Fix A Wallpapering Mistake With Trim

This post is for all you folks out there who have ever experienced a disheartening “whoops!” moment while wallpapering…That was me a few months back when I worked on adding a DIY wallpapered feature wall to our hall bathroom. I did the project entirely on my own, which usually isn’t a problem for me, but the tricky thing about this particular job was the fact that, at one point, I had to work in the dark. In order to install the wallpaper behind our vanity light, I needed to remove the fixture entirely, which meant I was doing the project with only a flashlight to guide my way. I was understandably a little nervous about doing this, and rushed through one of the panels, cutting it just a little bit too short at the bottom before sticking it in place, as you can see pictured below.

The mistake was small, only leaving about 3/4 of an inch of bare wall visible, and I was able to hide it from sight for the most part with a tray of bathroom products, but it was something I knew I eventually wanted to fix. Three months later, my aunt booked a flight to come visit us here in Waynesboro and I knew she would want to come over to take a tour of our house since she’d never been here before. That was all the motivation I needed to get this little wallpapering mistake fixed once and for all.

As for how I was going to fix it, I went through several different ideas in my head. I debated trying to recreate the missing pattern on the wall by hand-painting it using acrylic paint. Then, I considered using leftover wallpaper to fill it in as best I could. Ultimately, though, I decided to use a piece of decorative trim (similar to this, but not quite so thick) to hide the accidental gap entirely from view. I bought the fluted trim piece you see pictured above from Home Depot, and cut it to size using my miter saw, then painted it to match the wall color throughout the rest of the room (a color called “Pediment” by Sherwin-Williams).

After the paint was dry, I held the trim piece firmly up on the wall above the vanity backsplash, and nailed it into place using my brad gun. I did my best to aim the nails in the center of the trim so they didn’t hit the gaps in the fluted design, but not all of them ended up where I wanted them (it was awkward aiming the gun in certain tighter areas of the vanity). For those nails that stuck out a little too far, I used a nail setter and hammer to get the nail head to sit just below the face of the trim.

The last step in this process was hiding the nails from view and just generally cleaning things up. To do that, I spread a tiny bit of spackling compound right over the nail heads using my fingertip. I needed to slowly build the spackle up in layers over certain extra-deep nails, so I waited about 30 minutes between each layer to accomplish that. Once the spackle was flush with the face of the trim, I let it dry completely for a couple of hours, and then I came back and carefully touched up the paint in those areas.

I also ultimately decided to caulk a few of the edges where the trim wasn’t sitting right up against the vanity backsplash. This meant I had to do another coat of finishing paint, but I think this detail really helped the trim look intentional and built in. If you do this step, make sure you buy paintable caulk. Finished results are pictured below!

You can see this process in video format (with a cameo by our late kitten, Joe…) here on my Instagram. Seeing the DIY job in motion may give you a better idea of the process. I appreciate how one commenter suggested that I could have left the trim in a raw wood finish to make it stand out a little bit more. I love that idea, and can’t believe that I didn’t think of it! If you try this project, consider celebrating the raw wood aesthetic. I would just make sure you give the wood trim a clear coat or some kind of water-proof stain to make sure it stands up against incidental water splashes from the sink. I hope you like how it turned out!

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