Wallcoverings Buying Guide

Wallcoverings are stocked by a wide range of retail outlets, including paint and wallpaper specialists, d-i-y shops and superstores, department stores and builders' and decorators' merchants. Once you have decided what type of wallcovering you want, you then have to find a pattern and colour you like at a price you can afford.

When you go shopping for wallcoverings, you will find that most shops have a number of rolls of various wallcoverings out on display. This applies particularly to whites relief wallcoverings and woodchip papers and also to a good selection of the best-selling designs in vinyls, washables and ordinary wallpapers. So you will nearly always be able to find something you like and take it home with you, especially if you buy wallcoverings from one of the larger do-it-yourself superstores.

Many of the more traditional shops have a number of pattern books containing samples of wallcoverings for you to choose from. These are usually issued to the retailer by the manufacturer, although occasionally a wholesaler (or even the retailer, especially if he is part of a large chain) may make up the pattern books. Books usually contain just one type of wallcovering usually wallpaper or vinyls, although flocks and foils may also be included. These pattern books are often given a collection name, which may at least help you to narrow down your choice of wallcovering. Wallcovering manufacturers usually alter their collections every two years, though it is unusual for them to change every design in a collection book. Some shops will allow you to take the books home for inspection but you may have to pay a deposit; others may cut samples.

Once you have found a pattern you like in one of these books the shop may be able to supply the quantity you need from stock, even if the paper is not on display. If they cannot, they will have to order it. and this may take a few days. One disadvantage of ordering wallpaper is that you are unlikely to be able to take back unused rolls something you can usually do when buying off the shelf.

When you receive the rolls, check first that you have got the exact design you chose (or ordered). Even if the pattern book number and the numbers on the wallcovering match you may not have the design you chose. Sometimes the numbers on the labels do not match those on the pattern book sample, usually because the book contained a selection of different manufacturers' designs. Rolls also have another number on their labels to tell you when the wallcovering was made. This is the batch number and you should check that all the rolls have identical numbers. If they do not, the shade of each roll may not match. Lastly, check to see that the ends of the rolls are undamaged. Most rolls are shrink-wrapped and the wrapping should be unopened.

Prices
The price of the same wallcovering can vary widely from shop to shop. Manufacturers do not recommend selling prices, and so retailers are governed only by what they have to pay their wholesalers and what profit margin they decide on.

Wallcoverings in pattern books are often divided by manufacturers into a number of price groups and each group is given a price by the retailer.

In general terms, papers on display in shops are priced individually and are cheaper than the same paper in a pattern book. It is also common practice for shops to charge more when they have to order paper that they do not have in stock. Once you have settled on a particular pattern, especially if it is from a named collection, it may be worth ringing around several stores to find out whether anyone has it in stock at a price lower than the one you would have to pay to order elsewhere.

Quantities
The most accurate way of working out how much wallcovering you need is to count up the number of widths needed to decorate a given wall or room, add up the lengths and convert these figures into whole rolls (a standard roll is 10.05 metres long and 530 millimetres wide). If the pattern repeat is large the size is often given in the pattern book - you should allow an extra roll.

Less accurate is the simple formula: n = h x d ¨C 5, where n is the number of rolls you will need, h is the height of each length and d is the distance round the room in metres. Divide by 50 instead of 5 if you measure in feet. Always round the answer up to the nearest whole number. Do not worry about allowing for doors and windows unless they take up a sizeable part of the wall area.

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