how to match very old wallpaper

any ideas? i can get a solid wallpaper but thought there might be some kind of website where i could put in a picture of the wallpaper in question and find a match? it seems a long shot. the hallways and stairwell of my sister's very old house are papered in something they put up 40 years ago. it has held up very well but two areas about 2x2 on different walls have been pulled off and torn by babies helped by cats and kids over the years. if i could just repaper those sections it would look so much better. they haven't a clue where they got the paper.
i figured someone here might have know or suggest what to do.
thanks
ps i tried the find .. matching old wallpaper so far no luck

Try this link

then i wondered if i could print out scans of the paper - farfetched?

seashanty said:

then i wondered if i could print out scans of the paper - farfetched?.

Click to expand...

seashanty said:

then i wondered if i could print out scans of the paper - farfetched?

Click to expand...

Scanners and printers generally are not great at matching colors. If you put in a lot of time tweaking the colors in the scanned images, then printing them and comparing to the real thing, you might eventually get close enough.
Of course, the other thing is the paper itself. A regular sheet of paper might be big enough to let you do small repairs, but if you had a big area, you'd have lots of trouble hiding all the seams where different sheets fit together, and a hard time keeping the pattern matched.
You'd need to use rubber cement or something similar that dries without causing the paper to wrinkle.
A difficult, but maybe fun, project!

Any chance there's some in a closet? It won't be the same color, tho. Nor would a roll of paper if you found some.
Is it low on the wall where the damage is? Can you get a couple of sheets of fake bead board to put up over the damaged wall?

none in a closet. none in the big, old barn.
we're talking professional people who fell on hard times and have let areas of the house fall into disrepair. roof leaked, roof repaired but areas of plaster in the ceiling are shot. about the wallpaper ... i've discovered some other areas with torn and missing paper in patches. but there are big places with none.
somehow ... i'm thinking i can tackle this. anything would look better than how it is.
it just makes me feel sad to see it this way. don't get me started on all the other areas of the house that i can't do anything about right now. one job at a time!
i will share pictures if i have any success.

seashanty said:

then i wondered if i could print out scans of the paper - farfetched?.

Click to expand...

Was there anything on the link that helped?

seashanty said:

none in a closet. none in the big, old barn.
we're talking professional people who fell on hard times and have let areas of the house fall into disrepair. roof leaked, roof repaired but areas of plaster in the ceiling are shot. about the wallpaper ... i've discovered some other areas with torn and missing paper in patches. but there are big places with none.
somehow ... i'm thinking i can tackle this. anything would look better than how it is.
it just makes me feel sad to see it this way. don't get me started on all the other areas of the house that i can't do anything about right now. one job at a time!
i will share pictures if i have any success..

Click to expand...

Not sure if I was clear. Not rolls of it in a closet. Is it pasted to the wall in a closet?
This from stripping an entire house - sometimes it comes off really easily and can be reused. All of the insides of my closets were papered.
It's hard work rescuing an old house. We had to sell ours because we couldn't afford to keep it up any longer.
If you can't replace it can you strip the rest off? Big project, especially on the stairs. Or, if it's really stuck on very well how about painting over it altogether? Ok, no one who has ever had to strip painted paper read that.

One idea would be to remove the paper from the shortest papered wall you can find. Pick a color paint for that wall that looks good next to the other papered walls. Then use the harvested paper to repair places that need it.
Some papers peel right off undamaged. Others require steaming a bit to weaken the old glue.
Here's a video that shows how to make the patch exactly match the spot on the wall you're patching. If it's a paper design with lines, you can make the cuts on the lines and they will disappear more easily. (You have to endure a brief ad at the beginning of the video. Welcome to 2014!)

oh, thanks! Morticia, that is a great suggestion. you are right, I thought you meant a roll of paper. Sadly, no paper on the wall in the linen closet, but I will remember that for next time!
Arks, awesome as usual ... yes! all the paper is weak and there are so many odd walls of it and around corners. I can take the two sections above the one closet - it's a built in linen closet - and use that to patch the bad places. That might be enough. Then paint that section where I steam off the paper. It's already curling off up there so I think 'harvesting' it from there is going to work. My cell phone battery almost died, once I recharge I will take a couple pictures. it's going to be delicate removing the paper without damaging it.
I just knew this was the place to come for suggestions.

Morticia said:

Any chance there's some in a closet? It won't be the same color, tho. Nor would a roll of paper if you found some.
Is it low on the wall where the damage is? Can you get a couple of sheets of fake bead board to put up over the damaged wall?.

Click to expand...

I'd do that! Put wainscoting around the stair well. Protects against all sorts of abuse.