Monday, September 29, 2008

Wallpaper Borders Give a New Lease on Life

What can be done to refresh a boring old room? Well, the first thought would probably be to paint the walls. While this would certainly give a new lease on life to a drab room, painting can be very messy and time consuming if done properly. The paint fumes are another hazard to be dealt with by fresh air ventilation. A superior method, which is a faster and an easier solution, is to apply a simple wall21DDpaper border. The most common area to place a wallpaper border is along the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling, but you can think outside of the box a little. Why not place the border waist high or center it at the light switch level.

If a family is planning a nursery, free time to dress up the baby's room always seems to run down to the wire. Borders will save a parent much needed time and stress that will be better suited to assembling that crib and diaper changing organizing table. Depending on the border chosen, it can also be used as an educational tool from which children can learn. As the child grows and matures, so can the border theme easily be changed to reflect the new interests.

Wallpaper border will quickly jazz up any room without the dangers of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. VOCs can be found everywhere from new carpet to even paints. VOCs are released slowly into the atmosphere over time. And while these volatile organic compounds usually don't pose immediate severe threats to an individual's health, extended over exposure can prove to have adverse harmful effects. Those individuals that can be more sensitive are the young, elderly, and people with respiratory conditions or extreme allergies, but overall health conditions of even the healthiest will suffer. Awareness has been heightened recently as more and more concerned families and health care organizations push for a greener future.

The average person is fully capable of applying a wallpaper border. There are a few tools that are needed though that the average household has on hand. A razor knife with a new blade, several new sponges, a large shallow bin or tote, a straight edge ruler, and enough border that will compliment the desired look will simplify the task at hand. The best shallow bins for this are those under-the-bed storage totes because they are very inexpensive and can later be used for storage of any unused materials.

These storage totes will allow enough water and room to manipulate the border in order to activate the glue on the back. Before one begins the actual moistening of the border, make sure the wall surface is clean and dry from any dirt. The easiest manner to hide a joint or splice is at an inside corner or carefully match up and trim the pattern or picture to another section of border using the ruler and razor knife. It is best to plan this before starting the process of wallpapering.

Once the border has been suitably moistened, the next step is to "book" it. This refers to folding the border back to back so that the paste can reach its maximum adhesion and allows a single person to easily handle a longer section by themselves. Working quickly, align the border near its final position and apply to the wall. Make any positional changes by sliding the border into place. Make sure to wipe or squeegee the excess water from the border and wall with a clean sponge.

Without expensive paint, drop cloths, brushes, rollers, and water to clean up the paint spills, any one can have a new room with just some simple wallpaper borders. This can even be a fun family project to share with loved ones.

For more information and guidance about how to hang wallpaper borders, visit http://www.borderbuddie.com The Border Buddie is a tool that empowers you to hang borders almost single-handedly, without the assistance of a second person. Check out the video and border hanging tips on the Website. You've never seen anything like it!

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Daniel Elliott is an independent contractor who authors articles and media on a variety of topics for diverse audiences. WebDrafter.com, Inc. (http://www.webdrafter.com) produces Website design, hosting, and search engine marketing services for many of the clients, industries and markets related to the articles and media authored by Dan Elliott. If you would like Dan Elliott to ghost write or pen an article for you or your company, please contact him with your specifications.

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