I'd have been thrilled with it if I were the buyer...it might have sold me the home. Besides, wallpaper is back!

Conventional wisdom, though...I know. I'm the weirdo!

nah, I liked it too!

I had to do it when my handy man shook his head after struggling to remove one corner for nearly an hour. It was really stuck on there.

I think it's only ok when you know you/someone is going to demo the whole thing anyway.

Our gust bath was kind of like that. We didn't know the previous owner had painted over wallpaper, but now we have to demo the entire thing due to a plumbing leak behind the tile that went unnoticed by previous owners.

It could actually end up looking pretty cool if it's textured wallpaper anyway!

I've removed a ton of wallpaper, and always been scared to paint over for fear the weight of the paint would eventually cause the paper to peel/bubble, or that the seams would look crappy. I had a friend who painted over hers and would up having to go back and THEN strip the paper which was a horrid messy job. But my old neighbors had a 1920s house with super super adhered paper, they painted over it and it looked fine.

I had an apartment once where the wallpaper had been painted over, and it looked awful. It was bubbling and peeling off the walls. But. It was a super crappy apartment.

Even if I were buying that Park Ave place, and be renovating massively, I might not be demoing the plaster walls (probably woudn't be). In which case, having to strip off the paint in addition to the wallpaper wouldn't make me happy.

If it is the next buyer you are concerned about (rather then how you are living there), don't paint it.

I feel like it's pretty okay (and have done it) in a rental situation where you know you won't be there for very long. Obviously not a permanent fix, but a good solution sometimes.

My parents had that wallpaper in their bedroom in the 80's!

my question is, is it hard to put wallpaper by yourself? i'd love to have pretty wallpaper in my powder room.

'bubbles will shrink back down'?! Uh....that is not been my experience! Fair warning to others!

Yes, of course.

However, the paper should be well applied, and bubbles, if any, will need to be removed, then prime and paint.

I restored a house in the '90s that had two rooms papered in the 1950s. In one room the paper was perfect, and it disappeared completely. In the other room, there were visible seams and bubbles, so it took a fair amount of wall prep.

Park Avenue?

That wallpaper looks familiar - is that Mrs Astor's old apartment?

english country rose baby!

My 1927 home has at least 4 layers of wallpaper that the seller painted over before I bought it - ceilings included. You can see seams overlapping and weird bumps under the surface. Since removing it would be such an undertaking, it stays for now.

as long as you use a good primer and prep the seams (for some that means sanding) a good adhered wallpaper should be OK... but my mantra is if you are going to do a home improvement job, do it RIGHT.. so I wouldnt even consider doing it in my own home. If its a rental and they are OK with it.. thats one thing.. but.. yeah

Let's face it, not many of us are buying Park Ave. apartments and spending a cool $1M on reno. Personally, painted over wallpaper is a half-assed job. One leak and you’re doomed to remove it anyway and it will be an exponentially worse job to do. Just do it right the first time. Unless you are in a go-go crazy competitive market - like those days are anywhere near - it's a really bad idea.

It is often easier to use quarter-inch drywall to go right over bad wallpaper on bad walls than to try to remove it or paint over it. Bonus - great looking walls in the end!

We have a double-wide manufactured home with what appears to be wall paper, but I suspect that it is not. Is this "wallpaper" bonded to the surface of Sheetrock beneath it, can it be peeled or painted over?
Thanks,
Angi - Monroe, WA

The bedroom of my apartment features old wallpaper that has been coated and recoated in many layers of cheap high gloss paint over the years. Before finally repainting in flat, we saw every crooked seam and imperfection. If you're going to paint over wallpaper, please consider how many layers will be added in the future.

if you are ever removing wallpaper, be careful of lead paint underneath. i learned this the hard way.

I don't understand the logic that it's not a good long term fix, but it's good if you're renting the apartment. Don't people realize that someone has to live in the apartment after you?

I guess there are *some* instances where it's ok to paint wallpaper, but in general I consider wallpaper a nightmare. Having watched my parents have to remove it from several homes when growing up, I think I am in the anti-wallpaper camp all around even though I've never had to remove any myself. I do think wallpaper can look quite nice, though, and have actually painted patterns directly onto walls - just to avoid putting up (and eventually taking down) wallpaper. But I'm also an artist and have no fear about freestyle painting large surfaces.

