How to buy wallpaper for your home, budget and skillset 

Three vital installation cues we need to be familiar with in patterned papers: Repeat, match type and batch number

Opium Blush, an entangled spectacle of Papaver somniferum, or opium poppy as it’s more commonly known, in contrasting shades of delicate and dark pink. Sponge clean, straight-match, strippable, paste-the-wall, €159 per roll, The Curious Department.

There's a reason why wallpapering offers such rich territory for comedy sketches. Curled lengths of slippery material, easily punched out with a foot, lofted up the wall as we scale a ladder. What could possibly go wrong?

We’ll delve into some useful hacks for papering next week, but let’s start by reading the rolls. Beyond scrub/sponge quality, suitability to the humid conditions, colourfastness and paste types (do go for paste-the-wall to preserve your sanity), there are three vital installation cues we need to be familiar with in patterned papers: the repeat, the match type and the batch number.

The repeat in a standard wallpaper is, quite simply, the vertical distance between a set spot on a complete, decorative motif and where it next occurs — where its “repeats” are given in centimetres. This repeat in a drop indicates how much paper you’re going to need when you buy your rolls. Still, it’s not the whole story.

The match

Next is the match — that’s how one section of your paper physically lines up on the wall to suit any repeat and to build out the overall design as intended. There are unusual forms of paper — odd dynamic geometric designs that you can work up and down a few centimetres to suit your eye and reverse-alternate-lengths (you hang one length one way and one the next — which prevents “shading” in plainer papers).

In general, random, straight and drop matches cover most other products.

Random match

Starting with random or free-match. Apart from where you drape your paper over the dog and he frolics off dragging it behind him, random-match wallpaper delivers little to no waste. You can generally cut it across and just slide it right side up against the last drop of paper.

All you need to be is straight, there’s otherwise no aligning needed. In a paste-the-wall choice, it’s a real time-saver, you just start your papering on the edge of the ceiling, as there’s no set repeat to worry about. Look for an arrow pointing at a vertical line with a zero on the other side — the key for a random match.

You’re most likely to find random matches in solid colours, textured papers and small repeats like faux terrazzo, sprigs, and abstract splotches. Cleverly drawn randoms or free pattern matches like Funky Frames by Graham & Brown are available in medium-scale repeat designs. Random or free matches are perfect for a starter project. They may take a little slide into and over the seams — but that’s it.

Straight match

Next up is straight match (with a symbol of two arrows pointing to each over a vertical line) easily matched vertically where one roll meets the next without a large repeat.

Unless you hang a sheet upside down — straight-match is very user-friendly. The pattern should be started at the ceiling and inevitably on the next sheet, there will be some trimming and a larger swathe of waste than a random drop. With a small repeat number, this won’t be a lot of paper.

There are straight-match designs with a plain anchor colour and a larger repeat design printed in the centre of the paper. You can play with these, treating them as a random match to set say a large motif like a seed head wherever you want in your own drop design. You could place your seed head in horizontal lines or alternatively offset them, as the background will allow you to still match up the cuts of paper.

Drop match

Drop matches are more complex, but they allow a beautiful fluidity to a wallpaper design, lessening the rigidity of a pattern repeat. For adjacent strips to match up, the next strip must be offset (dropped) by the distance of its drop-match. 

The severity of the drop will indicate how much cutting and waste to expect with the paper, and how long this project is going to take. Drop matches are largely half-drops and quarter-drops (of the repeat) and must be matched both across the design and up and down the design.

In a large painterly style of paper with sophisticated, varied detail like flight-borne cranes — the drop can be considerable or even a multiple-drop. With expensive paper in a vast room with cavernous walls, a multiple-drop match is best left to a pro who will cut the paper before hanging it.

Foggy Tropical Forest, €42/sq m in a variety of wallpapers including paste-the-wall and peel and stick that's great for rented accommodation, Wallsauce.

Typically, every second drop of the roll will be identical, which makes it all sound Instagram-effortless. Unless you’re blessed with a Buddha bowl of serenity and two-metre-long arms — it’s not.

Drop matches start at the ceiling line at a set point, and we have to match up the design from there. The packaging will carry a symbol showing offset arrows on a vertical line. These are very often diagonal patterns that require quite a lot more paper (you might have three drops to cover one complete design, but this will be influenced by the size of the repeat). Don’t run scared of modest drop matches if you can confidently handle wallpaper — we’re really just talking about more strategising, patience and paper.

The repeat

Whether you are into pulsating geometrics or flocked vintage lovelies always, always note the repeat printed on the roll and the match type. A full “picture” mural should be supplied ready to go in panels that complete the full design. 

When ordering a digital print perfect measurements of the target wall are vital. Despite what your eye may say, not all walls are “true”. Your supplier will have detailed instructions to get those figures correct allowing them to match the image perfectly to your available space.

Always note if any paper you buy is strippable, peelable (taking off the top layer) or requires wet removal with a steamer. It’s all there on the label. The passion you feel for “Pineapple Cha-Cha No 3” will fade.

Felines stalking unsuspecting budgies, Bye Bye Birdie Shamrock wallpaper; also available in Delft, French Blue, Petticoat Pink, Canary, €173 per roll, Divine Savages.

There are super simple wallpaper calculators online to give you a good idea of how many rolls of your chosen paper you will need, but they will generally not include repeats and match types. There will be a coverage per roll on the packing and that will take into account the drop type. Adding 10% to your calculations, you won’t usually go wrong.

Always round up not down — most suppliers will take extra rolls back except in the case of a very special order. Retain your receipt. This B&Q tool takes out the sizing to any doors and windows. Handy. 

The batch number

Choose the same batch numbers (printed on the label) to ensure a perfect colour match as dyes can vary very slightly from one delivery of paper to another.