Things are getting steamy in the foyer! As a refresher, we have five rooms full of wallpaper and we’re attempting to take five different removal methods for a spin, just to see what ends up working (and what bites the big one). For our first time at the wallpaper removing rodeo we used hot water and a spray bottle, which actually worked out pretty well. And in this week’s hard-hitting Wallpaper Exposé we’ll be tackling the foyer with this guy. His name? Steamer. His game? Steaming clothes. He’s actually John’s sister’s, but it was free to borrow and we thought we’d see how it worked out for wallpaper too.
But first, a moment of silence for the small blue flowers.
Ok, let’s get it going. This is the first area of the foyer we tackled, and our method for this area was for John to run the steamer all over that section of the wall and then I followed behind him, yanking all the way.
It worked pretty well (some areas left the backing when I peeled so they had to be resteamed and reyanked, but it wasn’t too bad. I’d score it as working a smidge better than the boiling water method simply because it was probably 10% faster/easier since around 10% more of the backing seemed to come off so it didn’t have to be removed in a second pass. But when you factor in the expense of buying or renting a steamer I’d say it was only marginally better than our first (free) method of hot water in a spray bottle. So it’s kind of a toss up. Do you want to pay $20-50 for something a little bit easier or would you need it to be a whole lot easier to spend that loot? Of course someone else might swear by a steamer and say it worked in two minutes, so the paper and how it’s applied are definitely a factor too.
Oh but it got a little hairy when we had to get the tops of the walls.
Since we were only dealing with a clothes steamer the hose wasn’t built to stretch very far, so it wasn’t quite long enough for the steamer to rest on the floor while we did the upper areas (which we never thought about until we got to that part). It wasn’t too much of a big deal, but John did get a nice workout holding up the equivalent of a gallon of milk as he worked his way around the top part of the foyer. So that’s just something to think about (definitely rent/buy a wallpaper steamer over a clothing steamer if you’re actually going to spend money on something).
Around halfway through we decided to try another method, which was pulling the paper right along with the steamer, so instead of John doing a big area and then me following behind him peeling, I literally peeled as he went like so:
This method was awesome. In almost every case it removed both the wallpaper and the backing behind it so the wall was bare and perfect underneath. Must have been because there was more heat on the part we were actively peeling instead of pulling the paper off after it started cooling down and John had moved on to another area.
Another reason this second steamer method was awesome was because one person can do it, so if you have a solo meeting planned with a wallpapered room, don’t fret. You can do it. And you can look this sexy doing it:
So I’d rank this second faster-peeling steamer method as around 30% quicker & easier than the hot water/spray bottle method. Although we were tackling a larger area than a small bathroom, so it was still a substantially longer process for us. Especially when we hit this Amazing Race-ish Road Block. Layered wallpaper.
For some reason, there had been two layers of wallpaper applied to the entire front door side of the wall. But it wasn’t an older paper underneath, it was exactly the same stuff.
You guys. It was like GROUNDHOG DAY. Basically we had to do that wall twice and I’m not gonna lie. There was whining. But we got ‘er done. Eventually.
The funny thing is that we have no idea why it was doubled along that entire wall. Our only guess was that something didn’t match up so they redid it with a second layer of wallpaper to correct whatever got crooked or mismatched.
Oh and we did have one “incident” where we think the paper was glued a lot more in one spot for some reason, so our drywall’s top layer got peeled off. Pretty, eh?
My plan is just to skim coat that with some spackle and then sand it down so it’s hopefully flush with the rest of the wall and just as smooth.
After we wrestled all of the paper down I went over the walls with a spray bottle full of half vinegar and half water (not hot, just room temperature) and used the rougher scrubby side of a sponge to make sure there wasn’t any glue residue anywhere. For the most part it had all come up with the backing so there wasn’t much to scrub, but a few tacky areas were a lot smoother after this step, so it’s definitely worth adding onto the end of your peeling project.
