What’s a really easy wallpapering alternative?
The Back Story:
The town home was probably built in the late 70’s and decorated like it. The original wallpaper in the half bath was hideous so my finacee tried to remove it only to find an even WORSE wallpaper underneath. It’s now gone from "swinger suave" to looking like something my great grandmother would have picked out. Now we’ve only been able to remove a portion of THAT wallpaper because I think it’s become molecularly bonded to the sheet rock over all these years.
The Goal:
Cover up the walls in the half bath with, pretty much ANYTHING at this point.
The Problem:
I feel I lack the skill to wallpaper over other wallpaper successfully and we don’t have the budget to get some contractors in to do this for us. So I want to find some easy and inexpensive decorating ideas that will keep our guest from thinking that faded 3-foot sunflowers was part of some decorating motif.
Thanks.
We did try to score and use remover on the old paper. Now we have half-walls of paper with all these little track marks all over them that jump out like little teeth. Were there is no paper the walls have a paper bag like texture.
My niece bought an old house and had the same problem with layers and layers of wallpaper. She bought Venetian Plaster and did her walls. They look fantastic. She said it was simple to do and she isn’t the handy type. The kind she bought came in different colors so there wasn’t any painting involved. I found this website that gives you different methods, directions and pictures.
http://www.behr.com/behrx/expert/activity.jsp?aid=616&subnav=interior&leftNav=noSteps
Good Luck
contact paper?
that other wallpaper WILL come off if you try hard enough.
have you tried using wallpaper remover?
Did you score the wallpaper first?
maybe try renting a wallpaper steamer?
Scoring is very important, it let’s the wallpaper remover solution or the steam get behind the paper.
This is kind of a no brainer, take off as much off the existing wall paper that you can. Get some putty to fill in the holes that are left behind and paint the walls. Paint is relatively cheap and easy to do.
I’m no decorator, but I’m thinking that a wainscoting with very thick high gloss paint should do the trick. Go to the home improvement warehouse near you and ask there too!
Consider putting up fabric, you can adhere right onto an existing surface. Dip the fabric into liquid starch and apply to the wall, trim as you would regular wallpaper. The best part is, when your ready to replace or remove it, it comes down very easily. Check out the DIY site for more help.
If you cannot remove all of the wallpaper, sand down as much as you can and put a skim coat of drywall mud or joint compound over it. The application is key here because you can make it look like stucco, fresco or stone depending on how you apply it and paint it afterward. I did it in a small bathroom leaving it rather rough and sanding afterward to knock down the high spots and then painted it with a burnt sienna and a burnt umber wash over that. The result was a wall that looked like stone. It is pretty easy to do, doesn’t cost much and looks great.
You could also cover the walls with beadboard that you could then paint or stain.
go to a paint store..not the big box stores like Lowes or Walmart …and get a special paint to cover the wallpaper then you can paint any color you like as long as that OLD wallpaper is really tight. the clerks at a true paint store can give great suggestions on products….
If the wallpaper that’s left will take it and not fall off, I’ve give it a VERY thin coat of sheetrock mud just to cover up old seams. Then texture and paint how ever you like.
It’s not that hard. Good luck.
I had the same problem in a couple of the rooms of the house i bought last year. there was at least 3 (maybe even more) layers of grotesque wallpaper in the dining room and one of the bedrooms. after trying unsuccessfully to remove (parts of the original plaster walls were actually coming off with the wallpaper!) we decided to cover over the wallpaper. after removing as much of the loose, peeling wallpaper as we could, we then washed it thoroughly with TSP and applied a textured paint over it. this paint is a BEHR product (carried at HD) and you can give it whatever surface texture you like. you can make it look like stucco or plaster by using either a brush or a putty knife. its simple to apply. you can paint it whatever color you want after it drys and cures. it totally hides imperfections, minor gouges, and uneven layers of old wallpaper. Note: if the wallpaper has a glossy or vinyl surface, you should lightly sand it first and then apply a good quality primer before putting on the textured paint.
you can buy a gallon of this product for around 20-25 dollars. its enough to do a couple of big walls.
There is a textured heavy wallpaper that covers up EVERYTHING and is really quite easy to hang up. Anaglypta…or something like that. Many textures are available from victorian to contemporary. I helped a friend put it up over old wallpaper and paneling and we were not experienced paper hangers! It is very forgiving! It is meant to be painted after it is up and dry. It is available at most home-improvement stores.
You can also get "texture" paint rollers. These don’t actually create a physical texture, like stucco, but they can simulate wallpaper. You’d roll on one color paint in the normal fashion, and when that’s dry, use the "texture" roller and a slightly different hue of the same color. Just go over the wall once with this one, and the first coat shows through the second, creating a ‘noire," 3-D effect or wallpaper look. Overall, it should be cheaper than wallpaper.
Decorative wall panels come prefinished with many types of textures and colors. Google "interior wall panels". You’ll be surprised at the options.
try textured paint.
I would try sheet rock mud or texture paint, with the mud layer it on thin and let the first layer dry very well, and apply the next layer then take an old stiff brush (paint or scrub) and dab at the mud while it is wet just lightly tho’ don’t want the mud to come off completely-this will give a bumpy type look and that will hide where the wallpaper doesn’t come off and if it still shows add more mud! Good luck!