I have been looking for wallpaper for one wall of my dining room for about a year. I can not find what I like. But! I found some fabric at my local quilt store that is exactly what I have been looking for.
Does anybody know of a way to use it to cover my wall? :?:
Thanks,
Julie

There is a recipe of 1/2 water, 1/2 starch, soak the fabric until it is really wet, wring out and apply to the wall. I'll google it and see what I find.

http://www.decoratorsecrets.com/diy-...wallpaper.html

You can also staple if your pattern helps hide the staples.

Why don't you make a nice large quilt using the material and then paint the wall a very light color that corasponds to the quilt material. When you get tired of the design you have a nice quilt and can make a new one in new tones.

I saw a program on HGTV years ago where it was being done, so you might find instructions on their website.

I have had friends that use it just like wall paper. They primed the wall then pasted and applied the paper. You have to be more careful of stretching with fabric, but it help up really well. She ran in across instead of up and down and only did 1 width with a chair rail at the top. If you want to do the whole wall I think you'd have to put something over the seams because of matching raw material edges.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

You can use fabric to cover your wall, but it will stretch and distort very easily if you try and paste it on. It is the motion of smoothing it out, that can easily distort it.
I am a do it yourself person, but in this case, I would hire a professional :wink: :D:D:D

My girlfriend just turned under the raw edges and smoothed them out, you could hardly see where the edges/seams were. She was using a plaid so that was easier to match and hide the seams.:)

DD and I did this years ago. You use starch to hang it. If you do a google search for 'Fabric as wallpaper' lots of links come up.

When DD moved (rental) we just pulled down the fabric. I washed it a couple of times to get the starch out. I made a quilt with the fabric and have more in my stash.

Be careful to use an adhesive that won't yellow with age and make sure that the walls are super clean with no streaks. A friend of mine and I did this back in the late 60's. We thought that putting the psychodelic print on the wall would be so much easier than trying to paint it. Oh well, youth and mistakes sort of go hand in hand. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do. The paste didn't yellow but we forgot to REALLY clean the walls first and that discolored the fabric in spots. Also, I'd never recommend doing this in a house where anyone ever smokes or burns a lot of candles(soy ones aren't too bad)--both of those things really discolor fabrics.

I'd probably hang a huge quilt on it but I put material on one wall. It was a few years ago but I dipped it in starchy water and used small pins to hold it at the top while I used a damp sponge to wipe it down and get wrinkles out. Let it dry and took pins out. It was great because it came off easy and we were living in base housing at the time!

Ohhhh...I love that idea! You've got me thinking about doing that to one of my walls!..Thanks!!

I have actually done it! Use 1/2 starch 1/2 water a large sponge and first put the sponge against the wall (after wringing the sponge out so it doesn't drip), then put the fabric against the wall, use the sponge the saturate the fabric and hold it for a few seconds so it adheres. The beauty of this method is that when you get ready to take the fabric down, just use a wet sponse and the fabric will be easy to remove.

I took the easy way out. I tacked a 1'x1'trim board at top and bottom. I stapled the fabric at the top and bottom and overlapped each panel as I hung it. I covered the staples at the top and bottom with a wood trim. It wasn't hard to do at all. The first time I did it at work where I ran a bookstore the wall was paneling and it was so easy to tack it at the top and bottom to the paneling. I liked the look so I did it at home too. At home we had problems with crumbling walls. It hid the problem areas nicely.

I also put up fabric on my bathroom walls using the liquid starch technique. This was a guest bathroom and not heavily used. It is a little messy and working with 3 yds of wet fabric can be a bit cumbersome, at least until you figure out what you are doing. I believe I trimmed the selvages before hanging. Trimmed the top and bottom edges after hanging, because I had a pattern to match. I was VERY happy with it. Very easy to remove. No damage to fabric if you want to reuse it. No damage to walls (you do need to wipe down to remove starch). I trimmed the upper and lower edges with a jute-like braided fabric, which coordinated with my fabric. Didn't use a nail or a staple anywhere. Got many compliments on it! I say go for it!

There was a decorating show on HGTV a while back that showed someone doing there walls with fabric and they used wall paper paste and did it just like hanging wallpaper. I would google how to cover walls with fabric

Nate Berkus had a segment on his show about using fabric/starch to cover a wall - try The Nate Berkus Show (Google). I think he used the 1/2 strength solution and sprayed the wall then the fabric and smoothed it on. Apparently can be removed without damage to the wall finish.

Now this an interesting subject. I have wondered over the last few months if such could be done. Now that I know it can I will research online and try it first in my back hallway and see how it comes out.

You can put decorative moulding at the top and bottom to hide stapes.

This is very possible. In fact, I did it to my living room. I used the bottled starch right from the shelf of the local gro store. Using the starch and fabric as you would paste and wall paper, you brush the starch on the fabric. I did no wall prep other than making sure it was clean and on 'lumps.' Its like putting up wall paper and cleanup is easy too. I didn't do the whole wall, but just went up so far and painted the top part. Where the pieces of fabric join, I used lathe painted dark brown (you can use any color, LOL) and put on a "chair rail" - 2" lathe to top it off. Hope you like the during and after pictures of my project!