So that’s how we steamed things up, all in the name of deflowering the foyer.
Obligatory before shot from our walk-through. You know, for closure.
Oh but you’ll notice that the closet and the bathroom doors are off in the second to last shot, since we’re actively working on taking those from blue to white. We’re also about 20% into the blue trim out there, so we can’t wait to get that done and share the photos, hopefully sometime next week (four coats = Barfville).
Has anyone else taken a steamer for a spin? Did you do the follow-right-away peeling approach, or the steam-a-section-and-then-peel method? So far we’ve loved that we’ve never had to score anything and haven’t even needed a spackle knife (hand-yanking has done the trick). So I’d definitely put that in the pro column, right along with the zero dolla (holla!) cost so far.
Stephanie says
Your crown molding looks so awesome and chunky with the wallpaper gone! I’ve been reading since 2010 but this house is the most suspenseful for me, I literally can’t wait to see what you do next (maybe cause I’m a homeowner now?). You guys seriously inspire me.
Kelsey says
You know the wallpaper was bad when it’s sheer absence improves a room’s appearance.
Shannon [Our Home Notebook] says
So impressed with how fast you guys are tackling the wallpaper and blue trim! It’s looking so much brighter in there!
Debbie says
Not sure when you got rid of the cluttery banner, but I am loving the streamlined one! :-) Cheers to getting all that wallpaper down!
Brianne says
Sherry, I just got out of a long day of work. This post made me LOL like, 10 times. Well done. And thank you!
Berit Ashby says
What are you planning to do for the trim? I am only 13 but I’m going to paint the trim in my bedroom and was just wondering if you had any recommendations on the best way to do that! (:
YoungHouseLove says
We’ll be back with a post all about how we’re tackling the trim as soon as we get the foyer checked off! Hopefully early next week :)
xo
s
Sommer says
The combo of the blue trim and flowered wallpaper reminds me of the house on Bettlejuice. I would have been tempted to say “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” just to see what happened…
YoungHouseLove says
If only that would paint the trim for me…
xo
s
Kaara says
I’ve used a clothes steamer as well and did the peel-right-after-steam method. But I still prefer using a bottle of just warm, not boiling water and feel that works best over every other method; dif gel, fabric softener, steamer, shark brand remover. The reason i dont keep going back to the steamer is because my steamer has a small reservoir and it would run out if water every 20 minutes and then take awhile to heat the new water up again! So warm water spray bottle is my winner! And luckily the cheapest method!
Good luck, I feel your wallpaper pain!
xo- Kaara
Jessica says
Looks great! Can’t wait to see what you guys do down the road (no pressure rush, just excited for your progress)!
Dory says
I’ve used the steamer method before. With the exception of some burns on my hands, I loved it! It was very effective!
Leah says
This is critical, but why with all the sexual innuendos in the titles/post itself? Come on.
YoungHouseLove says
Baby I was born this wayyyyy ;)
xo
s
Laura says
Ugh, brings back horrible memories of taking five layers of paper off in my foyer and dining room, since my house was built in the 1950s three of the layers were actual paper(not today’s kind that has a more easily peelable backing that peels off in strips). I found the Wallwik system to be a lifesaver for the older paper. The process was messy, soaking the sheets in the bathtub, spraying solution on the wall, plastering the sheets to the wall and constantly spraying to keep moist for ten minutes, then praying large sections would peel off -repeat for each layer of paper! The older paper still came off in tiny pieces. My foyer alone (two small walls above a chair rail) took two thirteen hour days. Though I hated my seventies style dining room wallpaper I waited three years to remove knowing I would have to repeat the process! I am interested if anyone else has had success with Wallwik.
