Wallpaper roll calculator

Most wallpapers on our site have this calculator built into their product page, already set to that paper's roll size and pattern repeat. Use this version if you are still choosing, comparing two papers, or planning a room before you shop.

How to measure a room for wallpaper

All you need is a tape measure, a pencil and a piece of paper. Measure in metres, writing 3.45 for three metres and forty-five centimetres, and measure everything twice.

1. Decide which walls you are papering. For a feature wall, that is just the one wall. For a whole room, it is every wall, chimney breast and alcove included.
2. Measure the width of each wall separately. Run the tape along the bottom of the wall, from one corner to the other, and write each wall down on its own. Do not add the walls together first: each one has to be covered in whole drops.
3. Measure the whole wall, doors and windows included. Do not measure around them. You take them off at the end, and only if they are wide enough to matter.
4. Measure the height from the top of the skirting board to the ceiling, or to the underside of the coving if you have it. Old houses are rarely square, so measure at both ends and use the taller figure.
5. Measure any large openings. Note the width and height of French doors, bay windows and wide archways. Ordinary doors and small windows rarely save a whole drop.
6. Find your wallpaper's numbers. Roll width, roll length, pattern repeat and match type are all in the Details box on each wallpaper page. Enter them in the calculator above.

Chimney breasts, alcoves and awkward walls

Treat a chimney breast as three walls: the front and the two returns, each measured on its own, and each alcove beside it as another. Measure a sloping attic wall to its tallest point. For a stairwell, measure the longest drop, from the bottom of the stairs to the ceiling above the landing, and if in doubt send us your measurements and we will work it out with you.

Why we count drops, not square metres

A "drop" is one length of wallpaper, cut from the roll to the height of your wall. Square metre calculations look tidy but they assume every inch of the roll goes on the wall, which it never does: each drop is cut a little long for trimming, and patterned papers lose more to matching. Counting how many drops fit across each wall, and how many drops you can cut from each roll, is how decorators work it out, and it is how our calculator does it too.

A worked example

A feature wall 4m wide and 2.4m high, papered with a standard 53cm x 10.05m roll:

Same wall, same roll size, and the patterned paper needs a whole extra roll. That is why it pays to enter the pattern repeat rather than guess.

Pattern repeat and pattern match, explained

The pattern repeat is the distance down the paper before the design starts again. The pattern match is how one drop lines up with the next. Both are listed on every wallpaper page, and both change how much paper you need.

If you love a large-scale design but are working to a budget, a small-repeat or free-match paper will always go further. Browse textured plains and small prints for papers that waste very little.

Order once, and order together

Wallpaper is printed in batches, and two batches of the same paper can differ very slightly in shade. Order all the rolls you need at the same time so they share a batch number, and check that every roll carries the same one before you hang the first drop. Some people like to keep one spare roll for future repairs.

Not sure yet? Order a sample first

Colour on a screen is never quite colour on a wall. Our sample service sends a generous cutting of almost any paper we sell, so you can see it in your own light before you commit to rolls. And when you are ready to hang, every wallpaper page suggests the right paste for that paper.

Wallpaper measuring FAQs