the same roll will be leaving little if any room for wonky walls or errors. Realistically to have the material needed, you will need two rolls.
York Wallcoverings has a great diagram of how wall height adjusts calculations:
Wall height and wallpaper width will determine how many pieces you get from each roll. We use this with the wall width to calculate how much wallpaper you need.
If in doubt- treat every space like a flat rectangle to calculate a height and width then come see us! We will help you determine how much you need of each specific style you’re drawn to.