Nicole says
“So that’s how we steamed things up, all in the name of deflowering the foyer.” Oh, thank you. This line brought joy to my morning like nothing else could have :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wink wink, nudge nudge ;)
xo
s
Jamie says
I used remove wallpaper professionally for 7 years, (Yes, I’ve heard every stripper joke in the book! Haha!) and in my experience, how easy wallpaper comes off is entirely dependent on how the walls were prepped underneath. Of course, you don’t know that until you get in there and tackle it! If they sized the walls, it’s better. If they primed and sized, you’re golden! Where I live, builders aren’t required to prime anything but the drywall seams, so removing wallpaper could sometimes get tricky. I had a professional grade steamer, but more often than not, it was TOO much steam which resulted in soaking the drywall and it would come off as well. After trying every method imaginable, including every “stripper in a bottle” on the market, I settled on a mixture of 20% vinegar in 80% hot water (not boiled, just the hottest the kitchen tap would provide…also makes filling the spray bottle easier). A word of caution when using a Paper Tiger or other scoring device: use a very light touch! Scoring too deep also scores the drywall and that could result in a ton of patching later. After the paper was removed I washed the walls with dish soap and water, followed with vinegar and water to get every single bit of glue off. Paint over wallpaper glue = crackle finish! And I ALWAYS primed the entire wall before painting just to make sure everything was good and sealed.
I love reading your blog, and best of luck with the stripping!
YoungHouseLove says
Love all the info Jamie!
xo
s
Kate says
Wow, I really liked the blue slate floors when you moved in, but now I love them. They look so expensive! I just really noticed how awesome all of the crown and chair rail molding is too. So much detail. The same goes for the trim on the staircase. It all looks so much more charming without the wallpaper (I’m blocking out the blue trim). I’m a huge fan of older homes, particularly mid century modest homes (I’m growing to love the mid century colonial now that I have moved from California to Connecticut). Granted, your home is much newer, it still has a lot of that mid century colonial charm that just needs to be de-eightified. Yeah, I just made up that word. De-eightified.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thanks Kate! We feel the same way! A friend of ours has a 20s colonial and a lot of the details are the same. Except no blue trim over there! Lucky them!
xo
s
Cassi says
We just bought an old house, like closed today! I am dying to know what color you are going to paint the main interior areas of your home. I am thinking of going with moonshine.
YoungHouseLove says
We love Moonshine! I’m not sure we’ll go with it again (have to see how swatches read in this house and see what we think will look nice in the foyer and leading up the stairs). Will keep you posted as soon as we pin something down :)
xo
s
Karen says
I removed six rooms of wallpaper in my house. The best method for me? Steaming. And believe me, I tried them all. Forget scoring the wall, forget chemicals. I bought a steamer for $80.00 and worked my way through three bathrooms, kitchen, dining room and foyer. Added bonus? Two layers of paper with the original layer having been painted over. Do you know how you remove wallpaper that’s been painted and is ancient, old fashioned wallpaper and not peelable? (I don’t think that’s a word.) You sand it. Then you steam it. Eventually you clean every nook and cranny in your house. I feel your pain. As for that sheetrock damage? A friend of mine is a painter and when I did that he told me to sand it first, paint with a primer (I use kilz) and then do your spackling, etc. You need to protect the paper since you’ve ripped off the first layer and it can bubble without something to help keep out moisture. He could be full of crap but I do it anyway. Actually since my paper defied all odds at removal, I did it quite a bit. Good luck.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh, that sounds like so much work Karen! I think you deserve some sort of badge for that.
xo
s
Erin Jacob says
I was inspired by your first “Wallpaper removal” post and today I removed all the wallpaper in my office space. Bye bye asian flower print! I used vinegar and warm water, soaking the paper with a sponge, and it worked well….but still slow as any wallpaper removing is. Boo!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome. High fives Erin!
xo
s
Julie says
The foyer already looks so much better without that wallpaper up. Even if the blue trim is still there glaring at you.
Krissy says
I know the blue trim is horrendous, but it looks almost-bearable with clean, white walls. Such an improvement!
