Master bathroom wallpaper HELP (vinyl, paint, sand, color)
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Our master bathroom is wallpapered EVERYWHERE and is fairly large. I have lived with it up until now because it is not horrible but I am so tired of the boring color in there (pictures attached). I would love to remove the wallpaper and paint something pretty and light (steel blue, aqua, etc) but how hard is it to remove the wallpaper and then texture the walls? We will be replacing the fixtures as well. As an alternative, can anyone give any color ideas that I could throw in this room with accessories, rugs and towels? TIA
Unfortunately the answer can range from it is a snap to I would rather be sitting in a room full of alligators. It all depends upon how the wall was prepped before the wallpaper went on. If there is a good base coat beneath the current paper, it could simply lift right off. The all you need to do is vinegar wash the walls to remove any residual glue and perhaps some of the paper backing. That is a best case scenario. You may need to purchase a scoring tool and score the walls and then "paint" the scored wallpaper walls with a solution and then using a scraper scrape the wallpaper off section by section. Not very hard More time consuming and annoying, however. The worst case scenario is to have to rent a steamer and steam the wallpaper off. Try going to an inconspicuous corner and lift the paper up a little. What is underneath? Did the paper strip off at the same time?
I redo wallpaper all the time and sometimes it is a snap and others an alligator. Good luck.
Thank you so much for the response. I may try to remove the wallpaper under the vanity opening and see what happens. Once it is removed, do you have to texture the walls? Or can you just prime and paint. Also, what is your thought on sealing and painting over the wallpaper? Is that ever a good idea?
What are the walls made of--drywall, plaster?? If they are drywall and the paper was applied wrong, you are going to end up with a mess and will either have to get the walls textured or even put on a new thin sheet of drywall. If the walls were properly primed/painted/prepared for the wallpaper, you may just have to wet the paper, let it soak for an hour, and peal. If that is the case, you will just need to lightly sand any high spots, paint with a good primer like Kilz and then put your paint over the top.
DO NOT paint over wallpaper, especially in a bathroom. If the paper isn't 100% adhered to the wall everywhere, your paint will peal. It might take a month, it might take a year but it will happen.
Golf gal nailed it. I always give the "cleaned up wall" a quick prime coat with any flat paint I have laying around provided it is a very light color, if not white. BUT, as she said in the bathroom, I prime with KILZ to avoid mildew.
Ditto on painting over the wallpaper a big no-no. I assume that you mean a textured paint as opposed to a textured wallpaper like grass cloth for example.
The best I can say about removing that much wallpaper is that it's a b*tch.
Because I have a thing for houses from the '70s and '80s, I've removed a lot of wallpaper. Good and bad experiences abound. I've had builders who sized it nicely and it peeled off in large sheets. The most recent bathroom I did, it would only peel off in one-inch sections. I almost went insane just removing the paper from one wall in a half-bath. Since it was off a rec room, I figured my boys wouldn't be too picky about the appearance and decided to spackle and paint over it.
Regardless of how much I spackled and sanded over the seams or places where I removed old sconces, you still can see them through the paint.
At least the wallpaper you're dealing with is neutral and pretty nice.
The best job I ever saw was at my SIL's house. They partially peeled the wallpaper, then when it wouldn't come off they used thick spackle to leave a textured finish, which they painted over, then added white bead board to cover the bottom half. It looks AMAZING!
Personally, I would look into getting a professional if you try a small area and find it won't peel off easily.
Yeah, this is pretty much what I figured....a huge job! I think if I decide to tackle this project, I will hire a professional for sure.
Now, I would LOVE some color advice in the meantime. If I leave it alone, can anyone give me some advice of a good color that would go in there? I guess I am just not good enough with color but to me nothing seems to really go in there. Thanks so much for all the great advice so far.
If the walls were properly primed/painted/prepared for the wallpaper, you may just have to wet the paper, let it soak for an hour, and peal...
This a terrific way to test the wall paper and see if it can be removed by you or if you might need some help or if it will be a major project. I'm in a rental where the last people LOVED wallpaper borders. With the landlords permission, I determined if I would remove the border by doing the following:
I chose an area of paper I could inconspicuously remove, soaked it for about 20 minutes with just plain water and then attempted to lift it gently with a putty knife. This told me if the border intended to "stick around," or if it wanted to be removed. For the ones that lifted off easily, the job was finished quickly--about 3 hours for a 12 x 15 room. In one room, the vinyl border refuses to budge and I have chosen to live with it.
I agree with everyone wallpapering can be a breeze or not. even though it is a no-no to paint over wall paper I have done it and for the 20 bucks and hardly any labor it was well worth the quick temp. fix. as long as you know it is just a patch it can be a stop gap if you hate the wall paper. painting one wall with a color great color might be all the op needs to live with her room for awhile
Yeah, this is pretty much what I figured....a huge job! I think if I decide to tackle this project, I will hire a professional for sure.
Now, I would LOVE some color advice in the meantime. If I leave it alone, can anyone give me some advice of a good color that would go in there? I guess I am just not good enough with color but to me nothing seems to really go in there. Thanks so much for all the great advice so far.
With the existing white trim and fixtures, I think a blue would go nicely with that. Maybe something between a slate blue and a cape blue, here:
You could do a contrast color such as a soft neutral beige inside the window well around the tub and above the tub surround.
I also think that adding crown molding in here would look lovely. You could probably have the professionally installed for around $500. I was recently quoted around $1000 for a 650 SF space by a reputable contractor.
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For the ones that lifted off easily, the job was finished quickly--about 3 hours for a 12 x 15 room. In one room, the vinyl border refuses to budge and I have chosen to live with it.
