Help, woeful results painting wall after stripping wallpaper!

[gap]

I came home from work the other day to find my wife had pulled down the wallpaper of an admittedly rather tasteless 'feature wall' in the bedroom.

My initial reaction was one of mild despair at the prospect of another job to do this weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the exposed wall finish was very good and looked ready to paint.
Cue a quick trip to "Bunnings" which has replaced our local Homebase, though it seems in name mostly - all looks pretty much as it was before although they've added a kids play area and some balloons at the door.
Rollers in hand we slapped on a coat of white emulsion as a base coat but were horrified to see a pulp-like texture appearing a few minutes after applying the paint. I'm not sure if it is wallpaper adhesive or some lining paper residue.
In a moment of panic we scraped off the half dry paint-pulp. This seemed to work quite well and when it dried we set about a new coat of emulsion.
Unfortunately after this dried it it still looked pretty bad. I tried smoothing the worst areas with some filler, but this turned out to be another terrible idea. Now we have contrasting areas of unnaturally smooth surface next to the rough patches.

Before I try another of my 'clever ideas', I think I should turn this one over to you lot for some pointers.
The wall finish is currently not good enough to take the posh paint we bought, but not bad enough to consider getting a plasterer in to fix it.
Pictures attached. Thanks very much for any scraps of wisdom you can sympathetically throw our way.
Thanks!

 

[Jadele]

could you not just sheet it all up, don a mask and get a power sander on it?

 

[Doggit]

Apply 1400 guage lining paper, then a mist coat, then the emulsion of your choice. Would have been better to just paint the wallpaper in the first place.

 

[Jadele]

Would have been better to just paint the wallpaper in the first place.

LOL salt and wounds

 

[Doggit]

Sometimes, you've just got to say it how it is; at least the missus will discuss the matter next time.

 

[darkan9el]

Skim it with plaster, if its as rough as it looks lining paper ain't going to cover that unless you cross line it with grade 1400.

 

[Doggit]

But it had wallpaper last time, so 1400 grade should cover it very nicely. Trying to skim it would require a lot more work to clean the wall, but yes, it might be necessary at the end of the day.

 

[gap]

Thanks all for the advice. If I apply the 1400 grade lining paper, and do a good job of it with the edges butted up to each-other neatly, will there will be visible join lines after painting?

 

[Doggit]

That will very much depend on you're papering skills. Make sure you push towards the previous strip, and then make sure you don't push too hard away from it when you do the other side of the paper. If they're well butted together, then there's a good chance that they won't come apart as they dry.

 

[gap]

I see. Thank-you. Will post up the result, hopefully this weekend if I can distract the 2 year old for long enough!

 

[gap]

Update: I wasn't confident in my ability to line the walls without any visible join lines, so decided to flatten it using an orbital sander borrowed from work. I emptied the room before starting but was still shocked by the amount of dust - I've never seen anything like it! At least a 1mm thick layer settled on any horizontal surface.
It took much longer to clean the room than to do the sanding, but the wall now looks terrific. After sanding it had a glass-like smoothness, which was nicely ruffled by the texture of the paint roller, leaving a crisp, elegant finish.
Thanks very much for the advice. I'm not sure I'd recommend the method unless you can stay out the room for a day or so, but I'm pleased with the result.