Vee says
Wow! You guys are so lucky the paper came off so easily. The builders in our house applied the wall paper directly to the SHEET ROCK. Who does that??? No primer, nothin’. I tried everything but that glue back layer was horrible to remove. I still have my master bathroom to go and I am dreading it. We have tried steaming, hot water, fabric softner, the stuff you buy from the store that looks like fabric softner (I forget the name) and the scraper tool. The top layer came off ok but there was so much scrubbing and repair work it was ridiculous.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, that sucks Vee! Good luck with the master bath!
xo
s
Alex says
Everyone should own a steamer anyway because they are BASICALLY MADE OF MAGIC. I will never iron anything again. It’s so satisfying to watch wrinkles just…fall out.
YoungHouseLove says
Made of magic = the best.
xo
s
Vanessa says
I just wanted to let you guys know that Hobby Lobby has a mirror similar if not just like the one in your 2nd house’s master bath. It’s $70 and half off right now! It’s black, but I know how much you love spray painting!!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Vanessa!
xo
s
Sarah @makingitmyhome.blogspot.com says
I am planning on removing the ugly 1970’s wallpaper from my master bathroom this weekend-thanks for the tips!
Jane says
If I had all that blue trim to paint, I’d be looking at a decent quality paint sprayer for sure!
Ginny @ Goofy Monkeys says
We used an actual wallpaper steamer – from “the Depot” for about $50 – for our wallpaper nightmare. We had layers and layers of paper that was close to 30-50 years old It was a project. I will NEVER buy another wallpaper house again.
Louisa T. says
We had wallpaper galore in our current home when we bought it. We started with the foyer and stairs. Easy-peesy. The walls were “sized” properly so it came off with very little effort. In the rest of the SEVEN rooms, the wallpaper was glued directly to the bare drywall. No amount of effort would get this stuff off without totally destroying the drywall paper. We finally said to heck with this and simply replaced the drywall. And, yes, a few rooms now have two layers of drywall (which in turn created a whole new problem in trying to locate studs for hanging shelves, etc.). I firmly believe home improvement is 50% doing it the right way and 50% “make it up as you go along”.
Julie says
I want you to know this blog is my daily guilty pleasure outlet. When I saw the hideous colonial blue trim and mauve accents everywhere I got giddy with excitement knowing full well you two were planning on destroying it ASAP. Even the grody caulk post had me enthralled. Keep it up, I’m enjoying the ride.
Mary says
Yesterday, my sister and I finished stripping a 7′ x 11′ bedroom at our dad’s house. Despite the small room having two doors and two windows it took us about 18 hours to steam, scrape and wash the walls. We used a wallpaper steamer with a steam plate that is about 8″ x 10″. It works well but with two layers of wallpaper topped by one coat of paint, the job was tedious and arm-numbing. The really good part was 18 hours of sister talk-time! Glad your job was much easier.
Elizabeth says
Please work the word deflowering into as many posts as possible;)
YoungHouseLove says
Done. It’ll be like that scene in Super Trooper where they’re working “meow” into every sentence to the cop.
xo
s
Audra says
Love the look of the fresh, clean walls…goodbye Beetlejuice wallpaper. Ha.
I removed wallpaper from the master bathroom and it was a nightmare…glued onto Sheetrock…ugh. I tried everything…even used my iron for steam…The guest bathroom came off like a dream though…used Dif gel and a scoring tool. I do like the look of some wallpapers but paint is just so easy.
Molly O. says
I appreciate your detailed tutorial of wallpaper removal, but cannot say that I appreciate your immature sexual inneuendos and then your flippant reply to a comment that you made those sexually suggestive statements because that is just the way you are.
