The wallpaper situation is bad- pics attached

[Cumberland]

I think we either have to rewallpaper or replaster. It looks so terrible. I would love any suggestions

[Malpka]

Our last house was 75+ years, and had similar wallpaper issues. We eventually put a texture on the walls, then painted. It looked pretty good, IMO, when it was done. Much better than new wallpaper anyways. I will see if I can find some pics.

That brings back memories of one room in our last house. I'll have to ask if DH if he remembers what we did. It was horrible. I think we re-textured the walls. We later gutted that bathroom and put in new drywall.

You have my sympathies. I hate wallpaper.

[MissCrabette]

Have you tried using a steamer to help remove the stubborn pieces? I was ready to throw in the towel in my bathroom last year but the steamer saved me.

[Cumberland]

How did you texture the walls? I would like to try this, but it has to be a LOT of texture to cover up that mess.


I have looked at paintable wallpaper already but i dont love it. I also looked at grasscloth-love it but cant afford it. We really cant afford to redrywall either. I feel like I screwed the pooch on this one ( does that mean what I think it does?)

[Sheherezade]

Hey! That looks like all our walls here before we rrestored them! It's really not so bad. I'd continue to remove the loose paper layer -- it's some backing from the wallpaper that just gets stuck. Make a spray bottle of hot water with a little Downy in it. Spray it on a section about 3 ft by 3 ft -- then go away for about 20 minutes. Use a taping knife to scrape the wall. The wall paper will come off in disgusting clumps of goo. Discard.

After you've removed it all, wash the walls with a mild soap and water. Then, clear any cracks in the plaster wiith a taping knife. Get out the loose stuff. If there are huge areas falling apart, drywall may be the way to go. If it is just cracks here and there, you can use taping compound (get a bucket) to fill them. After it's dried for a few days, sand it smooth and paint.

Voila!

New walls.

I love plaster. Really, I do.

I'll check with DH but what Angie suggested sounds similar. I can't remember what the walls were. The rest of the house was plaster but that bathroom had some prior "improvements" and might have been drywall.

I know we worked in small sections, swore like sailors, and DH worked some magic. They weren't perfect but turned out pretty good. I painted some silver celestial looking stars on with stencils to help disguise.

[Malpka]

The process we used is similar to what is described on this page
http://www.content-articles.com/article ... w-Textures
But to be honest I have blocked out some of the painful details.
(The texturing was kind of fun actually, nasty- but fun. The wallpaper is what left permanent emotional scars.)

The result was something like this :


I am still trying to see if I have an interior pic of our old house that shows the texture.

[Malpka]

Here is a pic of one of the rooms. I had to apply the least texture to this one, so it is less bumpy. I tried to zoom in, but it is still hard to see much.


I guess one of the ways I was able to cover up so much is that once I was committed to using the texture, I could gouge the walls a little more to get excess paper off

[DCJenn]

My ex-husband and I just hung new drywall over the crappy old stuff in the living room and did beadboard halfway up the wall in the bathroom with about a 1.5 inch molding edge along to top. Painted the beadboard a glossy white and voila- covered up ugliness.

Jenn

[peggyfromwastate]

Lowe's and Home Depot sell textured paint. My DH used the "medium" texture and followed the instructions on the can. It looks really good and covered up our wallpaper nightmare. He is very good at texturing- he's artistic. I can't do it at all. I always make patterns...

Anyway, the texture he used was not quite so intense as the "popcorn", which is for desperate situations!