Send out the ravens! (yes, that’s a Game of Thrones reference). Wallpaper stripping has commenced.
I was actually really excited to tackle the half bathroom’s wallpaper removal project, because I am a strange breed of human and that’s my idea of a good time. And since we have five rooms full of wallpaper (the foyer, the half bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room, and our bathroom), I decided that I would try a different removal method for each one and report back with the pros/cons about each approach as I went, all in the hopes of sussing out which ones bite the big one and which ones seem to work the best. I’m telling you guys, I’m like one of those people who works in “risk management” and gets their kicks watching paint dry. So hold onto your hats, it’s about to get crazy up in here.
My first step was to clear things out (the soap pump, mirror above the sink, toilet paper, etc). Just so I don’t have any accessories in the way of the serious peelage that I was about to dive into.
Then I removed the wall plates to free up some edges of the paper and hopefully make the removal process easier (there are two light switches and an outlet). I couldn’t help but marvel at the dedication that was once put into this wallpaper job – the outlets were papered and the flowers even matched up.
Next I boiled a pot of water on the stove, since the method I’m trying this time is intensely simple, but I’ve also heard that it works like gangbusters. Get ready for my method guys. Here it comes. Oh my gosh, it’s…. boiling water sprayed on the wall. That’s it. No scoring, no steamer, no spackle knife, no application with a weed sprayer, no fabric softener. While I’ve also heard awesome things about those methods, the simple boiling water applied with a spray bottle approach seemed like a good place to start. If it stunk, it was the smallest room (and if it straight up didn’t work I could abandon that method and move onto something else).
And speaking of moving onto something else, this approach almost went off the rails immediately? Why? Well, I had this vat of boiling water on the stove and I was holding my spray bottle thinking “how am I going to fill this without dripping hot water all over myself?” – seriously I stood there a solid minute wondering how I was going to avoid giving myself third degree burns filling the bottle. I stared at my ladle and thought “no way, that’s going to drip out all over my hands” and then finally slipped the empty capless spray bottle itself into the boiling water and used the ladle to hold it under the water. I heard that comforting glug-glug-glug sound as it filled itself up, which was music to my apparently burn-a-phobic mind. Then I used the same ladle that I had used to submerge it so it would fill itself up to fish out the bottle without touching the boiling water itself.
I used one of those silicone pot holder things to hold the bottle as it came out and then attempted to secure the top of the spray bottle and that’s when I realized – DUH! – that the bottle had warped from the boiling water…
Guys, what was I thinking? I have no idea. I blame it on wallpaper-stripping-excitement. I was as wired as a kid hopped up on four boxes of Nerds. But I realized that the spray bottle still sprayed even without a perfectly shaped bottom or a perfectly attached nozzle, and in a very “the show must go on” moment I walked into the bathroom and just started spraying. Worked just fine.
What I learned:
- Spraying the entire room with boiling water and then attempting to peel the paper is a lot less effective than saturating small sections at a time (ex: half of one wall) and then peeling while the paper is still wet and loose. When I attempted to spray the whole room first (even a small room like a bathroom) by the time I got back to the first part I sprayed it was starting to dry and re-attaching itself to the wall. It came off much easier when I moved in smaller sections.
- Constantly spraying that bottle does get a little old (your wrist/forearm gets a little Jillian Michaels-ish workout) but it wasn’t bad enough that I cried or anything. I’ve heard that filling one of those plastic weed-spray containers from Home Depot gives your arm a huge break, so that might be helpful in a larger room, but I had such little wiggle room in the bathroom (there was a chair in there with me sometimes so I could reach a few high parts) that a big gallon sprayer would have cramped the room even more.
- I needed to use a silicone pot holder to hold the bottle the entire time I was spraying since the bottle itself was still really hot, but the super hot water really seemed to get the paper off the wall well, so it was worth it to bring the heat, so to speak.
- Almost all of the front of the wallpaper came off in the first round of spraying and peeling, which took about 1.5 hours. Then I re-sprayed the entire wall again since the backing/glue was still there in most places, and that came off in a second round of peeling, which took about 1.5 hours. So all told, it was about a three hour project from start to finish.
But when I was done I had a garbage bag full of wallpaper and white walls!
Glorious, glorious, de-flowered white walls.
