Proceed with the frieze next, whether there is a picture rail or not; the filling will have to be cut into it if there is no rail fixed. Some deep re lief patterns are made in lengths of 3 ft. or 4 ft., according to the pattern. When this is the case, pay attention to the joints, especially where there is moulding on the pattern; insert pieces of wood under them to keep them flush. It will be found difficult to turn the angles ou the breast nicely; the pattern will flatten somewhat, but this may be prevented to some extent by rolling some paper and placing it under the relief on the angle. Never try to bend the material into the angles without cutting. It may be possible to do so in obtuse angles, but it is safer and just as quick to cut it. Cut right into the wall, and scribe the continuation in the same way that carpenters sometimes scribe in skirtings and mouldings.
The same methods apply to the filling. The carpenter has fixed the dado rail, so the dado can be hung. If this is a dark color, and is not to be painted, make a little distemper coloring the same color as the material, and with a tool run down the wall behind the joints, etc. This will prevent the white wall from showing through if the trimming is not quite true. The general working is, of course, the same as in the case of any other dado as regards pattern.
Next in order come the kitchen, pantries, etc. These rooms, if not distempered, are hung with a washable, which is to be varnished. Be care ful not to have any laps in this paper. The least thing in the shape of a lump will show tenfold when varnished, so be careful in pasting. Have the paste fairly stiff, and rub out well. Fold the lengths so that the top meets the bottom nearly about the center. Then fold again two or three times. Three or four lengths at a time may be pasted and laid on each other to soak. By the time the fourth length is pasted and folded, the first will be ready for hanging.
In rolling the paper, roll from side to side till the pattern is matched. This paper stretches a great deal when soaked, and, if rolled up and down, it is liable to stretch so much that the pat terns will not match. Make sure the edges and corners are well stuck down, or they will curl up when being sized for varnishing.
In papering a staircase and hall, the mate rials will be a 30-in. plain tint ingrain filling, and washable dado and border (it is assumed that the frieze here is finished in stenciled distemper).
There are several reasons why the staircase should be left till last. As a rule the paper hanger is the last man on the job, and he is glad to seize the opportunity of papering as many of the rooms as possible before he is hustled around by carpet layers and furniture removers. Hang ing paper in a room full of furniture is not a pleasant job by any means. Then, again, the walls are almost certain to get scratched or dam aged by the furniture being carried upstairs. Also, if the work were begun from the top the dado would have to be cut just where the pat tern happened to lead (the filling in this case being plain, the beginning could, of course, have been made anywhere) ; by beginning at the bot tom in the hall the dado pattern can be got right, for this is the principal place in the staircase.
If the pattern has to be cut through upstairs it will not be noticed so much.
Staircase and hall dadoes are generally kept a little higher than those in rooms. Level the line for the top of the dado all around the hall when striking a line up the "rake." Tie the plumb-line to the straight-edge so that the knot is on the edge; let the bob hang below the bottom of the straight-edge so as to clear it; place on the angle of the rake, and plumb a line to intersect the dado line; do the same on top angle. Mark off the height of dado, as in the hall, and strike a line from point to point; and so on right up through the staircase, following the general lines of the skirting, but at the same time leveling the lines independently of it.
If the floor skirting is connected to the rake by a curve, do not try to follow it with the paper border; cut the lengths with a nice clean top; and hang from the door to the rake one way, and from the door to wherever it goes the other. When from the door to the rake has been hung, measure the first length for the rake by match ing a piece of paper to the last length hung, and marking about 2 in. or 3 in. above the line and below the top of the skirting. Two or three lengths can be cut off this by matching the next length onto the place marked, and cutting off at the same angle; paste these, and go on hanging from the other side of the door, and, when they are sufficiently soaked, hang them, and measure off two or three more; and so on. By the time the hall is finished, the rake will also be finished. This is as quick a way as any for staircase work in dadoes.