https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 15 Nov 2026 07:36:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085593 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:39:09 +0000 MapleMoose 1085593@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@OldEnglandMama: Oh my haha that would really freak me out! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085591 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:38:12 +0000 CottonCandy 1085591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@cakelady<br /> @oldenglandmama</p> <p>The creepy clowns made me lol...and thank you for sharing ladies! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085590 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:37:47 +0000 MapleMoose 1085590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Only one half of a room in our new house had wallpaper on it. I say half because the top half of the walls was wallpaper and the bottom half was pretty wainscoting. We wanted to leave the wainscoting since it was already white and it looked nice in a nursery but the wallpaper just wasn't our thing. We had a painting party where a bunch of relatives and friends came the day after we signed on our house. We had one day to paint all the rooms with all that extra help so we chose not to strip the wallpaper and just painted over it. We used a solid and bright color paint. The wallpaper colors do not show through the paint. But occasionally in the right light I can see a little bit of the raised details from the wallpaper. It's not that noticeable and I have to be really close to the wall to see it. If this wasn't a nursery and was something more public like a dining room or living room then it'd bother me. It also helps that it is literally a half wall all the way around the room, not full-length walls. If we had to do the full walls in the nursery (or any room in the house) I would probably have stripped the wallpaper first to avoid the issue of potentially seeing the pattern through the paint. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085583 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:34:23 +0000 OldEnglandMama 1085583@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The parents of my boyfriend when I was 17 split up, and he moved in with his Dad. The house his Dad got was nice but needed decorating quickly and on a budget. They painted over the wallpaper in his room - a nice sunny yellow. However, on certain days and in certain light the oh so very very creep clowns that were on the wall paper (it had been a kids room - a scary kids room) would leer their way through the layers of primer and paint at us. </p> <p>It was not good. </p> <p>Therefore, due to the risk of the dated wallpaper coming back to haunt you, I would strip it. (Though I have no experience of such things and can't imagine it's remotely easy with small children around - it would probably be infinitely harder if you left it and had to do so in a few months/years once everything's in the house and...yeah.)</p> <p>(PS Congrats on the house!) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085582 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:34:21 +0000 CakeLady 1085582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: DH and I had the same situation - wallpaper stuck directly to unprimed drywall. Ugh.</p> <p>But, all in all taking down the wallpaper - in what will hopefully be a nursery in the not too distant future - was definitely worth it and necessary since it only went 3/4 of the way up the wall and would have left a severe line. </p> <p>What made it easier was buying a really inexpensive wallpaper steamer from amazon - like this one <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Products-282018-1-Gallon-Wallpaper/dp/B0009XEL4O" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Products-282018-1-Gallon-Wallpaper/dp/B0009XEL4O</a><br /> It really sped up the job and required much less scraping and repair afterward. Also it just takes water - no chemicals! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085573 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:30:29 +0000 CottonCandy 1085573@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@swurlygurl: OMG wow! Thank you for sharing </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085567 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:27:56 +0000 swurlygurl 1085567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>After you're done stripping, make sure you wash ALL the glue off the walls before you paint, otherwise your paint will do this, and you will cry for months while you try to figure out how to fix it: </p> [attach=3446/13/mt2tyk.600x453.392372_10100242751935141_1225141768_n.jpg] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085565 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:27:08 +0000 CottonCandy 1085565@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@purplepeony: I know its bizarre!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085563 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:26:09 +0000 PurplePeony 1085563@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CottonCandy: WHY do people do that??? I think we put at least 45-50 solid hours of work into our kitchen, between stripping the wallpaper and then painting the walls and ceiling. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085561 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:25:29 +0000 CottonCandy 1085561@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T.H.O.U.<br /> @Mrs.Polish<br /> Yeah, I feel uneasy about it, b/c in the back of my mind I know its a short fix for a big problem </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085551 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:22:03 +0000 Mrs. Polish 1085551@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The previous owners of our house painted over wallpaper and I cursed them every time I pulled paper down. Don't. Do. It. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085550 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:21:35 +0000 T.H.O.U. 1085550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought a house that had some bad 80's wallpaper and other parts of the house that had painted wall paper. </p> <p>It is much harder to strip the paper once the paint is on. This is because its harder to get the glue to come off through the paint. Plus you have to go through the time and money to paint, to only eventually have to strip it anyways. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085549 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:21:30 +0000 avivoca 1085549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CottonCandy: At least with outlets and switchplates you can just buy new ones. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085548 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:21:24 +0000 lemondrop 1085548@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Each time I've had to strip wallpaper, it has peeled off super easy with just a spray bottle of water. I dread the thought of priming, painting, then having it peel off or bubble after all of that work! