apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've painted over the wallpaper in my rental flat and it's absolutely fine a year later. I didn't do anything special, just dusted the walls beforehand, and used matt paint. I thought it made sense to do when I'm on a budget and I didn't know what would be under the wallpaper to sort out-rather ignore it when only here temporarily!

KILZ Original or KILZ Odorless primers

http://www.kilz.com/pages/default.aspx?NavID=61

my parents did this in their old house... the previous owners were the first/only residents and put the wallpaper on the bare drywall (without primer!). it was also a commercial grade paper, so it was very durable and difficult to strip. anyway, they primed and painted over the paper and it worked well. you could see the seams, but it wasn't too obvious.

have you tried stripping the paper yet? if the paper seems to soak up water easily, it might be better to go that route instead of painting, which could end up a bigger mess. good luck!

I've never painted over wallpaper, but I DID buy a house filled with wallpaper- some painted last year. Even under several coats of paint, some spots still bubbled when moisture (aka another coat of paint) was present. I'd use a good primer (ask at your paint store) and either pop or scrape off any bubbles that appear after the primer dries. Then sand or spackle anything that looks too bad. Another coat of primer and then paint.

On second thought have you considered tons of art to cover up the wallpaper? Seriously, it's not fun to deal with. I even found painted over wallpaper up on to the ceiling in our coat closet. Best of luck (hey at least you don't have to stick with off-white!)

to be honest, I would try stripping it first. the bathroom in my old apartment had painted-over wallpaper, and it looked terrible. You could tell exactly where the seams were, the corners were rounded in a weird way, and the edges stuck out near the ceiling. Granted, that was done haphazardly, but I would avoid it if you can.

Stretch queen-size sheets over the walls, on 1"x1" boards at the top and bottom.

On a budget, go to Salvation Army or Good Will stores. Spray or dip in flame retardant (make your own - http://www.budget101.com/household/hhf4.htm ) especially above the heater.

I agree with Jules. Take a stab at removing it first, then if that fails, paint. Having wallpaper underneath is going to limit the color and type of paint you can use. Buy a compressed air sprayer, spray the paper with a mix of water and wallpaper remover, let it soak and it should come off really easily, especially if you use a spackle scraper. This worked like a charm in my old house where there were several layers of quite-old paper. A lot of times, the sheets of wallpaper literally rolled themselves off the wall.

NOT worth doing all the work tearing down the paper involves (a nightmare!) if you're only going to be there for a year. I have painted over wallpaper and it looked fine.

Nothing is cheaper or more expedient than paint. I lived in a house built in 1903, with wall paper over wood, paint over the wallpaper, wall paper over the paint, paint over the wallpaper plus more paint, for at least ten layers. Paint away my dear, and don't worry about it. Avoid paints with a sheen, and use as dark a color as reasonable to your need.

I've also painted over wallpaper (two coats of primer, one coat of color) with fine results. The seams were visible, but I thought they added some nice texture. The landlord - who had tried (and failed) to remove the wallpaper, which was at least four layers thick and had originally been applied to plaster walls - was very pleased.

Do a test wall to see if the paint peels, and if it works, buy more paint. If it doesn't work, get a heat gun and remove the wall paper.

Oh, and use matte paint, eggshell as the glossiest.

Do not paint over wallpaper, it might go well once but if you're renting and you have to paint it back to the standard off white when you move out, it would be easier to take down wallpaper now rather than later.

Try painting a priming a small section first, and if that doesn't work, remove the paper and start with bare walls.

My parents' house had wall paper and paint 5 layers deep (!) in some rooms. The quality of the paper and the adhesive matter; you can't cover cheapo, lightweight paper without bad results.

I vote just do it. Put a couple of layers on. If it bubbles, its texture. Its just for a year. The color, no matter the texture of the wallpaper underneath, will be better to live with than those patterns!

You have no idea how many layers of wallpaper or paint are there, and stripping could be dangerous and very time consuming. But if at all possible try to check a spot that will be hidden by furniture.

Two or less layers of wallpaper, you should be fine. Three or more and you could be asking for trouble if you have drywall. I have seen houses that paper on the drywall itself failed under the weight of paint and wallpaper and left a huge crumbling white mess!

The wallpaper may not be pretty, but if the place is only temporary I'm not sure I would risk it. Besides, painted over wallpaper is not pretty - it bubbles and peels, and the seams look terrible.

I'll second stretching queen-size sheets over the walls. It's what I have to do in my apartment to cover up hideous crumbly Japanese wall covering. It works like a dream.

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the advice and tips.

We know that we will only be in this house a year, because it is a rental and we are planning on buying within the next year. The house is in Chevy Chase, MD and is the only original bungalow in a neighborhood full of giant mc-mansiony type houses. Because of this, the real estate agent said that it is almost 100% that the house will be torn down once sold next year. It is very sad.

But, on the bright side, this means we will not have to paint the walls back to white, and can do whatever we want to them. While the sheet idea is tempting, the room are for two babies, and I worry about the fire-safety of such an idea.

Again, because we will not be here long term, I am not worried about many of the issues that people have pointed out, such as the difficulty of removal and bubbling. I am also not too worried about the texture problems, since we're just going for color, not perfection.

Thus, we will be painting. We are leaning towards a chocolate brown for the 16 month old and a celery green for the 3 month old. Hopefully these will cover ok.

However, if the very old owners decide to sell to us at some ungodly rock-bottom price because they love us and our adorable children, I will be very sorry that we painted over instead of stripping!!

-Kristen

oh, also... check out the awesome 80's ceiling fans and the horrendous linoleum floors.

we'll be grabbing some carpet remnants to cover those bad boys up.

luckily, the house was priced WAY under market for a rental

My dad is a landlord and we come across some pretty hideous wallpaper and what he does is waters down cheap paint. Just a little water per gallon and paints over it really fast. The paint holds the it on the wall while the water loosens the adhesive. The paper usually falls right off the wall.