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I like painting a hundred times better than wallpapering. And I do hate grey and off white paint.
I have removed all the wallpaper in our house except for my bathroom. I'm sure it's 30 years old but I actually kind of like it. I just need to replace the peeling off border across the top. Just haven't found anything that would work yet.
I like painting a hundred times better than wallpapering. And I do hate grey and off white paint.
I have removed all the wallpaper in our house except for my bathroom. I'm sure it's 30 years old but I actually kind of like it. I just need to replace the peeling off border across the top. Just haven't found anything that would work yet.
I, too, have lived through wallpaper removal hell, but I’m open to using it in small doses sometimes. It seems to be making a comeback.
Wallpaper becomes dated significantly faster than paint colors. It’s making a comeback because it’s been gone long enough that there are a whole new set of people who have not had to remove it once they no longer liked it or, worse, wanted to sell their home. Having a real estate agent tell you the gorgeous luxury wallpaper you paid a fortune for needs to be removed or you risk your house sitting on the market for months because might seriously limit the number of buyers that will feel the house fits their style can create quite the dilemma. On the plus side, though, the two best house purchasing deals we got were because they had lots of ugly wallpaper.
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Wallpaper has its uses. As with anything, less is good..but that goes with any wallcovering that isn't simple paint. Wallpapering an entire house like the 80s wouldn't be so great...but used as an accent in several rooms? You betcha! Like I said, definitely plan on using it. And don't get cheap stuff either. Good wallpaper will have a seamless, professional look and last for decades. As for this hypothetical buyer, again, well thought out applications of wallpaper aren't a kiss of death for any house. It's making a comeback because it can actually look good and not be Grandma's chenille textured paper. It's also coming back because just about everything comes around full circle.
The only advantage of paint over wallpaper is the cost. Wallpaper cost is 10x cans of paint.
In my younger days I removed and hung a lot of wallpaper in my homes. As long as walls are properly prepped the paper is easy to eventually remove. I always used prepasted removable types and started hanging in a very square corner.
Oh man, don't remind me about wallpaper! I helped a high school friend change the wallpaper in her bedroom; the old stuff attached with a separate paste that required a massive, rented steamer, an entire weekend, a lot of sweat and misery to remove. Then repairing the gouged and damaged plaster underneath. Decades later I put up and took off a supposedly "removable" wallpaper on an accent wall in a bathroom. It was a PITA to apply (measuring, cutting and matching the pattern, trimming around fixtures, learning to live with imperfections for years afterward, etc.) and an even worse one to take off. "Removable" was a euphemism. Even a true peel and stick paper would still require much of the same effort. Never ever again! I could have painted the entire bathroom in half the time it took to deal with that one wall. OP reads like a thinly disguised ad. All that's missing is the link. Maybe we were supposed to guess?
I actually love wallpaper and in my younger days did it all the time. I have none in my current home because while I loved it then, I simply can't do the work now. That said, I understand what you mean having experienced the work you describe myself. However, if you prepare the walls beforehand, removable wall paper is a whole lot easier and if done correctly, all one needs to do is sponge the wall down to get all the glue off it. I used warm water an a little vinegar. Here and there you might need to scrape off a little old glue.
Now, I admit that having done what you did, I learned the hard way, so I would give the wall a prep coat times two with any old paint I had around and then I was always able to pretty much peel it off. I agree that for many it is a difficult task.
The funny part is anyone who has removed paper, somehow always starts with the easiest pieces, that simply peel away like soft butter, and they say, "oh wow this is easy", then they get stuck and move to another area and it comes off again easily until they hit he next hard spot and the next step is Mr. Steamer.
I have used wallpaper on an accent wall or just did a border up high in an older house with tall ceilings. However, I always hired it professionally done and bought expensive high quality wallpaper. In 1993 one of the reasons our house sold was because of the wallpaper. Now I use paint for my accent walls.
No, I'm actually looking for a replacement border - it's up high against the ceiling. The wallpaper in the bathroom is still pretty and in good shape, but the border is extremely dated and needs replaced.
I have all plaster walls in my house. There's no way I'd mess them up by applying wallpaper and then potentially damage them if I changed my mind about the color or pattern. With paint I can change the color easily and fairly inexpensively, although I love the color the house is painted at present.
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