Call me prude, but I think that when your blog is your profession that a certain amount if restraint and decorum is necessary, and that you crossed the line today.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the feedback, Molly. Everyone draws the line differently (note this, this, this and this comment about enjoying those innuendos) – so you can imagine that it’s impossible for our writing to please everyone. Our response was meant as a light-hearted way of acknowledging that we just have to be ourselves, even if it does get a bit PG-13 at moments (that’s been the way we’ve written this blog from the start, and it’s what got us here so we’d never want to change our writing style). Of course it’s a matter of opinion, but both of our parents read this blog and we think it’s pretty mild (and not at all graphic) to use wordplay like “getting steamy” when using a steamer or “deflowering” a floral hallway. I think there are primetime commercials and radio versions of songs that are steamier than that :)
xo,
s
Janke says
Funny how things are done different internationally. In Germany (at least the part I live in) it’s completely and perfectly normal to have every single in the room of your house wallpapered (is this a word?) white with a neutral pattern and then paint it in a color of your choice. Maybe even several times, although I wouldn’t recommend to paint it more often than twice, because the wallpaper tends to come off the wall.
By the way: 4 coats of paint for the trim? Ugh. Hang in there! And you’re only whining and crying softly into your paintbrush? I would probably use my entire dictionary of choice words. But there are no kids around in our house, so that’s probably why. ;)
L says
Years ago (about 1977) I tried the hot water method to strip wallpaper in a circa 1870s house. Naturally, there were layers. And layers. Upon layers. And all of it was really PAPER. I used the hot water method, but, when the paper came off, so did a lot of the plaster beneath. That’s when I learned to hang drywall. And that I never, EVER want to strip wallpaper again!
Sherry says
We are in the process of updating a 1751 home and almost every room had multiple layers of wallpaper (except the hallways which just had really dark paneling). I love your blog and wish I had gotten some of these tips before we started but we are learning as we go.
We have been using a Wagner steamer we bought at Lowes for about $50 and I love the way it works. Considering how much paper we are stripping and how many layers it has been worth every penny!
Angi says
Do you know if the age of the wall paper makes removal easier or more difficult? We have some to take down that’s around 7 yrs old. After reading this post I’m not dreading it as much as I was. We had a bad previous experience with the removal gel and scoring and steaming…..not sure what they did but that stuff didn’t want to come off.
I”m so glad I started following you guys but wish I’d done it sooner! We live in VA too and passed up so many houses that look so much like your’s (Colonials, wall paper, painted trim, wood paneling 1/2 way up the wall). Now if we had gotten one of those I could be stealing your ideas on a daily basis ;)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a good question! On one hand I’d guess something really old might peel right off since the glue is so old, but maybe something hung recently (7 years sounds recent to me) might also be easier since the materials used to hang it might be easier to get lose/reverse. Anyone know?
xo
s
Eliza_Do_Lots says
Hmm…he totes does look a little sexy doing that. Kind of makes me wish I had wallpaper to steam so I too could look that hot.
Good work guys – loving watching the house take shape!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Maggie says
So, I know I should ask a question about wall paper but the REAL question on my mind is where, Sherri, did you get those GREAT JEANS?!
YoungHouseLove says
They’re Gap Skinnies! I’m a rabid fan!
xo
s
Sassafras says
That looks great guys! I’m intriguing on how that closet door is placed over the stairwell in such a cool way.
I have tried wallpaper removal. Thank God it was only a small closet sized utility area of border. It was one hot mess of three million tiny wet ooey-gooey pieces of paper when it was done and I used my Scuni/Scrunci? steamer to do it with. Ehhhhhh. Better than nothing but not by much. I too managed to mangle the sheetrock paper a bit, but thankfully it was up at the ceiling line and ended up hidden under the new crown that went up.
I too am working on getting you ‘placed’ in the new spot, but excited to see it progress. Question – is the foyer light fixture slated for Sherri’s ORB treatment??
YoungHouseLove says
I think so! I love the lines of it, so at least for a while I’d love to see it ORBed! All bets are off if we find something awesome at a lighting outlet in a few years though!
xo
s
kristen says
I spent this past week in our half bath removing the wallpaper. 3 nights x 4 hours each=gauge my eyes out!! You know you’ve been working in there too long when you start seeing whales and continents shapes in the pieces you are peeling off. I’d like to know who thought urns would make a good wallpaper.
