Wallpaper. All of us old home owners who have painstakingly stripped layer upon layer of old wallpaper from walls are screaming, "Noooooo, don't do it!"

Have you seen the crazy wallpaper wall at House in Progress? I think it beats the wallpaper mural that I had in my house.

But if you must, there are some tips to making the process easy. First, preparation. Please, please, please for the love of all things holy size your walls. Sizing is a paint like material you roll onto your walls before you put the wallpaper up. It allows the wallpaper to be pulled off easily when you, or some future homeowner decide that they do not want the wall paper any longer.

I know you are sitting there thinking, "Not want this wallpaper? Why I love it and will never grow tired of gazing upon it's beauty."

Eventually someone will want to remove it. Remember the wall paper with matching border craze during the 80's that made every room look like a gigantic hat box? Or what about the country duck theme. I am shuddering right now.

If your walls are textured or just uneven sort of plaster, you might want to look into applying a wallpaper liner to your walls first. It is like a cushy wallpaper that hides minor flaws and defects in walls. Wallpaper itself will not hide these things. Trust me.

Use an online tool to determine the amount of wallpaper. You will be able to plug in the pattern repeat, the dimensions of your room, and subtract the number of window openings and door openings. Unless you have an obscenely large amount of doors and windows I skip this. I like to have extra. And then if any section gets ruined, because let's face it I have children who like to drag their hands along the walls, I can replace it.

Tools you will need:

Tools and Materials You Need (from DIY.com):

* Wallpaper
* Wallpaper paste (for non-prepasted paper only)
* Adhesive brush or paint roller (for non-prepasted paper only)
* Putty knife (at least 6 inches wide)
* Smoothing brush (or smoothing knife)
* Two large sponges
* Seam roller
* Boarder and seam adhesive (only if using vinyl paper)
* Level
* Tape measure
* Pencil
* Single-edge razor blades
* Drop cloths
* Stepladder
* Water tray
* Trash bag
*another person
*a stiff drink
* band-aids

The last three items on the list are my very own additions. You're welcome.

In fact, they provide comprehensive instructions on hanging your own wallpaper. More intensive than I can recreate here.

Most important tips I have:

*Make sure that you begin with a plumb line. This is SO important. Do not just start in the corner of a room. No houses, even brand new houses are perfectly square. Unless you want your wall paper to get progressively slanted as you go around the room make sure you start with a plumb line, and redo your plumb line after every corner.

*Unless you are a professional, pick a pattern that is easy to match. Don't go for the floor to ceiling vertical stripes.

* Small room, small pattern. Large room, large pattern.

* Buy more razor blades than you ever thought you would need. Seriously think of a number you can't imagine using and then double it. There is nothing worse than trying to cut wall paper and ripping it instead. Other than cutting the wallpaper and going to hang it on the wall and realizing you haven't properly allowed for the repeat and now are too short.

And just in case you feel like they are speaking another language, here is a wall paper lingo guide.