decorating a prefab house - help!!

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My house is a nightmare! Moved in about a year ago, and now finally getting round to decorating.
It is a prefab (post war I think) property. The previous occupiers put up nasty embossed wall paper, covered with beige gloss finish paint in every room. I have no idea what is behind the wallpaper, but on a hunch I think it might just be plasterboard, as you can see the joins quite easily. I've taken a bit of the wallpaper off in one room, but have no idea what I am looking for. The wall is bright orange underneath, what is this? All my previous homes have been plastered, and am a bit of a DIY novice, so not entirely sure where to start!
Ideally I don't want to plaster anything, can you paint straight onto plasterboard? Or does that increase the risk of damp?
Help!
 
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Cheapest DIY alternative is to purchase a Steam Wallpaper stripper
these are about £25 from DIY merchants, plus a wallpaper scorer which will make holes in the existing wallpaper and with the steam and a bit of scraping will remove the wall covering.
Fill and make good, apply a "blinding" coat of emulsion, size, and cross line with a good quality lining paper, then either Emulsion or wallpaper.

I would guess the bright orange is an Emulsion Finish ("Tangerine") a very trendy colour back in the early 70`s everyone painted their walls with this colour and hung a print of the "Green Faced" woman on the wall :evil:
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Great! I'll try that, some walls are easier than others, but will use the steamer on the more tricky walls I think. Can I just emulsion over the plasterboard? looks like your right with the orange, but its painted straight on the plasterboard - is that normal? it looks awful!
 
What do you mean the Orange looks awful, it was the Ultimate "Modern Chic" along with the Advocado Bathroom Suite !!!
avacado-bathroom-01_rect540.jpg


If you dont want to put lining paper up I would suggest giving the wall a coat/two coats white emulsion this will show up any imperfections and you can give them a second fill,
Then the colour you choose or wallpaper.
 
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I'll have you know my first bedroom was tangerine with a feature wall of bright turquoise flowers!

OP, instead of redecorating, you could just go retro and find a Green Woman picture, lava lamp etc. Save a fortune.
 
with this colour and hung a print of the "Green Faced" woman on the wall :evil:
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Nothing wrong with the Tretchikoff Lady - I`ve got a large one on my wall - a modern photo print ? kind of thing , cost £30 on eBay - a print will be double that , and an original :eek: 60`s back to Deco is the in thing @ the moment - I can`t find a red formica kitchen table for less than £ 100 :cry:
 
My house is a nightmare! Moved in about a year ago, and now finally getting round to decorating.
It is a prefab (post war I think) property. Help!
Love it :D I`d like one myself , but seriously , go careful with the steamer - I`ve popped plaster before now with one :oops: . Post some pics of the house and interior if you like - I`m interested in Modern Period property
 
60`s back to Deco is the in thing @ the moment - I can`t find a red formica kitchen table for less than £ 100 :cry:

Bu**er - I used on of those as a decorating table for years,then chopped it up for firewood! Why it had Formica stuck on the underside is one of life's unanswerable questions for me.
 
Instead of a steam stripper get a sprayer and use warm water and some fabric conditioner once you have gone over it all with a scraper and pulled off whatever you can to allow the water to penetrate better.
Steam can easily result in damaging the plaster, and a tiger (wallpaper piercing tool) can too if used too hard.

Conditioner helps the water 'grip' onto the wall for longer so helping it penetrate better - you only need a tiny bit.
 
60`s back to Deco is the in thing @ the moment - I can`t find a red formica kitchen table for less than £ 100 :cry:

Bu**er - I used on of those as a decorating table for years,then chopped it up for firewood! Why it had Formica stuck on the underside is one of life's unanswerable questions for me.

One of the main reasons (or so I have been led to believe) was to prevent the formica from distorting the table - by putting it on both sides there was an even pull, thus keeping it flat.
Really expensive kitchen worktops used to be the same which allowed them to be thinner yet still stable.
 

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