To allow for a measuring slip or a wall that isn't quite square, your mural is printed 5 cm (2 in) larger than your measurements on every edge. If your measurements are right, that excess remains on all four sides; it is shared out equally during hanging and trimmed at the end.

The rolls are printed with a 2–2.5 cm (about 1 in) overlap. It is removed with a double cut during hanging; when the job is done there is no overlapping edge left.

A wall painted over primer, or one coated only with wallpaper primer, is suitable. Roughness should be sanded off; plaster faults and hollows should be made good.

A surface with a damp problem always causes trouble; fix the cause before you hang anything.

If the surface was recently painted, it should have dried for at least a week.

The ideal is a smooth wall painted over primer with a good-quality washable interior paint. Limewash and heavily textured paints won't hold a decal — they come away when the surface is rubbed anyway. Heavily embossed wallpaper, bare plaster and gloss (oil-based) paint may not be suitable either; test first.

We don't recommend applying to a wall with a damp problem at all. The paint isn't really holding on that wall; once the decal is on, both decal and paint can be ruined. Take care.

Use one of the small decals in your set to test how sound your paint is. If flakes of paint come away on the back of the decal, the decal won't hold on that surface either — and even if it does, it is likely to damage the surface when removed. That comes from paint applied over poor or incomplete preparation when the room was built. It has nothing to do with which paint was used; it comes from work skipped or done badly from the plastering stage on.

Paint may look dry, but it takes weeks to cure fully, and it off-gasses the whole time. On a freshly painted wall, wait at least 2 weeks, 3 if you can. A decal applied too early can lift the paint with it when removed.

Wipe with a slightly damp cloth; don't use soap, detergent or surface cleaner. Cleaners containing silicone kill adhesion outright. Let it dry.

15–25 °C (60–77 °F) is ideal. Directly above a radiator, a surface in direct sun all day, and steamy rooms like a bathroom aren't suitable; the decal will stick, but they aren't the best places for it.

Take a decal that arrived rolled out of the tube and leave it flat for a while. A decal that has lost its curl is far easier to position.

Before going up on the wall, arrange the pieces on the floor in the layout you want, and plan where each piece will go. If your paint is sound, the decals are removable and moving one is easy — but planning ahead is still a good idea.

Starting at one corner, peel the decal slowly off its backing paper. Peel from the broad parts of the design, not from the thinnest point that could tear: from the bunny's body, not its whiskers. Keep the backing paper — if you ever want to take the decal down, or take it with you when you move, that is the surface you put it back on.

Depending on the type of decal, apply it from the top down or from the bottom up.

Smooth from the center out towards the edges with the application squeegee from your box.

Because of the material, air escapes very easily. If a bubble won't go, don't prick it with a pin: lift that part of the decal from the edge and lay it down again. The material is repositionable, so it allows this.

Press the edges and fine details down with the corner of the squeegee, not a fingertip. The adhesive settles in over the first 24 hours.