Engineering Wallcovering...
Engineering....It sounds like a big bad term doesn't it? It isn't. What we are going to do is plan where our cuts are going before we hang them. That in a nutshell is engineering.
When we engineer we know in advance if we are going to be running into any problems before we run into them. We want to avoid cuts of wallcovering that come out less than three inches from a door, window or corner.
Trying to work with very narrow pieces of wallcoverings can be a real pain. The worse part of this is those narrow pieces always look lousy, no matter what you do to make them look right.
Starting with The First Piece . . .
You might want to plan to start hanging over the most used doorway in the room. There is a good reason for this. It is usually the least noticeable spot in the room. When someone is walking through the doorway into the room the area above the doorway is behind them. When they are leaving the room, their attention is directed through the doorway and not above it.
You try it. Walk into a room and out again. See how often you really notice what is going on above the doorway.
We have to be concerned about what is the least noticeable place in the room because we are bound to have an off match. That is because the last piece of wallcovering seldom stops exactly where the first piece began. To get around this horrible fact of life, most instruction sheets tell you to off match a corner.
Now you tell me, why anyone would want to start in a corner and off match a great long full length corner when they could end their room where no one will notice?
So pick over a doorway. Or depending on the room you might want to pick an area over a window. You might have only a few inches to off match over a very high window. That could be even better than starting over the door. Especially if you are going to put up a window treatment that will completely hide our off match.
Pick a place over the door (or window) and start measuring off the width of your wallcovering in the direction in which you will hang. That means if your wallcovering is 22 inches wide you will put a very light pencil mark every 22 inches all around your room.
When you get finished step back and take a look at where all those pencil marks fall. If you have any marks that fall within a few inches of doors or windows consider moving your starting point backwards or forwards depending on how it effects the balance of the sheets in your room.
A few minutes of planning can save you the stomach churning frustration of trying to work those impossible skinny pieces beside doors and windows.
For Professionals Only...
Engineering also has the added benefit of allowing you to write an engineering plan for your room. This plan will give you the advantage of cutting down the entire room at one time if you are not using a paste machine. This is an enormous time saver and after all that is what you are selling -- your time!
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