Painting over wall paper?

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

I have one wall in a bedroom that has wall paper on it...I am thinking of painting over the paper. Has anyone had a any experience/good or bad? I have googled my question and there are pros and cons but would like to know if anyone on these boards has tried it...Thanks

Kitlynn · ‎03-09-2010

Our contractor painted over wallpaper in our kitchen. It works great and looks amazing. The main thing is you have to have wallpaper that has no tears or splits in it. Then you need to use really good paint and put primer on first and then color. We used Benjamin Moore paint.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

If wallpaper was improperly installed to begin with, sometimes you have to paint over it. We had a very well known person paper our kitchen and he was an expert. He simply couldn't get the original paper off the wall, so he sized and painted it so the seams didn't show (maybe sanded and retaped them as I remember) and papered over it. I remember when the wall was painted and sized before the new paper you couldn't see a seam anywhere.

If the paper is properly installed, you really do need to take it off and then paint. Otherwise, you are in for trouble down the road. Take it off even if tedious unless the skin paper of the wallboard is coming off with it.

Anglophilly · ‎01-05-2012

I think, in the long run, it's better to strip the paper. I painted over paper once, but seams remain visible and you need to use a heavy primer (like Killz or an oil-based primer)

Stripping paper isn't hard but messy. You need this wonderful little tool, a "Paper Tiger". It has "claws" to rip through the paper or vinyl to the backing so that water or spray-on paper remover can penetrate. You let it sit and then scrape or peel. It's kind of fun (just me).

Two caveats: Be gentle with the Tiger so as not to mar drywall and put down a plastic drop cloth. There's lot of dripping. Wash the wall well before priming/painting.

nomar · ‎03-12-2010

I painted over a pink with geese paper below the wainscotting in our kitchen. Went with a dark hunter green and no preparation done. Has been that way for years and you cannot even tell paper is under it. Guess the paper was stuck down really good and was only one layer of paper as this house is not that old.

Mom2Dogs · ‎03-09-2010

Thanks everyone....the reason I asked is because I am being lazy...I have always stripped the paper before proceeding with a new wallpaper but this time I want to paint the wall...the other problem is that flat walls painted do not look that great, the wall was left flat for paper so my idea was if the paper was left on the wall would not look so 'flat'.

My dh's bathroom was left flat on all walls for paper but we decided not to repaper this room when we updated the bath.... it is so small that it is hard to paper. The walls just don't look nice so I wanted to avoid that same 'look' in the master.

Now I still don't know what to do, ha!

Bhvbum · ‎07-18-2010

Strip it! Most modern paper is easily strippable. Try getting it off AFTER you paint over it! For just one wall, a piece of cake! Otherwise you'll end up having to paint it with Kilz and then paint which is time consuming. Let the water do the work. Go on line for easy advice! Better yet if you want some depth, strip the old and RE-PAPER! I love wall paper on one wall!

pineyriver · ‎01-07-2013

My hubby and I redid our church nursery. It was wallpaper, so we made sure all seams were nice and flat and no holes in the paper. We rolled Zinsser (stain blocker) on first to make sure some of the yellowed parts of the paper wouldn't bleed through. Worked out great!!!!!