PROFESSIONAL decorators squared off against each other during a wallpaper competition on Friday - with the winner set to have his design brought into production.

The Design and Decorate Challenge, hosted at Slough's Dulux Academy in Wexham Road, brought six pros from across the country together to put their wallpaper hanging skills to the test. They each had a mock three-walled room to work around in a set-time with points given for correct application.

The judges came from across the industry, including the Painting Decorating Association (PDA) and wallpaper company Graham & Brown, which launched the competition in partnership with the Academy for International Wallpaper Week.

The winner was Barrie Thompson, 56, from Barnet, will who will receive an industrial pack of his own wallpaper design that competitors also had to provide as part of the challenge. He additionally won a trip to the Graham & Brown factory.

Stuart Yates, President of the PDA, said: “Barrie Thompson wowed the judges with his unique design which was inspired by his wife’s love of flowers. The precision used by Barrie to hang wallpaper at the grand finale was also a cut above the rest. We can’t wait to see his design put into production.”

Mr Thompson added: "We wanted to design our ideal wallpaper - my wife took a photo of some Fuchsias in the garden and modelled it on that."

The competition was designed to support the craft and skill of wallpaper hanging.

Tony Pearson-Young, skills development consultant at the Academy added: "I think they've done very well today."

To date, over 2,800 people have trained at the Dulux Academy which was only opened in 2016. The competitor whose wallpaper design was chosen as the entrants' favourite was Nick Adonis.