I tried the hot water method and hot water with fabric softner. I think the only difference was the smell and how slick the floor was.
One bathroom down, two more to go. Can’t wait to see how the other methods work out for you guys!
YoungHouseLove says
Yikes, that sounds rough Kristen! Hope the other two bathrooms are easier on ya!
xo
s
Deborah says
We had rooms and rooms of wallpaper in our current house. We started by trying to remove the border in the master, but learned pretty quickly that it was adhered directly to the wall board with NO primer–my research seems to indicate this is a giant no-no in the wallpapering world, and makes it all but impossible to remove wallpaper using ANY method. After a FULL DAY of working on the BORDER, we finally got it off. But since every. single. room. in our 3000 sq ft house had wallpaper, we made the executive decision to do two coats of oil-based primer over all the wallpaper and paint over it. I hated the smell (we sent the kids to my in-laws for the week while we did all the painting), but every little corner we tried to peel with every method we knew–hot water, steamer, Paper Tiger, adhesive removers–just took chunks of wall with it. I wish we’d been able to get ours off as cleanly as yours!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, I can’t imagine how long that would have taken to get off!
xo
s
Stephanie says
the house is coming along great! I am amazed that someone kept that blue wallpaper and paint for so long!
but I have a totally unrelated question; sherry, what jeans are you wearing in the post pictures b/c you look awesome in them! I’d love to have a pair!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Stephanie. They’re Gap skinnies. Pretty much all that I wear :)
xo
s
Nancy says
My Son bought an old (1930) house with plaster, but layers of wallpaper over it in the bedrooms. We used a small wallpaper steamer and scored it and scraped with putty knife. One room had six layers, two of which had been painted over. It was a job, but with a lot of work we got it off 3 bedrooms and bathroom. They are all painted now and look great. Tough job though! Wallpaper steamer was great!
Danielle says
I use the same method in our house – clothes steamer, peel-and-go. Tedious but works. I’ve burned my hands a few times but I was a motivated ‘stripper.’ :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! You go girl.
xo
s
VICKI CORNELIUS says
Regarding the double layers of wall paper and other might have said this–
but I USED that wallpaper in house we bought decades ago–
and the pattern can be a pain to get right
IF they hung it temselves and didn’t pay attention to the pattern, I bet it came out wrong by the time the hall was all done and they had to redo the front area to get patters to match all around…
Erin says
I’m sure that someone has probably already said this, but I’ve heard (I didn’t try it) that you can use a steaming iron, but maybe not directly on the wall. It would be good if you only a small room like the bathroom.
Amy says
Awesome, clean look from your wallpaper removal! We’re in Richmond as well and have the same exact staircase (but completely carpeted. I look forward to seeing how you paint it out. We are ready to work on ours this summer.
Also, we have the same floor trim. Moving from the Midwest, we were baffled by the wood stained piece at the bottom over the painted side piece! We do have hardwoods and thought this was a transition piece. We will definitely paint it out now.
P.S Hubby works for big HVAC company in RVA. If you have forced air the cost for AC is doable.
Kate says
Nice job guys! Wow, what a difference! The foyer looks bigger without the wallpaper. Can’t wait to see what color you guys are going to go with. =)
TJ says
We had the same problem with the wall board peeling off with the wall paper. Our problem was worse because they glued the wallpaper right to the un-primed, not painted, wall board. So, speaking from experience: prime the area with paint first, then spackle and sand. The primer seals the ‘cardboard’ part of the wall so there is less bubbling when you get the spackle on. It also prevents the wall board from absorbing the paint through the spackle.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip!
xo,
s
mp says
I laughed so hard I squirted Coke out of my nose over this: “But first, a moment of silence for the small blue flowers.”