Sigh. A year ago I would have said NEVER!

Until.... I spent an entire weekend using every trick in the book in an attempt to remove some 1970s country floral wallpaper in our guesthouse. After 2 solid days, I had about 2 square feet to show for all of my effort.

So.. I painted over it.
Imperfect? Yes.

A million percent better than 1970s country floral? Absolutely!

2 years after struggling to remove our bathroom wallpaper (which someone had put up with something other than wallpaper paste - a no-no!) I just helped a friend take down properly-hung wallpaper that came right down like a dream. The trick was score it, spray it with diluted liquid fabric softener, and then steam. The stuff seriously almost took itself down.

Yes.
Our old 1930s house has horsehair plater walls with wallpaper on top in many of the rooms. I did peel off the worst of it in the dining room, but painted over the rest. It is adhered like the top layer of drywall paper.
Not perfect, but looks great. We do have many bookcases covering the walls too.
Also we have an added sun room that has fiberboard walls, not plaster. I tried to peel wallpaper in that room and just gouged holes when the paper never ended.
That room got fresh wall paper then paint when I was ready for a change.
The ceilings are painted hi-gloss so everyone notices them, not the walls : )

Doesn't that wallpaper look upside-down??

not upside down, look at those stems

Someone did this in my current home. I just don't have the energy to deal with it, so i painted again... it also passes for just really sad plaster so... yeah paint over it... if you hate the future.

If it's properly hung and will come down with a reasonable effort, go ahead and take it down. If it's hung in such a way that you can't get it off without damaging the drywall (as it has been when I've attempted this), painting over it's fine.

My very first house had a wallpapered bedroom (including the ceiling - the walls started to slope about a foot bellow the ceiling) and the wallpaper adhered very firmly. The seams were completely intact. I was completely broke (I won't disclose how little I was making at that time, I was barely above poverty level, I don't understand the bank approved my mortgage [unless they hoped I would declare bankruptcy soon]) and a can of paint was all I could afford. I painted over the wallpaper and it was fine. Nobody (who had not seen the before) believed there was a wallpaper under the paint. I really painted it myself but after a single year, I had to put the house back on the market (because I had a decent job offer to relocate to another city). The paint was still fine at that time.

shame on anyone who paints over wallpaper! i recently remodeled my kitchen and had to remove 6 layers of wallpaper. the second layer to the bottom had been painted over as well. just painting over it is lazy and it looks tacky. if you're going to do a job, do it right!

Currently renovating a home with beautiful plaster walls. Several rooms have wallpaper which has been painted over. Oh the curses I have uttered at the former owners for ruining these great walls!!! Once you paint it - yike the wallpaper removal is nearly impossible. And eventually the seams will pop so they will have to be carved out. Will never look the same. If you're certain the house is a P.O.S and is going to be demo'ed I'd go for it. All for efficiency. If I were looking at a house and it had paint over wallpaper I would definitely wonder what other type of rinky dink modifications had been made in other areas.

Sorry for the rant - my anger at wallpaper painters is leaking out :) You are obviously a good and thoughtful person to have ask the question!!

old paper layer took 1 whole day to get off (+ glue) then whole day to skim coat and sand all the gouges i made....and that was just one wall of the room. so then i scraped off all the seems on the other three walls and then skim coated down the seems, then sanded, primed and painted the whole room in less time than it took me to do the one wall i fully scraped!!!!!
(btw, they all looked the same in the end.)

No no no no no! The previous owners of my house did this, I agree with whoever said it's half-assed work, it is! It looks terrible, especially when you discover that there are multiple layers of laziness built up over time. In one room they even painted over border, it's so obvious, not to mention the whole thing makes removal SO MUCH harder on the brave soul who finally take it upon themselves to undo it. This is especially the case if you're renting, why would you inflict that miserable trouble on a future tenant, what have they ever done to you? :P

Yes, wallpaper can be difficult to remove, but never impossible. I removed some really rotten stuff at our old home, but nothing as obnoxious as the painted wallpaper in our new home. It's a lazy thing to do if you plan on living with it, and just plain mean if you plan on selling.