Would a base coat cover bare spots?

[Burnsie1983]

Hi all

The wall between the stairs and the The landing once had wallpaper on. I changed the wallpaper in the living room (the stairs go directly into the living room) and therefore remove the wallpaper on this bit of wall.

As you can see from the images, the plaster itself is relatively good (not full of divots etc) but it is very pitted between bare plaster and residual paint.

I'm unable to scrape the paint off as it is welded to the wall pretty well.

I want to paint the wall. I am wondering if a good quality base coat may cover these sins so that you wouldn't be able to tell what it look like underneath.

I know it would be better to skim it, but (not pictured) the banisters run down this wall. Although you can get a paintbrush or roller behind them, you wouldn't be able to get skimming tools there. You also can't seem to remove the banisters as they have been painted that many times, all the fixings are well hidden

 

[foxhole]

Coat of emulsion will highlight any imperfections that then require filling and sanding .

 

[stevie888]

Then another coat will pick up the ones you missed!