# Painting over wallpaper ?



## cyberknight (1 Oct 2021)

I have read mixed reviews about doing it and i am after some advice
Mink ck 2 room has embossed butterfly pattern wallpaper which she has outgrown and its very tatty , can i paint over it with textured paint or will the pattern show through?
Its a bit of a major job if i have to strip the room as its the smallest room so any furniture moves mean taking them out of the room


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## Oldhippy (1 Oct 2021)

Try an area out as a tester see how it covers I would suggest.


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## PeteXXX (1 Oct 2021)

The pattern will show through, I think. Plus, if you use lots of paint, it could make the wallpaper bubble up. 

Strip it... 👍


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## MichaelW2 (1 Oct 2021)

Steam wallpaper strippers are about £25 from screwfix etc and take all the hard work out of removing wallpaper.
In the long run its worth it but in the short term you can just paint. Start with white emusion.


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## postman (1 Oct 2021)

Are there any dark colours in the paper design,reds especially.It will be a pain to block out with emulsion,so it will be first coat of stinky white undercoat.Then two or three coats of emulsion,right every joint might show plus any bubbles under the paper.But with paper off a load of filling might need doing to get the walls smooth.You takes your chances.


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## Dirk (1 Oct 2021)

MichaelW2 said:


> Steam wallpaper strippers are about £25 from screwfix etc and take all the hard work out of removing wallpaper.
> In the long run its worth it but in the short term you can just paint. Start with white emusion.


Steam wallpaper strippers will also loosen any dodgy plaster.
I had to have 3 walls replastered last time I used one.


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## Beebo (1 Oct 2021)

If you are looking for an easy bodge job, could you paper over the paper?
Not ideal but better than painting it.


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## Cycleops (1 Oct 2021)

Man up and strip out the old wallpaper.  Doing something with the existing will just look a mess.


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## simongt (1 Oct 2021)

Beebo said:


> If you are looking for an easy bodge job, could you paper over the paper?


One way round the issue, but make sure you don't match the seams. A half overlap will sort it. 
When my late aunt moved into a house many years ago, she tackled stripping the wallpaper off the hallway walls - eleven layers - !


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## presta (1 Oct 2021)

simongt said:


> eleven layers


That lot must have been half as thick as the skirting board.


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## Mark Grant (1 Oct 2021)

If it is an embossed paper you will still see the embossing. Painting over it will be fine but whether it bubbles or not depends on how well it was hung originally, most bubbles will shrink back. 
I would not reccomend using a textured paint, that will just look awful. If the embossing has to go you will need to strip the paper off and ideally hang lining paper before painting. If you decide to paint over the existing paper and it has strong colours a first coat of white matt emulsion may be a good idea. 
If you paper over the existing there is more chance of the paper underneath coming off as it will stay wet longer than just painting it and you'll almost certainly still see the embossing when the top paper is dry.
Be wary of using a steam stripper if it's an older house, they can easily blow the plaster.


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## Kingfisher101 (1 Oct 2021)

Strip the wallpaper, it will come off easily with hot water and washing up liquid brushed on. The only wallpaper I've had a problem getting off was woodchip that was painted over and that needed and enzyme stripper.
Just move the furniture away from the wall far enough so you can get to the wall o.k. You're not laying flooring the room doesn't need to be emptied.


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## Fnaar (1 Oct 2021)

Let the embossed pattern show through, and simply call it a tasteful, understated upcycling project


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## cyberknight (1 Oct 2021)

cheers all , pretty much what i thought


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## Dave7 (1 Oct 2021)

A lot depends on the wallpaper finish ie vinyl etc. Some will just not accept paint and even if it seems to the paint will quickly start to flake/peel etc.
I know this because a couple of weeks ago I asked a pro decorator to paint over ours and it was a BIG NO.


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## Pale Rider (1 Oct 2021)

Buy your daughter some extra large One Direction posters.