Which was definitely a welcome sight after seeing this for the last few weeks…
And now I can make loud proclamations, like “hear ye, hear ye, my house has four different types of wallpaper instead of five!” Not that I’m anti-wallpaper (I actually linked to a few options in this post that I’d love to see in here someday). Oh and I saved a small flowery wallpaper remnant from my removal process because I think it would be fun to frame little squares of each one of them somewhere – just for the memories. So… one room (and one wallpaper method removal) down, four to go…
Psst- OK, who’s watching Whodunnit? We saw the first episode last night and we’re hooked.
Emily @ My Love for Words says
I spent my weekend doing the same! I actually used a steamer, which was heavenly compared to the hot water/fabric softener solution we tried last time. We have a ton of wallpaper in our new home too, and I’ve already noticed a big difference in how easily the paper comes off. I’ve heard it’s based on how it was installed and whether or not the installer used sizing. The paper in our laundry room peels off in huge sheets without anything (amazing!). The paper in our half bath, however, is a complete mess. I just hope the other rooms had sizing applied like the laundry. I can’t wait to see how the other methods work! :)
Amanda says
Thanks for the tip! I’ve got a wallpaper boarder that I need to remove, but I hadn’t come up with an easy, cheap way to try to get it removed. I’ll be trying this method soon!
Stacey says
I’ve spent way more than 3 hours removing wallpaper from my parents’ bathroom this week. Softener worked on the glue, but the top layer was killer. NOTHING came off in sheets – just itty bitty pieces. I wanted to cry. But, it did get done, cabinets got stained, holes got filled, and walls are now primed, so just gotta paint and put stuff back! If I never deal with wallpaper again, it will be too soon!
Tanya says
I’m on my second house with wallpaper…lots and lots of wallpaper. I’ve tried hot water, vinegar, fabric softener…the fastest way I’ve found is to suck it up and buy the DIF from Home Depot (Zebra from Lowe’s sucks). Oh, and the Guardzz product afterward to seal in any left over glue from seeping through the paint.
I have one small room and half a foyer to go..Good luck!
MeredithS says
Looks great! were the walls smooth and paintable after the paper came down? or is there more prep to do before painting?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, almost all of the walls are smooth and ready to paint. There are some tacky spots that I’ll wipe down with a magic eraser or sand to be sure they’re smooth just in case and it’s good to go.
xo
s
Meg M. says
Lucky you! Our wallpaper removal didn’t go so smoothly. The previous owners had noticed that the edges were starting to pull away from the wall so they took a pretty hard core approach to reattaching it. They superglued all the edges down to the plaster walls. Needless to say, it was a huge disaster, and all in all it took us weeks to finish the project.
MeredithS says
Looks great! were the walls smooth and paintable after the wall paper was off? or is there something else to do before you guys can paint it? We have wallpaper in our dinning room, and I am nervous to start tackling it, in case it turns into a pandora’s box project.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, almost all of the walls are smooth and ready to paint. There are some tacky spots that I’ll wipe down with a magic eraser or sand to be sure they’re smooth just in case and it’s good to go.
xo
s
Melissa K says
Oh my goodness, this is quite timely and I’m super stoked to read the results of your experiments! We just bought and moved into an 1860s house with wallpaper in 3 rooms (powder room, main bathroom, and dining room) and we’ve been trying to decide which method to use to remove it all. We have some time to figure it out, since I’m 37 weeks pregnant, and don’t plan on tackling any of those rooms until at least the fall. Thanks for taking one for the team and trying out a bunch of different methods!
Kimberly says
It looks so much better! Since the wallpaper appears to have been done so precisely, with the pattern matching on the outlet and all, it could have been hung professionally. That likely means they used wallpaper sizing, which is something you apply to the walls before applying wallpaper. It makes the wallpaper apply more smoothly, but also allows it to be removed much more easily down the road. I hope you have this much success with all your wallpaper removal! http://www.askthebuilder.com/wallpaper-on-drywall-the-right-way/
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s hoping!
xo
s
Jaimee says
We have removed SO MUCH wallpaper between this house and our last, and I have found hot water in a spray bottle works best – even better than a steamer! I don’t even bother to go the boiling route – just run the tap until the water is hot, hot, hot! Can’t wait to see if you have a different preferred method :)
Amy says
Does it matter the finish of the wallpaper? (I’m not sure that’s the right word :P) I tried hot water on some nasty wall paper at my moms, and it just kind of trickled down the outside. Talk about a night mare! It’s still half-finished. Maybe one of these ways will inspire me. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds like you have vinyl wallpaper, I hear that’s such a pain and is impervious to water!
xo
s
Amy says
Yes! I think it is vinyl. I haven’t thought about it in so long…I blocked it from my memory! :)
NathanD says
We had multiple layers of walpaper in several rooms of our current house. We used warm water mixed with downy. We sprayed a small area at a time, let it set in for a bit and it peeled right away. It was a SLOW process, but WELL worth the effort. Your bathroom looks great. Any ideas on what color you are goig to paint it?
