Many people I know are timid when it comes to wallpaper but I am not one of them! I adore wallpaper. When I renovated my condo a few years ago, I enveloped the front foyer in a pretty tree-themed pattern and five years on, I have not tired of it. My husband and I recently bought a new home and I was beyond excited to decorate, to mark our new space with the personal touches that would really turn our house into a home. First things first: Wallpaper! I’d long yearned for the opportunity to use a particular Farrow & Ball wallpaper in my home and the time finally arrived. The pattern, Ranelagh (BP 1847), features an architectural diamond trellis border with a delicate foliate motif. The bedroom was as plain as plain can be. The boring, beige walls were in desperate need of colour and it was the perfect space to use the wallpaper I’ve long loved. Not confident enough to hang the wallpaper ourselves, my husband and I enlisted the services of a professional. And I’m so glad we did. The walls in our home are textured; they’re bumpy to the touch. The texture would show through if the wallpaper was adhered directly to the wall so our installer suggested we hang a liner or blankstock first. Blankstock is an unprinted, stock pulp paper that’s applied to the walls first, followed by the wallpaper. While the liner can be used to smooth minor imperfections and, as in our case, the texture of the wall, it’s not magic and can’t entirely smooth out rough walls. Before starting any wallpaper project, be sure to smooth, fill and sand your walls, ensuring that all surfaces are clean and dry. Farrow & Ball offers these tips to help you (or a professional wallpaper hanger) install the paper to perfection. Adding a liner to your walls first means the job will take twice as long and likely cost you twice as much if you’ve hired a pro but the results are worth the expense. If you’re using a premium paper like the one I chose from Farrow & Ball, you won’t want to skimp - it’s well worth the time and money to get the job done right! As opposed to wallpapering the entire bedroom, I opted to paper just the feature wall behind the bed and colour matched the soft shade of green to get the perfect paint colour for the rest of the walls. The result is dramatic and couldn’t have turned out any better. Our once boring bedroom has truly been elevated with just one wall of wallpaper and every time I step foot into the bedroom, I gasp in delight. When I wake in the mornings, it’s often the first thing I see and this stunningly beautiful detail always helps me to start the day with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. Now, I no longer need to go to Pinterest to daydream about this pretty paper! I just have to walk upstairs.