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## Brandane (1 Oct 2021)

cyberknight said:


> I have read mixed reviews about doing it and i am after some advice
> Mink ck 2 room has embossed butterfly pattern wallpaper which she has outgrown and its very tatty , can i paint over it with textured paint or will the pattern show through?
> Its a bit of a major job if i have to strip the room as its the smallest room so any furniture moves mean taking them out of the room


I have successfully used this stuff for covering over wallpaper:




It seals over the wallpaper, and acts like an undercoat. Splat some emulsion over it when dry, job done! Depends on how deep your butterfly embossing is whether or not it will show through, but once painted over it might look ok.. Your call!


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## ColinJ (1 Oct 2021)

Fnaar said:


> Let the embossed pattern show through, and simply call it a tasteful, understated upcycling project


I am in a rental property which has similar wallpaper up the stairs onto the landing. They actually ran out of paper before the finish so there is one strip of lining paper there. I don't think that it looks great, but so what! Life is too short to worry about wallpapering/painting - I'd rather be doing something more interesting.


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## Scaleyback (2 Oct 2021)

Sadly there is no short cut to a quality finish. You have to remove the old paper. Almost certainly the new paint will soak thru the paper and soften the existing paste causing paper sag. Remove the paper, wash the wall with sugar soap to remove old paste, repair any imperfections, size the walls, hang new paper . , . Enjoy.


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## Dave7 (3 Oct 2021)

Brandane said:


> I have successfully used this stuff for covering over wallpaper:
> 
> View attachment 611673
> 
> It seals over the wallpaper, and acts like an undercoat. Splat some emulsion over it when dry, job done! Depends on how deep your butterfly embossing is whether or not it will show through, but once painted over it might look ok.. Your call!


That looks good. It may be the answer to my problem.


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## gbb (26 Oct 2021)

Ive been painting over wallpaper today...again.
Its a spare room, generally not used or decorated in 10 to 15 years. It pains me to paint over paper but ive been on it for2 days already, tomorrow sees me laying carpet and putting everything back.

How long does everyone take to do a room ? After 3 days i start to lose the will to live 
In my younger days, i'd start a room and not go to bed till it was finished .

I deally, id always strip the paper off first, its going to make it all three times harder when you everntually do..


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## cyberknight (26 Oct 2021)

Brandane said:


> I have successfully used this stuff for covering over wallpaper:
> 
> View attachment 611673
> 
> It seals over the wallpaper, and acts like an undercoat. Splat some emulsion over it when dry, job done! Depends on how deep your butterfly embossing is whether or not it will show through, but once painted over it might look ok.. Your call!


tried it, good coat of that paint then painted over it causing the paper to bubble so i ended up stripping the lot .Unfortunatly our walls are bumpy so i will have to use textured paintable wallpaper over it then paint that as i already have the paint .


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## midlife (26 Oct 2021)

Remove light bulb, draw curtains, job done


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## Scaleyback (26 Oct 2021)

cyberknight said:


> tried it, good coat of that paint then painted over it causing the paper to bubble so i ended up stripping the lot .Unfortunatly our walls are bumpy so i will have to use textured paintable wallpaper over it then paint that as i already have the paint .



Er ! What did I tell you ?


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## Mrs M (26 Oct 2021)

The last painter we employed to do a job was asked to strip the old paper, put on lining paper then paint it.
Played all daft when





we came home to find he’d just painted over the existing paper!
Turned out not too bad but have learned we can do a decent job so just do it ourselves next time 👍


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## Profpointy (26 Oct 2021)

If buying a wallpaper stripper, you want the type which is essentially a tea-urn with a hose to the handpiece. They do work well but it's still a balls' ache. I got on better using the steam cleaning nozzle attachment to direct steam under the paper's edge, rather than the flat plate stripping gubbins intended for stripping. Depends on how bad the plaster is, you may get big chunks falling off. One place we ended up more or less replastering, but our last place was more sound just needed pollyfiller. Flats were respectivley Georgian and mid-victorian. 

My view is wallpaper is the devil's work so I'd just bite the bullet and steam the bloody stuff off


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## slowmotion (26 Oct 2021)

Strip it and be careful not to dig into the wall with the corners of your decorators knife. It's worth perforating the old paper with one of those spiky roller things before using a steam stripper.


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