Let's Paint, Make Blended Drinks, and Exercise!

Lucky Cynic

Actually, this is just about the first of that list. I have a room that is in need of a drastic makeover. There is lovely warm colored brown hardwood that has been installed, but the walls are a really maddening pinstrip wallpaper pattern. How should I go about coloring this room? Should I try and strip the wallpaper which would be a big pain in the dick it seems, or should I paint over it?

I haven't really noticed much peeling or anything, and as far as I can tell it seems quite alright and in fair condition, just fugly.

Any ideas and or advice?

Pheezer

God that show was AWESOME.

If the wall paper is in really good condition I guess you could paint over it. You'll need to use primer first though.

I'd really suggest removing it if you can be in any way convinced to do so, but you're right: It will be a huge pain in the ass.

Is this rented property or your own place?

Grizzled

Stripping wallpaper is notorious for being one of the hardest, most frustrating home improvement tasks out there. I would recommend avoiding it if at all possible.

Painting over it is probably the way to go, assuming you are allowed to do that.

kathos

If you want a makeover, do a geek makeover, and take an old or classic game like Day Of The Tentacle, get a cheap projector to project an image, and pencil it-paint. It requires a fair amount of skill but since the colours aren't mixed in together it's much easier than painting. Here's an example (from Pixel Guerilla).

I'm working on a Sam and Max one myself.

Draco_Auric

Painting over wallpaper is really just a short term solution, because the wallpaper will eventually fail and then you have a big mess on you hands, since removing painted over wallpaper is even more of a pain then normal wall paper.

Painted wallpaper also tends too look kinda shabby because you'll bring out the join lines in the paper, and reveal any hidden textures.

Also if you do paint wallpaper you'll want to use an oil base primer.

If you are going to be in this place for a while I'd at least try to remove the paper, some times it comes off pretty easy, and if you decide it's too much trouble you can always paint over it anyways.

Kakodaimonos

As Draco_Auric said, painting wallpaper is easy and quick, but it tends to look like ass a few months after it's done.

Also, if there is any sort of pattern on the paper, it will be very visible after you paint it. And once you've painted wallpaper, it's even more of a pain in the ass to remove.

Try one of the enzyme glue removers. I'm partial to the DIF remover by Zinsser.

supabeast

Do NOT paint over wallpaper. Wallpaper glues can be pretty insane, and you don’t know what’s under it, so you might just make a horrible mess and make it impossible to get the wallpaper down. Trying the enzyme removers sounds like a good idea, you can also rent a steamer (hardware and paint stores have them) and try using it to get the wallpaper down; Home Depot and Lowes might even offer classes on wallpaper removal.

If you have trouble getting it down think about hiring professionals; they won’t be cheap, but they’re cheaper than installing new drywall if you end up trashing your walls.

Pheezer

Well the thing is also if it's a smallish room with flat walls, and he owns the place, just ripping down the walls and re-dry walling isn't nearly as difficult as removing the wallpaper and it's not completely unreasonable if the room isn't very big.

Forbe!

Why tear down dry wall when it is perfectly good? Thats wasteful, and more expensive than just spending the day tearing the paper off.

Warm soapy water + palette knife/scraper. Tear off the paper you can by hand, then spray with warm water. Let soak for some time, then go back with a scraper or palette knife and scrape it off.

Easy. I remember my mom had us do this a lot when we were younger. It isn't that HARD it is just tedious and long.

tsmvengy

For the love of god do not paint over the wallpaper unless 1. you never want to paint it EVER AGAIN, or 2. you want the people who live there next to hate you. Getting wallpaper down is a pain, but getting PAINTED wallpaper down is like hell on earth. A steamer is the way to go if it's a big room, but you could start with the water method and see how much it drives you nuts.

Also, redoing the drywall on an entire room is way more work (and more expensive) than getting the wallpaper off.

Pheezer

Forbe! wrote: »

Why tear down dry wall when it is perfectly good? Thats wasteful, and more expensive than just spending the day tearing the paper off.

Warm soapy water + palette knife/scraper. Tear off the paper you can by hand, then spray with warm water. Let soak for some time, then go back with a scraper or palette knife and scrape it off.

Easy. I remember my mom had us do this a lot when we were younger. It isn't that HARD it is just tedious and long.

You don't know how old this wallpaper is or what kind of adhesive it's got holding it on. It might not be so easy.

Lucky Cynic

This is my parent's house guys, btw. We own the thing, but it's gotta be done the right way since it may be up for sale in a few years. And I am just one man with maybe a couple hundred dollars to blow. What do you guys recommend? I mean, I am looking for something that will look great and add value to the house without taking longer than maybe a single weekend.

Newton

There is a special type of knife that you use to cut through wall paper. You roll it over the wall and it makes lots of little shallow cuts through the wall paper. Then you can spray on either just plain water or various specialty products to dissolve the glue. Let it set for a while and then you should be able to scrape the paper off pretty easily. Then you can prime and paint once it is all down.

FF

If it's wallpaper over drywall I'd say it may be easier to just tear down the drywall and put it back up like what DrDizaster said.

If it's wallpaper over plaster, get to scraping, it sucks, but it's not that bad if you do it in small bits. Plus, if it's over hard plaster it can handle a good soaking. Drywall (I think) wouldn't be so water friendly.