YoungHouseLove says
We have some dreams of doing new wallpaper (link in the last paragraph) but that might be down the line, so if we paint it first we’re not sure what color we’ll go with!
xo
s
gena says
I peeled many a room of wallpaper in the last 30 years of home ownership and I never used boiling water, just hot tap water in an old windex bottle. Worked like a charm every time!
I’m enjoying watching the progress…
gena
Carrie says
Another vote for the vinegar. Even though it smells bad, it doesn’t last too long.
You’re lucky that the wall underneath your wallpaper was painted. In our 1981 colonial they put the wallpaper directly on the unfinished drywall. We had a lot of touch up to do after that (in addition to having to prime the walls.. boo!)
Heidi says
Make sure to check your walls to see how much glue is left on the walls. Just wet the wall a bit and see if it’s still sticky. If it is, just scrub the walls with some hot soapy water and rinse with very diluted vinegar. Sometimes painted walls that still have glue underneath will bubble in the heat and humidity of summer.
Unfortunately, our kitchen was a VERY professional wallpaper job done in the 60s and the glue did not want to stop working. So my arms were feeling very Ralph Macchio by the time I got all the residue off.
YoungHouseLove says
Great tip Heidi!
xo
s
Chelsea says
You need the “Ove Glove” for this project. It’s pretty great. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Renee says
I’m sure you both already know this as DIY gurus, but in the Midwest we texture our drywall. I’ve noticed in certain geographical areas, they don’t do this. I feel it is especially necessary after stripping wallpaper. There are many different texture options that would hide the “scraping” marks, if you have any.
Looks awesome, and congrats on the new house!
Linda says
Just curious – where in the Midwest is that done? I’m in Chicago, and 90% of the walls I’ve seen are smooth.
Renee - Hansen Family Chaos says
Linda – I know! I grew up in the Chicagoland area and all the walls are smooth, it’s so weird. I would think any contractor would know what an “orange peel” or “knockdown” texture is. I currently live in Iowa so not that far from Illinois.
Howard says
We bought a house two years ago with wallpaper in every room that we took down. You are right on about the tank sprayer… its a requirement. We found hot water + fabric softener worked the best in our house. The real excitement comes when you find multiple layers adheared to a wall that wasnt primed before the paper was hung… good times!
Samantha says
Glad to see the wallpaper go. Maybe a teakettle would help with filling the spray bottle next time?
YoungHouseLove says
For sure!
xo
s
Heather @ Barefoot Crafts says
I’m so happy you posted this because our new house has a few wallpapered areas. The biggest problem is that the hallway is wallpapered and then painted over. Any suggestions on how to conquer that would be greatly appreciated!
Judy says
Will the boiling water method work if the wallpaper is on top of other wallpaper? The wallpaper underneath is absolutely hideous!
YoungHouseLove says
It should work one layer at a time (so you can do the top one, then respray and try to peel the one under it). Hope it helps!
xo
s
McKenzie says
That is awesome! We had the ugliest wallpaper I had ever seen when we moved in. Imagine baby pink and baby blue southwest. Oh yeah, baby! I used a similar method, except instead of a spray bottle I used a steamer so I didn’t have to breath yucky chemicals and I didn’t have to hold the hot water. It peeled off like butter! (Imagine the SNL skit voice for that line). Congrats on the newly deflowered walls! :)
Kerry says
What about making a rug for Clara’s doll house out of the wallpaper? Maybe she can then switch out her rugs depending on Olivia’s mood!
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo
s
Kelly says
I think I used all methods possible in our old house. It was a 1907 Victorian. In the master bedroom I scraped off 13 layers. It was like really annoying archaeology. At the end I realized that some of the old plaster walls were only still standing because of that wall of paper, ugh! Good luck! Can’t wait to see each room transform :-)
Roxanne M says
Looks great Sherry!
