Cost to Wallpaper a Room

If you’re thinking about wallpapering a room, you’ll no doubt be thinking about the cost of getting a professional decorator to come in and complete the project for you. While you can hang wallpaper yourself, to get a quality finish it’s always worth at least considering using a specialist decorator – they’ll get your decorating sorted quickly and to a better standard than you could achieve on your own. The average cost of a painter and decorator in the UK is £180 per day and it will take that long to wallpaper an average sized room. 

So, to help you with how much it’s likely to cost you to get wallpaper hung in your home, we’ve come up with this comprehensive price guide, covering how much wallpapering will cost across a range of different scenarios. We’ll cover the costs for wallpapering different sized rooms and adding a feature wall, as well as including some information on the cost of the materials you’ll need and the preparation of the walls.

How much does it cost to wallpaper a room?

So, how much should you expect to pay a painter and decorator for your next wallpapering project? In the table to the right, you can see our table with the prices you could pay across the country. As labour costs differ from region to region, the overall cost of the project will therefore depend on where you live. But for a medium room of around 20 square metres, expect to pay between £280-£400.

Of course, this is only a rough guide. We’ve aassumed that your walls are in relatively good condition, as preparation can add to the cost, and that you’ve chosen averagely-priced wallpaper. Some wallpaper can be very expensive – more on that later. 

Remember that wallpapering, like many other decorating projects, is often included as part of a set of other jobs, like painting skirting boards and architrave, glossing doors and radiators, or even painting the ceiling. It’ll generally be more cost effective to get these jobs all done at the same time, so think carefully about all the work you want to get done.

Wallpapering a room

When it comes to wallpapering a room, the cost will largely depend on the size of the room, of course. As we’ve said, a medium room could be in the region of £280-£400, while a large room could cost as much as £500-£600 for wallpapering. A small room could be as little as £150. Also expect to pay a small amount more if your room has features like a chimney breast or cut outs in the walls, as these will make the job a bit trickier.

Adding a feature wall or border

Another common wallpapering project is adding a feature wall or border, or other kind of feature wallpaper. A feature wall is where you only wallpaper one wall, usually in a prominent position in the room and using a striking wallpaper, often with an eye-catching pattern. A border refers to running just one strip of wallpaper around a room, usually around the middle but you could also do vertical strips of wallpaper for decorative effects.

The price for a project like this will vary depending on the amount of wall you’d like to cover. But, in general, you should expect to pay between £100-£200 to add a feature wall, and a similar amount to add any other kind of feature wallpaper to your home.

Cost of wallpaper

Unlike with painting projects where the cost of materials is generally a lower proportion of the project, wallpapering materials can be quite costly. Because of this, your choice of wallpaper can add quite a lot to the overall price, with some rolls up to £140 per roll, while there are a lot of budget options available at only £10-£20 per roll.

Obviously, if you choose an expensive wallpaper, the cost of that wallpaper will add to the price of your project. Expect to have to buy at least 3-4 rolls for a small to medium sized room, with some large rooms needing 8-10 rolls to cover the entire space.

Because of this, it’s worth spending the time to browse wallpaper selections before you speak to a decorator, to get an idea of the kinds of wallpaper that’s available at the price you want to pay. The more expensive wallpaper materials are often textured, and are available in styles like:

• Flock

• Bamboo

• Fabric

• Vinyl

• Embossed

• Foil

Do also bear in mind that while many wallpaper rolls are a standard size, some are not, so you may have to convert the roll sizes to properly compare the costs.

Cost to prepare the walls

On top of the materials cost, and the price for hanging the wallpaper, you may also have to pay towards the preparation of the walls themselves. Whether you’ll have to pay for this work depends on the condition of the walls – if they’re in good condition, with no cracks and smooth plaster, hanging wallpaper will be an easier job. However, if cracks need to be filled or plaster needs to be smoothed, expect to pay another £100-£200 for this work.

If you already have wallpaper in the room, it’s possible to hang new wallpaper over the top. However, this can sometimes lead to an uneven surface or joins showing through as unsightly lines, so speak to a professional decorator to get a view on what’s possible for your space.

Stripping wallpaper

Of course, while many wallpaper projects are about hanging new wallpaper, in some cases people might want to remove wallpaper in their room. You can strip wallpaper yourself by renting or buying a steamer and scraping or peeling it away, but be careful as this can damage the walls, leaving you with a costly repair bill.

If you’d prefer to entrust wallpaper removal to a professional, either as a stand alone job or as part of a bigger decorating project, expect to pay around £100 per room for the removal. This work may be done either on a day or hourly rate, so speak to a number of different pros to get quotes and choose the one that best meets your needs.

Estimates for common painter and decorator jobs;

Rates for other trades