How to Paint Over Wallpaper
Painting a house can get a bit tricky, especially if you’re painting over old walls with wallpaper still attached on them (Tips on how to remove wallpaper). With a few tricks and tips, you can paint a room with a fresh coat of paint even with the old wallpaper still stuck on the wall. Here are the tools and steps you need to paint over a wall with wallpaper still glued on it:
Tools
Most painters recommend removing as much of the wallpaper first before going over the wall with paint. Removing wallpaper first gives your wall a more even look and feel. The problem is that it just takes too much time and effort to remove wallpaper, especially if you’re going to paint over it anyway. Here are the tools you need to paint over a wall covered with damaged or worn wallpaper:
Retractable cutter
Palette knife
Acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Paint rollers
Steps
To paint over a wall decorated with wallpaper, follow these steps:
Using the cutter and palette knife, remove torn or uneven areas from the wallpaper. To prevent any odd shapes, use rectangles to section off the damaged areas of the wallpaper. Cut as close as you can to the damaged areas, just in case the remaining wallpaper is too thick to leave imprints by the time you paint over the wall.
Mix the paint to have a color as opaque as possible. A thick, solid color can conceal the marks from the wallpaper better than paint with a thin, translucent consistency.
Start painting over the wall by applying a layer of paint on the “holes” made on the wallpaper. Use a paintbrush to make sure you have more control over the thickness of the paint. The paint layer should only be as thick as to keep the surface even.
Allow the paint to dry to a tacky feel.
Using paint rollers, paint over the wall. You may need to use a thicker layer of paint than usual, especially if the print on the wallpaper is dark, or if the wallpaper is embossed.
With these tips and tricks, wallpaper does not have to get in the way of a perfect paint job. With these tips, you don’t have to go through the effort of removing wallpaper first before giving a wall a fresh coat of paint.