Question re: painting over wallpaper

[momofmikey]

This sounds crazy, but I'm hoping someone has done this so I can convince my DH to do it . Let me preface the following by saying we have plans to completely gut and redo our kitchen in the next couple years. I am simply bored and looking for an inexpensive change.

In my kitchen I have wallpaper... a white based pattern on the top with little hearts and berries, in the middle a border, and on the bottom, a gingham print. I've always been bothered by the white top (seems cold to me, and too much white right next to the white ceiling), but I did it to match my white ceramic tile. I've since replaced the floor with a laminate wood floor, so the white is actually really bugging me now. I suggested to my husband to just paint the top portion, but keep the border and bottom pattern (the bottom is a navy blue gingham). I'm just so sick of all the white. Even paining it a beige I'm sure I'd like better. He doesn't think it'll look good. He mentioned the seams, but I imagine we could spackle and paint over them. Anyone ever done something like that, either painting over wallpaper, or painting over only part of wallpaper?

Thanks!

 

[EthansMom]

Don't do it... makes the wallpaper virtually impossible to remove. (Ask me how I know.)

It may seem a little bit more labor intensive (but isn't in the long run), but you should remove the wallpaper, fill/sand any problem areas on the wall, then prime and paint. It looks more finished and you'll be far happier in the long run (looks better if you ever sold the house and/or if you were in the house long enough that you removed the wallpaper you'd painted over you'd really hate yourselves).

 

[KAMKIM]

Dont do it. Use a little bit of fabric softner and warm water mixed in a bucket...wet a wash clothe in the mix and wipe onto the walls, wait about 5 mins and the wall paper will peel right off.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I did it and don't regret it at all.

 

[Kristi1357]

Did just that at my first house and it looked great. Just be sure to check all the seams and make sure they are glued down really well.

 

[AlleyKat]

Choose paint matching the navy from the gingham print or colors in the trim, then lightly stipple the white wallpaper, giving that portion of the wall a faux finish appearance.

You'll have added color and the paper won't be near impossible to remove when the time comes!

 

[ZachnElli]

I've done it. I'd take the wallpaper down if that is at all feasible. In my case, I would have had to replace the drywall too. They didn't prep the walls or paint them, just attached the wallpaper directly to the drywall, so I painted them. I don't regret it, of course I've moved too! But I never regretted painting over that horrible wallpaper (80's styles, really gaudy!). I did it in several rooms too. It was so stuck to the drywall I didn't have any problems with seams or air pockets, I even found the previous owners painted over some wallpaper themselves, but didn't noticed until I went to paint it.

 

[stephbillalec]

DON'T DO IT!!! It will be absolute hell taking it down when you go to redo the kitchen! I still have nightmares when I think of my grandma's house! For a quick fix now, you will pay the price later!

 

[Chicago526]

I did it, but only because when we do re-do the walls in a few years, we are completely taking down the plaster and replacing it with drywall. So ease of removal is not an issue for us, the whole thing is being torn out regardless!

I used a heavy duty primer (2 coats) and then two coats of a premium paint (bear paint from Home Depot). It looks fine, but you can still see one or two of the paper seems under it if you look closely. Sure as hell beats the Nixon era gold wall paper I had before...

 

[binny]

I just made to sure use Killz first. I had the same problem, wallpaper right on the drywall. I didnt have a choice.


Just make sure the seams are tight and you will be fine

 

[luvdzne]

Please don't do this. We bought a house a few years back where the previous owners did this in almost every room. It was impossible to remove and made a huge mess of the walls.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Dont do it. Use a little bit of fabric softner and warm water mixed in a bucket...wet a wash clothe in the mix and wipe onto the walls, wait about 5 mins and the wall paper will peel right off.

I gotta go with KAMKIM on this one. My dad is a painter by trade. He painted over wallpaper once, and an hour later it peeled right off. Best to remove the wallpaper first, sand, primer and paint.

 

[cjlvsccm]

This sounds crazy, but I'm hoping someone has done this so I can convince my DH to do it . Let me preface the following by saying we have plans to completely gut and redo our kitchen in the next couple years. I am simply bored and looking for an inexpensive change.

In my kitchen I have wallpaper... a white based pattern on the top with little hearts and berries, in the middle a border, and on the bottom, a gingham print. I've always been bothered by the white top (seems cold to me, and too much white right next to the white ceiling), but I did it to match my white ceramic tile. I've since replaced the floor with a laminate wood floor, so the white is actually really bugging me now. I suggested to my husband to just paint the top portion, but keep the border and bottom pattern (the bottom is a navy blue gingham). I'm just so sick of all the white. Even paining it a beige I'm sure I'd like better. He doesn't think it'll look good. He mentioned the seams, but I imagine we could spackle and paint over them. Anyone ever done something like that, either painting over wallpaper, or painting over only part of wallpaper?

Thanks!

I'm another DON'T DO IT suggester. But IF YOU MUST...

There's a product called GARDZ, that is a primer and sealer like KILZ, but I think it rates better for covering wallpaper.

If you do remove it, a half-and-half mixture of vinegar and warm water works wonders... this was the only thing we could get to work on wallpaper, and scraped it off with a plastic "putty knife".

It worked lots better than the several chemical sprays we tried, and the steamer we rented!! We are very happy with the results, and I don't think we would like the painted-over wallpaper as much.

Best of luck with the remodel!!

 

[binny]

I'm another DON'T DO IT suggester. But IF YOU MUST...

There's a product called GARDZ, that is a primer and sealer like KILZ, but I think it rates better for covering wallpaper.

If you do remove it, a half-and-half mixture of vinegar and warm water works wonders... this was the only thing we could get to work on wallpaper, and scraped it off with a plastic "putty knife".

It worked lots better than the several chemical sprays we tried, and the steamer we rented!! We are very happy with the results, and I don't think we would like the painted-over wallpaper as much.

Best of luck with the remodel!!

I would use fabric softener and warm water in a spray bottle (half and half) rough it up with a "paper tiger" and then spray. the benefits are that it penetrates better AND it smells great!

 

[Angelhalo]

I did it and don't regret it at all.

Ditto!

If you're gonna gut it later then it doesn't matter if you can't peel the wallpaper off. I say go for it!

 

[LuvOrlando]

Why not just take it off and then paint? When I got sick of my old paper I bought some DIF remover, a pair of gloves, one of those round things that poke holes in the paper so the chemical can seep in and a squeegee and was done in 2 days. I thought I would have to replace the drywall but I didn't... it's all good. Oh and so you don't think it was hard, I am not at all handy, it's just that the job really was so very easy to do.

 

[aprilgail2]

I gotta go with KAMKIM on this one. My dad is a painter by trade. He painted over wallpaper once, and an hour later it peeled right off. Best to remove the wallpaper first, sand, primer and paint.

We tried painting over wallpaper and same thing happened--once the paint went on the paper peeled off the wall- what a MESS!!!

 

[Boston Tea Party]

My paper was applied directly to the sheetrock 20 years ago. I started trying to remove it and ended up damaging hte sheetrock. I switched to painting over it. What choice did I have? That stuff was going NOWHERE.

I used two coats of KILZ to prime. I then used a texture paint that acted as another layer of primer. I covered with two coats after that. It's a lot better than big blue flowers.

 

[shamrock30]

The previous owners of our first house did this in the kitchen. It looked horrible and left us with a huge project.