Stripping back before anything goes up
Most houses in the village went up between 1965 and 1992, according to Council Tax records, and plenty have been papered more than once since. Painted-over woodchip and layers of vinyl come off with steam and patience, and old paste is washed away so the new paper grips properly. If stripping lifts the surface, our plasterers can skim it before we hang.
Where a wall is sound but slightly uneven, lining paper gives the finish paper an even surface to dry onto. It also helps heavy or expensive designs lie flat at the joins.
Feature walls, stairwells and whole rooms in Bar Hill
Two-thirds of homes here are detached or semi-detached and most have three or more bedrooms, so the jobs we expect are a chimney breast or bedhead wall, a stairwell, or a whole landing. Stair drops are long, so we set up safe access and hang every length from a plumb line. Simon, our wallpaper specialist, handles designer and heritage papers, as he did on a three-storey William Morris staircase in Cambridge.
Bar Hill has no listed buildings, so there are no heritage rules on what goes on your walls. The pattern is entirely your choice, and Graham will bring samples so you can judge the scale in the room.
Bar Hill at a glance
- 10 milesby road from our Landbeach base, about 14 minutesOSRM routing
- 4%of properties were built before 1919VOA Council Tax stock
- 1%date from 1919 to 1939VOA Council Tax stock
- 1,739householdsCensus 2021
- 75%of homes are owner-occupiedCensus 2021
How we approach wallpapering
We check every roll for its batch number, then strip, wash down and fill. Lining paper goes on cross-lined where a wall is patched, and we size the surface if the manufacturer recommends it. Pattern repeats are planned from the focal point outwards so the least visible join falls in a corner or behind a door. The full method, products and FAQs are on our wallpapering page.