Have you ever painted over wallpaper???

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

Before the warmer weather comes I am thinking about painting my den. Problem is I have no desire to take down the wallpaper. Did that last winter in the kitchen and it was time consuming & exhausting!!! I've read about stuff to put over the paper 1st and then you can paint over it.

Anyone have any tips, feedback, and /or suggestions?? TIA!

 

[snowbunny]

I have not but the guy at the Benjamin Moore paint store here said you can if the wallpaper is still nice and tight. He said use oil-based primer first.

 

[fakereadhed]

You could do the textured wallpaper that you paint. My mom used it in her living room and it looks great!

 

[puffkin]

We did in the bathroom at our old house. It was a textured floral print. It was pretty new and very tight with no visible seems or tears. We had previously removed all the wallpaper from the rest of the house and repaired all the plaster walls so we didn't feel like doing it in the bathroom. We didn't really do anything special and just painted. It turned out really nice, especially with the textures.

 

[ampc3]

we did our dining room bottom half, we sealed over the edges/seems that we found , and then primed it and then painted it... looks great, now in 10 years we'll see... but right now it worked lol... just make sure your wallpaper is flat! My neighbor painted her whole house over wallpaper, and you would never be able to tell!

 

[dawson5]

I've never painted over wallpaper. In a previous house we owned, the people we bought from painted over a border, in the hallway and in a bedroom. They did the whole priming before painting it. It was the biggest pain to remove. It sounds like others have had luck with this, but you have to consider if it doesn't turn out well, all the work it will take to undo it. It would probably be more than taking down the wallpaper in the first place.

 

[secretpantssam]

I haven't, but a friend of mine swears it works well if you use a primer that is for Wallpaper.

 

[Green Tea]

I have. If you paint over the existing wallpaper with an oil based primer and stain cover it is okay. If you don't use the oil primer/sealer the water from the pant loosens the adhesive.

That said, IF the paper will come down, take it down. We painted over by force, because the original owner put paper up over raw drywall. It would go nowhere. The look is never quite the same, you will see seams because there are seams; even if tight.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Funny you should start this thread. I saw an article in my latest Good Housekeeping magazine about doing just that. It recommends using spackle over all the seams first, then sanding it, then using the oil-based primer, then the paint. I decided to give it a try in my boys' bathroom, and started Friday night with the spackle. I got partway through, then found some places where the corners were peeling, so I pulled them and the paper came off a lot easier than I'd expected, so now I'm stripping instead. With the help of a steamer, it's not as bad as I'd feared.

However, in my kitchen and bathroom, which have 2 layers of wallpaper each, I'm definitely trying the paint-over technique!

 

[Friendly Frog]

I have never done it, but I have said a few nasty words in my head towards the previous owner of the house who did.

 

[GabbyJacobsmom]

Please think about this before you proceed. As a homeowner who purchased a house that 2 rooms were painted over wallpaper it is a PAIN and expensive to remove.

We had to totally tear down to the studs in the dining room because the paint/wallpaper couldn' be removed.

 

[Forevryoung]

Please think about this before you proceed. As a homeowner who purchased a house that 2 rooms were painted over wallpaper it is a PAIN and expensive to remove.

We had to totally tear down to the studs in the dining room because the paint/wallpaper couldn' be removed.

I 2nd this, we wound up GUTTING our house down to the studs(minus a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen which was done later) because the paint/wallpaper/paint couldn't be removed either.

It was cheaper to gut and put up fresh drywall than it was to fix that mess.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

Uggg...my kitchen had paint...over wallpaper...over panelling It was sooooo much easier to tear the whole mess down than deal with it. There's wallpaper in the hallway that I've been avoiding because I'm afraid of what might be underneath.....maybe I'll just paint!

 

[DMickey28]

I'd love to do that in my bathroom!! However, I think that in the long run for such a small space it's easier to just get the paper down.

 

[wtrmlnlabs]

As PP has said, our house had wall paper, several layers, and the bottom was attached right to the raw drywall!!! UGH!!! We tried in a couple places to take it down, ended up dry-walling over those walls it was so bad. Oil Based primer will do the trick to paint over the wall paper if it is on there nice and tight. If you have spots that are very bubbly or loose, it'll probably not be good. BEST is to take it all down if you can, but if you must, oil based primer and I like the idea of going over the seams and sanding them from another PP, wish I'd heard of that before our remodeling, would have made life much easier!

Good Luck!

 

[Jack&Ryan'smom]

Thanks for all the great feedback!!!! Still trying to decide what to do. I appreciate everyone's experiences!!!

 

[Swmhc]

DON'T DO IT !!! It may be a pain to remove it now, but it's a nightmare down the road if you don't. Add me to the list of having bought a house this was done in. Had to gut the rooms and start from scratch as over time, the paper had buckled underneath and it couldn't be removed. Had to rip all the walls out. Now that was a pain and a mess.

 

[hsmamato2]

yes,a couple of times...our house had some wallpaper applied to builders walls attached to it for 30 years-which makes it a HUGE job to remove when it's put up wrong....my bathroom (with the shower in it) had a nice tight paper job,my dh made sure every edge was glued down nice and tight,then I primed itwith regular primer-8 years ago I sponge painted it,but a month ago changed the color,and b/c the surface isn't as smooth as a fresh wall,I used a special matte bathroom paint so it wouldn't highlight every bump on the wall- it looks great!
Benjamin Moore makes a great bathroom paint that holds up to a damp room and is still matte for just this purpose.... no one will ever know the difference!