To Paint Wallpaper or Not to Paint Wallpaper?

[Cinobite]

I've just bought the house I've been renting for the last five years and desperate to get rid of this pink wallpaper in my bedroom.

My mum reckons she'd just paint it - she's quite handy/crafty.
I know ideally it should be removed, but what do you think? Is it too inconsistent to paint? Or would you paint it? The house is 7 years old so the condition of the walls should be fairly good.

If I were to paint (with primer/white coat then colour) is there a technique for hiding the seams? Sanding? I was thinking some kind of tape or a wet plaster mix rubbed over it.

I've used some tester pots on the paper to see how it reacts - it's taken well and doesn't bloat/distort although the seams are noticeable.

I'm looking to paint the final coat with Valspar British Shorthair - an off mid grey tinted blue/green. Best match I can find is in attached pictures. Just to give you a bit of an idea

 

[Bosswhite]

IMO it would be a bit of a bodge to paint the wallpaper, the pattern will show through the paint, also depending on the type of ink used in the wallpaper pattern, this could stain the emulsion finish.

Get yourself a cheap steam stripper from a DIY outlet and remove the paper, you will always find an alternative use for the stripper, i.e defrost fridge, Freezer, clean cooker, clean tiles etc, so it would not be a waste of money.

 

[Cinobite]

Thanks for the input. Do you have a stripper in mind? (link?)
Or do you think my floor steamer would do the job? I'm guessing that will be much better and cleaner than using water as I've seen. (The floors are wooden slates / fake floor boards)

I have one of these:

 

[Bosswhite]

You need a hose and steam plate from the steamer dont think the 9in1 supply them,
A Steam Stripper is cheap enough between £20/30 from DIY outlets, get a wallpaper scorer/ plus scraper at the same time, this breaks the surface of the wallpaper before applying steam , makes it easier to remove paper.

 

[OwainDIYer]

If you can't be bothered stripping it then stick some more wallpaper over the top.

 

[Cinobite]

I'm just out to buy a steamer - while I'm away, any tips/advice on using it near/around wall sockets? Obviously there's the water factor to take into account

 

[Cinobite]

That.
Was.
Amazing!

Thought I'd test it out before work, 3 sheets down in about 30 minutes. The worst thing I did was score it (as recommended) which made it come off in chunks, if I hadn't of done that I could have got them down in one piece. Amazing, I want to do the rest but have to go to work

Next up, there was magnolia paint underneath and I have a few spots where the paint has come off and couple where it's a little deeper. I'm guessing just sanding this over when it's dry is going to fix that right? No need for washing with paint stripper? How about this sugar soap I've seen?
The wall will be painted - one coat ideally.
Pics attached!

 

[Bosswhite]

Just give the walls a good wipe over with water and a sponge to get the residue of the paste off, where the paint has stripped off fill with basic filler and rub down smooth, give the walls a blinding coat of Cheap Trade Emulsion thinned with water (white) this will ensure that the true colour of the top coats show.
Then TWO coats of Emulsion (colour) thinned as per instructions on tin for a professional finish.

I dont bother with those new fangled rollers, I use an Emulsion Brush

 

[Cinobite]

I've found pads to be great for less mess and great coverage - and quicker drying time. Although I could really do with getting hold of a better and bigger one.

I have a tub of polyfilla, you reckon that watered down and "skimmed" over the wall would do the job?
To be honest, where the paint has come off (grey patches in the pictures) I reckon sanding would fix that, certainly with a base coat over as well. The deeper ones (brown patches) could do with some kind of thin filler

 

[zad3717]

Best filler I have found is http://www.british-gypsum.com/products/gyproc-easi-fill you can get different drying time ones I tend to get the 20min one.

 

[Cinobite]

I spent about 3-4 hours on it with an electric sander and have it really smooth, I've used watered down polyfilla for the problem areas.
I'll base coat paint it tomorrow and see how it goes, fingers crossed that will have work

 

[Cinobite]

Primed this morning, painted this evening. Not as smooth as I would like, but I think it's come out well considering.
Managed to do the whole 9m2 wall with 750ml of paint (spec is 1L for 10m2) so have a bit left for touching up tomorrow

 

[Cinobite]

It was an efficiency thing, if painting the paper would have worked, it would have been far more efficient to have done that.
I ended up stripping it and glad I did. The problem that I have now is that my "lightly scoring" (and it was light) put streaks in the plaster. After filler and 4 hours with an electric sander I thought I'd smoothed it, it looked great - then I turned on the downlights for the first time lol