And if your walls are rough as the surface of concrete block, many of the heavy-duty coverings can cover the wall and smooth it out in the process.

There's a lot of work that goes into putting up wallpaper or other wall coverings, but it really takes your decorating to the next level beyond paint. Therefore, it's well worth the effort. My advice, however, is to make doubly sure that you're picking out the right color, style and pattern for the room. You also want to be careful that your choice is really something that you love and will enjoy living with for some time to come. It's a lot easier to repaint if you make a mistake - but mistakes in choosing your wall coverings can be very costly and time consuming to correct.

Determine how much wallpaper you will need. Paper generally comes in double and triple rolls, and a single roll covers approximately 32 square feet.

There are three main steps you need to take: removal, preparation and hanging.

WALLPAPER REMOVAL TOOLS YOU'LL NEED - 1) Steamer or stripping agent; 2) large sponge; 3) scraper with razor blade; 4) wide putty knife for scraping; 5) scoring tool; 6) floor cloths.

WALLPAPER HANGING TOOLS YOU'LL NEED - 1) Paste brush; 2) smoothing brush; 3) pasting table; 4) a long straight edge; 5) a short straight edge; 6) spirit level; 7) utility knife; 8) lots of spare blades; 9) seam roller; 10) paste bucket; 11) soaking pan; 12) pencil; 13) tape rule; 14) old newspapers, and lots of them; 15) wallpaper or wallcovering; 16) paste; 17) seam sealer; 18) old, comfortable clothes.

Now, if you have bare plaster or a painted wall, you have the perfect wall to start with and you're not going to need to remove anything.