I want to paint a bathroom with wallpaper?

Question

Hi folks.

I want to paint a bathroom that has wallpaper on it. The walls behind that are not textured, and I'd like a textured color on the walls. How do I take off the wallpaper? Is it really messy? How to I get textured walls?

Answer 1

You can try to take off the wallpaper, hoping it was put up correctly with sizing so it will come off properly. However, there are no guarantees it still will come off. (Been there) To remove it:
1) Get a Paper Tiger, which is a small tool like a ball that has points on it that punches holes in the wallpaper. Score all the wallpaper with this.
2) Wet the paper with water in a spray bottle. Let it set for about 15 minutes and try to peel off the paper at a corner and see how well it comes off. If it does so easily, you are blessed.
3) If it doesn't come off, put about 1/4-1/2 cup fabric softner in with the water and do the same thing again. There are products on the market for removing wallpaper, but I've never had success with them.
4) You may get the top of the paper off, but there is a backing that may stay put after you've got the top layer off. Do the same process. You may need a scraper here.
5) OR, since I couldn't get my paper off, I textured over it and painted. I used a large tub of drywall mud and put it on with a painter's spatula. You can make any kind of designs and textures you want with this. Go to hgtv.com and get some ideas. Then I just painted over it and it looks great. Get lots of compliments on it. It's been 4 years and still holding strong.
Good luck!

Answer 2

Removing old wallpaper can be a chore and a half. Prime the walls and then paint them with textured paint.

Answer 3

You can use topping compound to even out the walls which will keep the sanding to a minimum. If you do not want to have to sand mix joint compound with medium sand blasting sand (very cheap and available at any home improvement store). Mix the two together and apply the mixture to the wall with a troll and it will give the wall a textured stucco look and no sanding. Don't get to fancy, you want a random look. The easiest way to mix the compound and sand is to buy a 3 or 5 gallon bucket of compound and mix in the sand about a cup at a time. Mix with a mud mixer (an attach for a electric drill that will mix the two easily and is only a few dollars) until it is the texture you desire.

Answer 4

An easy way to get textured walls is to cover them in textured wallpaper and paint over it. My cousin has this in her kitchen and it looks amazing!

As for removing wallpaper it depends on what kind. Chances are that if its in your bathroom its going to be really tough to remove so you're better off hiring someone to do it for you. We thought we could do it ourselves and it took us the whole summer and it was a complete mess!

Answer 5

Go to the store and buy the stuff that you use on the walls when you wall paper, it makes new wallpaper stick to the wall really good, but it also works really good at taking off old wallpaper.

Answer 6

Get a bottle of "Diff" from Home Depot, follow the directions. I've used this for many years. Leave it on for awhile, don't rush it, it will fall off the walls, the paper. You can wash the walls with it if there's glue left from the wall paper.
Use a good primer like "Kilz" you can get Kilz now in colors that can be used as paint so....go for it.

Answer 7

if the paper is still stuck good to the wall all you have to do is prime and paint

Answer 8

Forget taking it off, just prime and paint.

Answer 9

too moist in there it would grow mold you do not want that bad