Painting a wall

[85watts]

Hello all

I've just bought my first house and am trying to make it look nice! It's a pretty well-kept 1929 Semi, just a lick of paint here and there should do the trick.

One room has a very rich, dark, peach-coloured wallpaper. I wanted to brighten it up, but have never done any wallpapering. I thought I could just paint over the wallpaper, and spoke to a couple of friends who'd succesfully managed that.

Having read a few other posts in the forum it seems this was the point I started to go off the rails! I gave all the walls a sponge down and used some wallpaper paste to stick down a few bits where the paper had come loose. I then started to paint over it with a white silk to use as a base - I have magnolia matt to use on top. Stupid as I was to think silk would be the same as matt, I have done one and a half coats over the paper. It looks a lot better than it did, but other posts though tell me that trying to paint matt over silk without proper preparation is a very silly idea.

My question is - am i better off
1) trying to paint over the white silk with magnolia matt anyway, and seeing if it works?
2) sanding down the silk, using white matt then doing magnolia matt?
3) doing it properly and taking the wallpaper off altogether, then painting straight onto the plaster?

If i went for option three what kind of preparation would I need to do to the walls before I could paint?

My limited understanding would be, if the plaster is in good condition (or which I have no idea) i should sand down, give it a clean with a wet sponge, then do a layer of emulsion before painting the magnolia?

I know I've made some rather questionable decisions in this so far, but I'm trying to fix it now! Any suggestions anyone has would be massively appreciated!

Thank you very much for any thoughts.

 

[JohnD]

sooner or later you are going to have to take off all the old wallpaper. You might as well do it now. Otherwise you will regret the effort and expense you spent. When you have got the walls nice you can paint them. As a householder you can afford to spend more time and care than a pro would.

It is very important to get all the old wallpaper paste off the plaster. I find the best way is to wet it generously (I use a garden sprayer) and a broad metal scraper. You wipe the sludge on your arm or a bit of rag or kitchen roll. This also gets off all the tiny scraps of paper that you didn't notice were left behind.

This will expose old plaster with cracks and nail holes. You fill these and again scrape smooth with your broad scraper preferably before fully hard (I prefer fine plaster as it is easier to work, sets fast, and far cheaper than polyfilla or similar.). Press and scrape it flat with a broad filling knife while you are applying.

If you use filler and leave it too high you will have a lot of work trying to sand it smooth.

Then give it a thinned and a full coat of white matt, and look at it carefully, you will see all the blemishes that did not show when the colour was patchy. Re-do and paint these. You have to paint the patches or the final paint will look patchy. When you think it is perfect, apply a couple of coats of your chosen finish.

After you have got the wallpaper off is the ideal time to do any work on switches or sockets, curtain rails etc, that means disturbing the plaster, before you redecorate.

I am a householder not a pro.

 

[85watts]

Thanks John, I really appreciate the advice.

As you say, it seems if I'm going to do the room I might as well try and get it right. My concern is that I'm going to end up pulling off great chunks of plaster, or that I'm going to find some horrible surprises when I get all the paper off. I suppose I'll just have to worry about that when I get there.

And I'm assuming I made my job rather more difficult by painting the wallpaper white first?

Thing is, I have no idea how long this paper's been on the wall. Do you have any suggestions for good technique to get the paper off?

 

[JohnD]

if it is painted, it will be water-resistant

I use warm water with a bit of washing-up liquid to help it soak in.

I would wet it first, using a soft sweeping brush or a garden sprayer. Then wet it again and again and again. Don't let it dry out. Be careful about pools on the floor or dripping through if you are upstairs. You will probably see a change of colour when it is wet. You can loaf about or drink tea while it is soaking in.

Try to loosen it at the top first, then additional water will run down behind it.

The seams will also get wet quicker than the rest of it.

If it seems very waterproof, scratch the surface to let the water in (but not deep enough to scratch the plaster)

If it is a vinyl paper, it will not wet, but will peel off easily leaving a thin paper backing on the wall.

Once it starts coming off, clear up the scraps. Wet paper is very slippery and many people injure themselves falling over on it. Take a clean dustbin into the room (you can buy a cheap one for a few pounds) for the scraps. there will be more than you think. Mop up the floor when you are finished.

 

[85watts]

Thanks John, I'll give it a go tonight.