PAPERING WALLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 12, 15 April 1871, Page 8

PAPERING WALLS.

Tt is well to know how to do everything that requires to be done about a house. Many a woman whose parlor or kitchen needs papering can afford to buy the paper with the profit from her poultry or her bees, if she can only make the labor bill cost nothing. One person alone can hang paper very nicely but four hands make much easier and qnickerwork than only two. Wheatflour paste is generally used for hanging paper ; it should not be very thick, and should be entirely free from lumps. Let it be strained through a sieve. Some persons add to the flour onesixth of its weight of powdered resin to increase its adhesiveness, and a few drops of oil of cloves to render it proof • against insects. Starch is used by some for papering. It has this advantage, that if any of it happens to get on the outside it leaves no stain. - One pound. of fine dry starch will make paste enough for a large room. If you are covering a wall having a smooth, hard finish, the paper will stick better if you first go over the wall with a thin solution of white glue. With a whitewash brush it.may be put on very rapidly. A little vinegar mixed with the paste is recommended by some ; it neutralises the alkali on the wall, and promotes the adhesion of the paper. Having made all needful provisions, including a smooth board ten •or twelve feet long and eighteen inches wide, take a roll of paper and with a long sharp shears trim off one edge, letting the'roll rest on the floor, and rolling up in the lap that part trimmed. Then measure the height of the room, and cut off the lengths, making the figures match exactly. Lay these lengths one above another, and face all down on the pasting board. Then put oh the paste with a brush, taking care to moisten the edges thoroughly. Turn up the piece from the bottom, letting the pasted sides come together. Place the top of the strip on the wall, press gently with a cloth, then pass the cloth or a soft brush down the middle first, and thence toward each edge. Do not stretch the paper or rub it; the blisters will all disappear when it is dry. In turning the corner ot a room, put only paste enough on the strip to reach -to the corner, and when this is well fastened on paste the remaining part of the strip and press it on the wall. It is better to have no fire in a freshly papered room until it is entirely dry.