I am Painting Over Wallpaper From Now On!!

Posted on October 19th, 2010

I Am Painting Over Wallpaper From Now On!

Here is how painting over wallpaper, instead of stripping it off, can look good!!

The wallpaper in our dining room was a combination of purple paisley with a scalloped border at the top. The wall had a white chair rail and the bottom part of the wall was painted dark purple. It had been this dark since we moved in 10 years ago. What we wanted now was a simple beige color top and bottom.

The choices were simple. I either:

removed the wallpaper; or
sealed the seams and paint over it.

I opted to seal the seams and paint over it. The reason was that I tried to remove the wallpaper in our bathroom once. What a disaster! Never again will I do that if at all possible. The builder who built our house glued the wallpaper directly onto the walls. Unless wallpaper is installed properly, it simply does not peel off without taking part of the drywall with it. And strippers, they just made a real mess.

Here is what I have found works, but the wallpaper must be firmly attached to the wall.

It is easy to simply take a sharp knife and trim back the seams. Leave an 1/8 inch gap and then cut both sides of the wallpaper.
Fill the gap with drywall mud.
Lightly sand and paint with any latex paint for a sealing effect.

After all the prep work, paint the wall using “KILZ Original” to seal the color and keep it from bleeding through the new paint. That is the first coat.