Papering ceilings and staircases

What changes when a wallcovering goes overhead or up a stair? Two things: the order of work, and the amount of material. At Pendley Manor the ceiling was the first surface done in every room, and a relief or printed ceiling is seen across its whole width with the window light travelling over it. A staircase takes a larger ordering allowance than a flat room because of its angles. This guide sets out how we handled both, drawn only from jobs on our own record.

In what order is a papered room done?

From the top down. At Pendley Manor, where we papered thirty guest rooms in thirty days, every room went through the same sequence: the ceiling papered first, then every wall lined, then the finish paper hung, with the floors protected throughout. Thirty rooms in thirty days only works if every room follows the same order. The hotel specification guide covers room release on a larger programme.

Why a relief paper on a ceiling?

At Pendley the high ceilings were papered in Anaglypta, a relief paper that is hung first and painted afterwards. On a ceiling the joints have to close tight and the pattern has to run true from wall to wall, because the light from the windows travels across the relief and finds any step. The walls below were lined before the decorative papers went on, so ceiling and walls were each given the ground they needed.

What about a ceiling that is papered in the same print as the walls?

Treat it as a fifth wall. At the Castle of Trematon several rooms were papered overhead in the same House of Hackney prints as the walls. In the skylit atrium the print was cut around a decorative oval lantern and a chandelier rose; the small box room was papered on all four walls and the ceiling. In that house every ceiling was a little out of level, so rooms were taken back to bare plaster and lined first, and reinforced lining materials gave the hand-printed papers a true, stable ground. The wall preparation guide explains what lining does and does not do.

Does every heritage ceiling get papered?

No. Where the plasterwork is itself the decoration, paper would hide it. At Brown’s Hotel, Mayfair the ornate moulded ceilings were spray-finished to give an even coat that keeps every crisp detail of the enrichment, something a brush or roller cannot achieve at that depth, while the walls beneath carried the papers. Our page on heritage and listed buildings covers how old walls and ceilings are surveyed before they are priced.

How is a stair wall set out?

To a true vertical, not to the stair. At Trematon, Lincrusta relief went up the curved stair walls in November 2021. The panels were laid out on the table first, then hung panel by panel to a laser line for true vertical alignment. Lincrusta is an embossed heritage wallcovering, made since 1877. Our set-out and pattern matching guide covers working from a fixed line in more detail.

In an old house, tall stair halls and rooms that were never built square change the preparation, so they are part of the survey from the start. At the Penny Morrison showroom the stair hall was papered with the showroom in the brand’s own florals; at Hyde London City the decorating ran through the stair cores, and a sweeping timber-railed staircase had to be decorated around and protected.

Why does a staircase need more paper?

Because of the angles. Our ordering allowance is typically 15–30%, depending on the pattern repeat and the layout, and staircases sit at the high end, around 30%. The exact number of extra rolls for pattern matching is confirmed at the survey, and the quantities page explains why we count drops rather than square metres.

What protects a stair once it is papered?

Stair openings are among the edges that take traffic. Where an external corner will keep taking knocks, the lasting answer is a specialist corner profile rather than more adhesive; the imperfect arches case study shows the detail, and aftercare explains the return visit.

When does this guide stop being enough?

It describes what we did on these jobs. Access equipment, the condition of an old ceiling and the maker’s instruction for the actual product decide the method on any other job, and a stair or ceiling that has moved, cracked or been wet is surveyed before it is priced.