For a change of pace, I thought I’d bring you a little farm project that involved the interior instead of the exterior.  Like everyone else on the planet, I LOVE me some busy wallpaper. Can I get an Amen? In our last house, I actually put up wallpaper on a single wall as an accent and truly enjoyed looking at it everyday.  I think I got the idea during one of my HGTV phases. I was probably transitioning out of House Hunters International (we’ve all gotta dream!) over to Income Property and I saw him redo a basement with this really awesome orange geometric print on one wall and I said “I must do this.”  In case you’re interested, the product I used was Graham Brown and I would totally use them again.  [Sidenote: can we talk about how much the dude from Income Property looks like Roger Federer, the tennis player?  They must be related.]

The thing about wallpaper IMHO is quantity.  Can you do wallpaper in every room? Umm, sure.  Far be it from me to yuck your yum. But you can’t do every wall of every room.  You’ve got to think about balance since in a normal day you’ll be walking from one room to the next and you need not be visually accosted every time you enter a room.  And I believe I’ve said before, we live in a farmhouse from 1890 so wallpaper actually fits the vibe but… I needed to tone it down just a tad.

I’ve never removed wallpaper.  Something to think about when you’re putting it up, “Will I be the one removing this?” as it may change your approach.  But I watched some youtube videos, talked to a couple friends and was like, sure, I can do this. Seems easy and straightforward.  Wrong, wrong and wrong. So to save you the frustration I experienced, here are the tips I wish someone had told me (that YouTube didn’t!).

1. Start with the smallest room/wall.

This is the one and only decision that went my way.  You never know what challenges you’ll run into that will delay progress or what other project will surface causing this one to be back burnered.  

2. There is no single way to remove wall paper.  I tried these three combinations with about 20% success (and 56% frustration)

A. Roll fabric softener on to the wallpaper with a paint roller, let it soak in, do another coat.  Attempt to remove wallpaper.

B. Score the wall paper first, then do the fabric softener per above.

C. B + A only I substituted actual wallpaper stripping liquid + used a scraper to lift an edge of the dampened wallpaper.

None of these approaches allowed me to pull off sizeable strips of paper (picture how annoying it is to try to peel a price tag off a package and bingo, that was me).  I was getting shavings and slivers, especially after scoring the wallpaper, which was pretty bewildering because so many videos and links said the scoring was a critical step. I understood the premise to be that the adhesive must be loosened in order to remove the wallpaper.  But the fabric softener, wallpaper remover liquid, and scorer seemed ineffective in penetrating the adhesive. I don’t quite understand how you are supposed to penetrate a glossy-ish exterior without scoring, but then once the surface was scored it was too shredded.  

3. Don’t spend a lot on any special tools or products.

I bought the Zinsser scoring tool, scraper and stripper.  I’m not saying these are bad products, they just didn’t work for me.  This goes back to tip #1 as well. If you start with a small room/spot you can experiment with tools you already likely have, like a paint scraper.

4. Probably the biggest predictors of success are whether the wallpaper was applied correctly to begin with and the surface to which it was applied.

If you are the one who is putting it up and taking it down, then congratulations!  But that brings up a whole ‘nother set of questions as to why you are putting up and taking down wallpaper just for kicks…  Two of the walls in this room appeared to be unfinished (just sheetrock drywall panels) underneath the wallpaper so I think that presented challenges with regard to how the adhesive set in.

5. Start with a steamer.  

This ended up being the one and only strategy that worked.  In all fairness, Cactus did tell me to try this first and I ignored him.  Not being one who steams or irons my clothes, I just didn’t think those little machines were legit.  Well, apparently they are and maybe you already have one or have a friend who has one. Many local hardware stores also rent equipment and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a steamer for rent.

Bottom line, I don’t have any fail proof tips for you but when I attempt the next room (because we got four more rooms that have dazzling walls), I am going to start with the steamer.