Wallpaper Calculator: Metres vs Feet

Wallpaper is sold in two unit systems that produce similar-looking rolls with different conventions behind them. If you are buying European paper in the United States, or measuring in feet against a label printed in centimetres, the conversions matter.

Two sheets handle this: the main calculator for feet and inches, and the metric calculator for metres and centimetres. Use the one that matches your tape measure.

The two standards

	European	US
Roll width	52 or 53 cm	20.5, 27, or 28 in
Roll length	10 m	27 or 33 ft
Sold as	A single roll	A double roll, priced per single
Paper per roll	5.2–5.3 m²	56–61 sq ft (5.2–5.7 m²)
Repeat printed as	Centimetres (“Rapport”)	Inches
Walls measured in	Metres and centimetres	Feet and inches

The rolls hold almost the same amount of paper. A 53 cm × 10 m roll is 5.3 m²; a 27 in × 27 ft US double is 5.64 m². What differs is the packaging convention: the European roll is one roll sold as one roll, while the US roll is two singles bolted together and priced by the single. The single vs double roll guide covers that.

The conversions you actually need

Exact, not approximate:

• 1 inch = 2.54 cm, exactly.
• 1 foot = 30.48 cm = 0.3048 m, exactly.
• 1 metre = 3.28084 ft = 39.3701 in
• 1 m² = 10.7639 sq ft
• 1 sq ft = 0.092903 m²

Rounded to figures useful at a wallpaper scale:

Metric	Imperial
52 cm	20.5 in
53 cm	20.9 in
64 cm (a common repeat)	25.2 in
2.4 m (wall height)	7 ft 10 in
2.5 m	8 ft 2 in
2.7 m	8 ft 10 in
10 m (roll)	32 ft 10 in
5.3 m²	57 sq ft

Note the near-misses. A 53 cm roll is 20.9 in, not 21, and certainly not the 27 in of a wide US roll. A 2.5 m wall is 8 ft 2 in, not 8 ft. Those two-inch differences are what push a wall from five drops to six.

Where converting goes wrong

Rounding the roll width. Calling a 53 cm roll “about 21 inches” and calculating in inches works until a wall width falls near a drop boundary. At 4 m (157.5 in), a true 20.87 in roll needs 8 drops and a rounded 21 in roll also needs 8. At 4.2 m it is 9 either way. But at 3.75 m (147.6 in) the true width needs 8 and the rounded one needs 8, while a 27 in roll needs 6. Rounding within a system is usually survivable; confusing the systems is not.

Rounding the wall height. A 2.5 m wall treated as 8 ft is 2.44 m, and 6 cm short over four walls is a drop that does not reach the skirting.

Assuming the trim allowance carries over. US practice allows about 4 in per drop; European practice allows about 10 cm, which is 3.9 in. Close enough, but they are different conventions, and each sheet uses the one that matches its units.

Mixing repeat units. A label printing “Rapport 64 cm” against a calculator expecting inches gives a 64 in repeat, which is two and a half times too large and will over-order badly.

Which sheet to use

Use the metric calculator when your wall measurements and your roll label are both metric. It works in centimetres from end to end, defaults to a 53 cm × 10 m roll and 10 cm of trim, and takes the repeat in centimetres as labels print it.

Use the main calculator when both are imperial. It defaults to a 27 in × 27 ft double roll with 4 in of trim.

When they are mixed, which happens when Americans buy European paper, convert the label rather than the room: put the roll’s 53 cm and 10 m into the metric sheet along with your wall in metres, or convert the roll to 20.9 in × 32.8 ft and use the imperial sheet. Do not convert twice.

For specialty goods sold by the linear yard or metre rather than in rolls, the by-the-yard calculator reports both units side by side.