How to Make Any Wallpaper Removable & Renter-Friendly

Time needed: 4 hours

Follow these steps to make any wallpaper removable and renter-friendly!

1. Clean your walls.

   Clean your wall(s) with a damp rag and let it dry completely. Your wall has to be clean for this to work!
   

2. Cut your wallpaper to length.

   Next, cut your wallpaper into strips that are at least 4 inches longer than the height of your wall. Why have excess? You need to leave yourself enough room to trim off the excess at the top and bottom after the wallpaper is attached.
   
   I did this by measuring out the length on our floor and marking the length with painter's tape. That way I only had to measure once. Then I taped down one end of the wallpaper as I rolled it out and cut it to length. Since I tackled this project solo, this was the easiest way to do it without the wallpaper rolling back up on me! If you have a wallpaper with a pattern repeat that is hard to match up, you may want to pre-cut all your strips. But this wallpaper was NOT hard to match up so I didn't pre-cut all my panels at once.
   

3. Mark your plumb line.

   Use a laser level (this is the one I have and LOVE) or a level and pencil to mark your vertical plumb line. Do NOT assume your ceiling and/or trim are perfectly straight and level and rely on it when lining up your wallpaper. You can see my green laser line along the right edge of my first wallpaper panel below.
   
   See where it extends onto the ceiling as well? It's green so it blends in a bit with the wallpaper in the photo.
   

4. Apply the liquid starch to your wall in sections.

   Pour your liquid starch into your paint tray or bucket and saturate your paint roller with it. Gently roll off the excess in your tray. Then apply it liberally to your wall in sections. You do not need to apply it to the wallpaper, just the wall. I worked in about 5-foot sections because I found that the liquid starch dries pretty quickly.

5. Apply your wallpaper.

   Using your plumb line as your guide, start applying your wallpaper from the top of your wall leaving a bit of overlap at the top (that you will trim off later). Gently smooth the wallpaper into place with a damp rag or sponge working from the center out, smoothing out any wrinkles as you work. When you reach the bottom, use a straight edge to firmly hold the wallpaper tightly against the edge of your trim (or floor if you don't have trim) and use a VERY SHARP utility knife blade to cut off the excess.
   
   Repeat this step at the top of your wall as well. A sharp blade is important. If you use a dull blade you will rip your wallpaper. You also need to use a sharp blade to trim around any outlets/light switches along the way. I had a ton of obstacles to trim out with my first panel. Just carefully feel for and follow the edges of the electrical boxes under the wallpaper and go slowly.
   
   The first panel was the easiest to put up since I only had to line it up with the plumb line. The remaining panels were a bit trickier since I was doing this solo. It would be much easier with 2 people. But Joe was on shift and I wanted to get this wallpaper hung. So in lieu of a second set of hands, I turned to my trusty friend painter's tape.
   
   As you can see in the photos below, I matched up my pattern and seam BEFORE putting any liquid starch on the wall and taped it into place along the edge where it matched up with the edge of the prior panel. Then I flapped the top section back to apply the liquid starch and then rubbed the top of the wallpaper into place. Once the top of each panel was in place, I could remove the rest of the painter's tape and work my way down the wall working in 5-foot sections just as I did with the first panel.
   
   
   
   Because the liquid starch isn't quite as sticky as wallpaper paste, it sometimes took a bit more work to get the edges to stick, especially since the corners of our walls are rounded. I just had to apply a bit more liquid starch to the edges and hold them in place a bit longer to get this curved edge to stick.