Thank you for sharing your photo's.

liquid starch. Put on wall. put on material. Then cover with liquid starch again over material

I did this once, but I did not glue it down. I just stapled the top , bottom and sides. I like to change stuff around and was afraid I would get tired of it after awhile. It worked just fine.

I actually did this by making a sleeve on the top and bottom and slid a piece of trim in the sleeve and nailed into the trim. Worked like a charm.

Ooohhhh... this is a great idea.

I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to my sewing room walls. I covered the staples with a ribbon. The whole process was fast and I could get the fabric as taut as I wanted it.

(I covered my school bulletin boards with fabric the last few years I was teaching. I would take it down for summer vacation and then put it back up in the fall! I still have some of that fabric in my stash.)

Just saw a friends house where she used starch - I thought it looked fantastic!!

I've used the staple method several times for my daughter's college dorms and appartments. One time we had to use double sided tape for a concrete wall in which case the strength of the tape is important. We used carpet strength. Super easy and looked great. Easy to take down at the end of the school year.

I have used fabric wall covering before and am planning on it again. It is very popular in Europe and Upper Africa in hotels, etc. If you don't want to glue it to the wall (which I wouldn't) there are two things you can do. Both entail stapling. One is a "flat installation" where you simply staple the material at the edges and then cover with woodwork or bricbrac. The other (more popular) is to first staple a layer of fill to the wall and then the fabric over it, giving it a "puffier" and richer look. You still cover your edges with woodwork or bricbrac. Hope that helps!! It can look really regal.

I did this many years ago. Liquid starch. Have someone to help you so you do not stretch your fabric. It stayed up for years and came down very easily.

Several years ago I knew a gal that used heat and bond to fuse the fabric to her walls. Sounds like a lot of ironing but it may be worth a thought.

my folks did this year ago to one of their bedroom walls. My mom bought flannel flat sheets in red & black plaid. They started at the top & secured them with matching thumbtacks. That's all they used & nothing was distorted or difficult to smooth out. They just tacked as they smoothed/covered the wall. They turned the edges under & you never knew it was a sheet unless someone asked. Of course, mom loved to brag! lol Good luck!

I used full strenght starch liquid starch when I did a portion of wall leading to upstairs, put towels down to catch any drips while applying and smooth from top to bottom. It is very easy to take down also.

Dude

I did it many years ago for my daughter's room. I used staples. If I remember correctly I turend inder the fabric at the top, then lifted it up put a slim piece of poster boared and stapled as closr to the top as possible, let the fabric hang down and smooth and turn under at the bottom and staple. Sometimes you can put staples in where they will not show or you can cover with trim. T =he next piece of fabric lays over the first piece, wrong sides together as if you are sewing them together and staple on the seam line, then open out the fabric. You may need some thin poster board in this seam to keep it straight. I hope this is not to confusing.

I do it all the time! In fact, my main floor 1/2 bath has Mary
Englebreit fabric on the walls!

Just put your fabric down in a wallpaper tray that has liquid starch in it. squeeze out as much as you can and then put it on your walls...smooth out all wrinkles...as it dries..it affixes to the wall.

I used a sheet on a bathroom wall once..it stayed up without any problems for several years..with the shower steam and all!

Granted my 1/2 bath doesnt' get as steamy..but it has been up and withstood my grandchildren for 9 years!

I do it all the time! In fact, my main floor 1/2 bath has Mary
Englebreit fabric on the walls!

Just put your fabric down in a wallpaper tray that has liquid starch in it. squeeze out as much as you can and then put it on your walls...smooth out all wrinkles...as it dries..it affixes to the wall.

I used a sheet on a bathroom wall once..it stayed up without any problems for several years..with the shower steam and all!

Granted my 1/2 bath doesnt' get as steamy..but it has been up and withstood my grandchildren for 9 years!

This is a really neat idea. Love the idea of the quilt and repaint the wall to correspond.

Much less intimidating than covering the entire wall with fabrics.

Do post your results and let us see what you did!

I used flowered sheets that matched my DD#2's bedding on one wall. I used staples to put it up with. Couldn't see the staples because of the pattern. It worked out great.

Contact Home depot for videos? I have seen it done on home shows put on by www.createtv.com. Check the product you use to be sure it is not cellulose based. Cellulose attracts bugs. It is their food. Good luck, and post before and after so we can admire.

I saw this on the Nate Berkus show recently. Here is the video link, but there is a bit of advertising you have to suffer through first. http://www.thenateshow.com/videos/detail/807# He uses full strength liquid starch,applies it with a roller on the wall, puts up the fabric, then rolls over the fabric with full strength starch again.

I'm seeing a lot of suggestions using starch. My question would be does it attract bugs like ants or roaches?