Tips to hang wallpaper inexpensively

You don't need to shell out the big bucks to give your walls a makeover. Here are some home decor tips for hanging wallpaper on the cheap.

Covering a less-than-perfect wall with an attractive fabric is an old decorating trick that you might already know. Using liquid starch as your glue may surprise you. It's cheap and easy to add some colour to a wall, under the wainscoting, or inside an alcove.

What you need:

• Fabric to cover the area
• Bottled liquid starch

What to do:

1. Select a fabric that is medium to light weight. Cut the fabric to the lengths needed and soak the cut pieces, one at a time, in a tub filled with liquid fabric starch.

2. Press the fabric to the wall as you would if wallpapering, smoothing out wrinkles, and allow it to dry.

3. When you want to remove the fabric, simply pull it away from the wall and rinse away any starch that remains on the wall with a sponge or wet towel.

Removing old wallpaper is never fun, but you can make it easier by heating up your own homemade stripping solution.

What you need:

• Wallpaper scoring wheel or wire-bristle brush
• 325 ml (1 1/3 c) very hot water
• 150 ml (2/3 c) liquid fabric softener
• Sponge
• Paint roller
• Wallpaper scraper or putty knife

What to do:

1. Score wallpaper lightly with scoring tool or wire-bristle brush so that stripping solution will be absorbed beneath the paper's water-resistant surface.

2. In a bucket, mix hot water and fabric softener. Apply this solution to small areas with a sponge. You can cover larger areas with a paint roller soaked in the hot solution. For a large room, make up batches of the stripper so that it always goes on hot.

3. Allow stripping solution to soak into wallpaper for 20 minutes, then scrape paper off the wall with a wallpaper scraper or putty knife, being careful not to gouge the wallboard or plaster underneath.

4. Reapply stripper solution to stubborn spots, or if stripping multiple layers of paper. When paper is removed, rinse the wall with a sponge and clean water, and allow it to dry before priming to paint, or applying new paper.