How to Wallpaper a Stairwell or High Walls

Step-by-step

1. Set up a proper working platform

   A single ladder isn't safe or stable enough for a stairwell's sloped floor. Rent or build a plank-and-ladder setup (a scaffold board between two ladders at different heights) so you're always standing on a level, secure surface.

2. Measure each wall segment individually

   Stairwell walls rarely share one ceiling height — the wall follows the stair slope. Measure the tallest point of each segment separately rather than using one average height for the whole run.

3. Plan your pattern match direction before cutting

   Decide which wall you'll start from and work outward in one direction, so a drop-match pattern lines up consistently as strips step up or down the slope, instead of meeting awkwardly in the middle.

4. Hang from the tallest point down

   Starting at the tallest wall segment and working toward the shorter ones means you're cutting extra length off later strips rather than discovering a strip is too short partway through.

5. Work with a helper for long drops

   Strips in a stairwell are often longer than a single person can control while pasted — an extra pair of hands to support the bottom of the strip prevents stretching, tearing, or trapped air bubbles.

6. Trim along the stair string line at an angle

   Where wallpaper meets the diagonal stair stringer or baseboard, trim along that angled line rather than a straight horizontal cut — a sharp utility knife and a fresh blade make this far cleaner.

Safety considerations

Stairwells are one of the few wallpapering jobs where the fall risk genuinely changes the calculus on whether to DIY. If a stable plank-and-ladder setup isn't something you can safely rent or build, or the stairwell is over roughly two stories, this is a reasonable job to hand to a professional installer — the pattern-matching skill required goes up with wall height, and so does the cost of a fall.

Measuring a sloped stairwell

Because each wall segment along a staircase has a different height, use our calculator's "By Wall" mode and enter each segment separately rather than trying to average the whole run into one height — see our measuring guide for the general approach, then apply it wall-by-wall up the stairs.

Common mistakes

• Using one ceiling-height measurement for the entire stairwell run instead of per segment.
• Working alone on strips too long to control safely while pasted.
• Starting from the shortest wall and running out of matched pattern by the tallest one.
• Cutting a straight trim line where the wall meets an angled stair stringer.