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085547 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:21:16 +0000 kjpugs 1085547@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would definitely strip it, unless you want a temporary fix. Like if you're going to demo a room but need to hide the wallpaper temporarily. (We did that in my childhood home... the LIME GREEN and YELLOW galley kitchen, we just painted over all the cabinets, counters, EVERYTHING. My mom couldn't take it. But we demolished it after a month or two.) I just feel like it would be a lot more work later so if you can strip it now, you might as well! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085545 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:20:42 +0000 CottonCandy 1085545@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@purplepeony: I hear ya...Its even on every outlet and light switch plate!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085543 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:19:24 +0000 CottonCandy 1085543@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks for the responses ladies, I'm thinking we're gonna have to bite the bullet on this one and strip!! :sad: If anyone else has experience, keep it coming!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085542 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:19:23 +0000 PurplePeony 1085542@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We stripped the wallpaper in our kitchen and it was awful. It was the same situation as yours, good condition but ugly. Oh, and as an added bonus, it was even on the ceiling and backs of the doors...lucky us? Anyway, we didn't want to leave it because you can usually see the seams under paint, but about seven hours into it we were cursing that decision because it was totally stuck and only coming off in like 1/4-inch by 3-inch strips. It had been there at least 35 years and I don't think they properly primed before slapping on the wallpaper glue, sigh. After it was done, though, we were very glad we put in the effort. We didn't have kids at the time, though, and still haven't felt strong enough to tackle the bathroom! </p> <p>Anyway, my advice is to start stripping it in a very unobtrusive place, like behind the fridge or a bookshelf or something. If it's terribly stuck like ours was, you may not want to strip it all right now. I think there's actually a type of paintable wallpaper designed for this situation, where you put it up over the old stuff and it smooths everything out to take the new paint...but don't quote me on that. If it comes off relatively easily, then do it all now! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085532 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:17:19 +0000 Mae 1085532@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>doooon't do it! lol. In my office they painted over the wallpaper and it looks horrible. You can see the design (it is like raised a teeny tiny bit) through the paint. and now its like, impossible to get off bc it has been painted over. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085524 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:13:55 +0000 regberadaisy 1085524@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CottonCandy: we had a lot of wallpaper borders in our current house. The family room gave me SO much issues!! I used every method out there in the www along with purchased products. It was stubborn!<br /> Finally DH took a palm sander to it. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085522 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:13:27 +0000 swurlygurl 1085522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did 4 rooms of wallpaper stripping ourselves. It wasn't *that* bad. The worst part is wall repair if needed. Our wallpaper wasn't applied correctly, so it took off the first layer of drywall paper X-( 4 coats of mudding/sanding later... :'( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085517 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:11:09 +0000 CottonCandy 1085517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@autumnlove: I would LOVE to hire out for this project, I just wish it was in the budget! You're smart!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085515 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:10:08 +0000 autumnlove 1085515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CottonCandy: our contractors were very annoyed! I guess there were 5 layers of wallpaper... :-( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085504 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:04:56 +0000 CottonCandy 1085504@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@evansjamie: Hahaha yesss! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085503 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:03:57 +0000 avivoca 1085503@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CottonCandy: Wallpaper stripping party? That could be fun. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085502 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:03:43 +0000 CottonCandy 1085502@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@autumnlove: was it was sucky as I think its going to be? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085500 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:02:24 +0000 autumnlove 1085500@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We thought about it but we had it stripped and painted! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085499 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:02:13 +0000 swurlygurl 1085499@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I personally would strip it. What if it turned out bad - stripping wallpaper with paint on top of it?! You'd probably be better off just redoing the drywall! :/ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085497 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:00:38 +0000 CottonCandy 1085497@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@freckles: Thanks :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/painting-over-wallpaper#post-1085495 Fri, 13 Sep 2013 13:00:02 +0000 Freckles 1085495@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If it's a home i am going to be living in for the long haul, i'd strip the paper and paint over it. But here are some links for you:</p> <p><a href="http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/en-ca/for-your-home/painting-over-wallpaper" rel="nofollow">http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/en-ca/for-your-home/painting-over-wallpaper</a></p> <p><a href="http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/paint-over-wallpaper.htm" rel="nofollow">http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/paint-over-wallpaper.htm</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/when-to-paint-over-paper-color-145819" rel="nofollow">http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/when-to-paint-over-paper-color-145819</a> </p>