Modern Electrical Technology Makes Hanging Paper Easier

Bad photo, but I’m to put wallpaper in this room, including the tall and deep fir-down at the top right, which has two recessed light fixtures in it. You want the paper to go behind the light fixtures, not cut around them, if at all possible. In the photo, at the far middle left, you can see one fixture dangling by it’s wires below the fir-down.

Some of these recessed fixtures are tricky to take down (many won’t come down at all), but these ones turned out to be held in place by tension springs, which fit into sideways hooks, which you can see at the left inside the hole.

Here’s a closer look. These are the same type springs that hold the vent covers to exhaust fans in place. As you push them upward, they spread apart and hold the fixture securely in place. Easy-peasy! You can also squeeze the springs together and remove them from the mounting housing, which lets the fixture dangle from its electrical wires.

That’s what I’ve done here. Now it’s much easier to work the wallpaper around the fixture. But it could be made even easier – by removing the light fixture all together.

Most light fixtures have black and white wires coming from inside the wall that connect to black and white wires on the electrical fixture and are connected and held in place by a twist-on screw cap or wire nut. What’s very cool about this particular fixture’s electrical connections is that it’s made by this orange plug, which fits into the orange receptacle – no wires to twist or cap, and no need to cut off the power. It’s all simple and perfectly safe.
Here I’ve disconnected the two orange parts.

With the light fixture completely out of the way, it’s much easier to install the wallpaper, and no paste gets slopped onto the fixture.

Here’s the wallpaper installed and trimmed around the inside of the opening.
Oh, and don’t mind the slight pattern mis-match on the left … there were issues with un-plumb and un-level walls coming into play.

And here I’ve reconnected the orange plug parts, and placed the spring back inside those hooks, then pushed the light fixture up and back into place. Look at how nicely the flange (outer ring) of the fixture covers the cut edge of the hole and the wallpaper.

Open Door Policy

What’s great about this picture? The powder room door is opening OUTWARD!
Folks, it’s hard enough to hang wallpaper in a powder room, most of which are pretty small and cramped. Add a toilet, sink, ladder, tools, and a moving human body.
Compounding all that, most powder room doors swing open inward (it’s a construction / architectural thing – Google it). That door takes up a lot of space inside the bathroom. This makes for a real juggling act and choreographed dance every time I need to get in or out of the room – which is frequently during the workday, since my pasting table is outside the room and the paper has to go onto the walls inside the room.
On this job I was delighted that the door opened out. This made it infinitely easier to maneuver around in there and do the tasks necessary to get the room papered.
Thank you builder!

Hiding an Unused Opening in the Wall

Beneath this light switch is an equal-sized hole cut in the wall, with cable wires running behind it, intended probably for a sound or alarm system. The homeowners were not using it, and it had a blank wall plate over it.

Instead of having a white plate of plastic that was not serving any purpose visually clog up the wall, I removed the plate and just let the wallpaper cover the opening.

Right now, you can see a little warped area where the paper is spanning the void. But as the paper dries, it should pull taught and disguise the opening nicely. The mottley color of the wallpaper will further help to obscure the area.