Quick question~ Did you have to re-heat the water at all during the process?
YoungHouseLove says
Whenever I ran out of water (maybe four times per spraying session, of which there were two) I refilled with re-boiled water, so it stayed super hot.
xo
s
Amy says
Wallpaper testing method feedback – I’ve removed a LOT of wallpaper from both my parents house and my own, and while I’ve mostly just used the hot water method you described here I’ve found there were huge differences in the effectiveness of that method based on the different textures and qualities of the wallpaper itself and the glue that was used to hang it originally. So the removal technique that works best may say more about the wallpaper itself than the method.
YoungHouseLove says
Very true! I’m crossing my fingers that all of the wallpaper cooperates as well as the bathroom stuff did!
xo
s
Rachel Young says
Be careful. Squirting over and over again (esp while using a bulky pot holder) could give you a repetitive stress injury. I had one of those and they’re expensive to treat with physical therapy. Think about investing in a pump action garden sprayer–def cheaper than (multiple!) trips to the doctor.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the warning Rachel!
xo
s
Kristin says
Yay!! I am so excited that you have a post about wallpaper removal. We moved into our house 2 years ago and while we originally thought we had 3 rooms with wallpaper (2 bathrooms and bedroom), we soon discovered when we painted our hallway, that the previous owners painted over textured wallpaper in the hallway and office so now the tally is 4 rooms and a hallway… My husband is adamantly against their removal because he says it will take forever and ruin the sheet rock. I, on the other hand, have a well planned timeline for wallpaper stripping. Can’t wait to hear which works best!!
PS: I was reminded of our bathroom when you removed the carpet in your sunroom. Our first floor bathroom has wallpaper and had lovely white carpet. The previous owners were so detailed oriented, they actually had the same carpet on the floor, on the doors of the vanity. That was the first to go…
Meredith Nolley says
Has anyone ever used a clothing steamer to remove paper on walls? It seems like the easiest (less hazardous) way to clear out wallpaper, but I don’t know…
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, lots of people like that too. It’ll be one of my attempts for sure!
xo
s
Emma says
Congrats! I had to remove wallpaper in my 1960s ranch. We used a steamer and it was pretty crazy because ONE of the rooms had this spectacularly glam textured aluminum wallpaper that acted as a heat shield between the steamer and the glue on the back of the paper. We had to use a really cool putty knife-like tool that had a long arm and a sharp edge to scrape the aluminum paper off. I also saved a piece of wallpaper (white and silver metallic chevron) and put it in a white Ikea frame – makes for a good story.
Gina says
Hi $herdog! Has anyone suggest water and vinegar in a spray bottle? Worked like a charm for us on plaster walls, which was especially scary. It should be easier on sheet rock. Also, I can’t tell the color of the wallpaper on my monitor. Is it the dreaded peach and green? Happy scraping!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, that seems to be the favorite method actually, so maybe I’ll try that next! Then I’ll do the steamer, etc…
xo
s
FRECKLES CHICK says
You did an AMAZING job de-flowering the powder room. (Am I the 103rd person to make that joke?) This blank canvas is just waiting for all the possibilities, so exciting!!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, only like the third or so ;)
xo
s
Jamie D says
I’m embarrassed (happy?) to admit that i’m going to be hanging on to every word of this wallpaper removal, and the only wallpaper in my house is what i put up myself (awesome paintable 3-D square wallpaper! Graham & Brown- take a look J&S when you go to hang your own choice of paper).
It’s almost as good as watching the penny tile day by day in your kitchen reno!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome Jamie!
xo
s
Melly says
I LOVE Graham & Brown textured wallpaper! I used their paintable beadboard wallpaper and no one can tell that it’s not the real thing.
june says
gotta love the effort put into wrapping those outlet covers! but bye bye wallpaper! :)
and oh man…whodunnit was quite interesting! i do wonder how they make the victim look like the real person though…
YoungHouseLove says
I think there are lots of cuts. For example the guy running in a fire suit is a stunt guy and then they put makeup on the real person and shoot close ups later for TV (like the face in the pool) and then the person just lies there breathing in the morgue with makeup on while the contestants examine them.
xo
s
linda says
I can relate to the poor bottle, for despite not having a perfectly shaped bottom or perfectly attached nozzle, I still function as well :)
YoungHouseLove says
I just laughed out loud. Comment of the day.
xo
s
Alex says
HA! Hilarious. :)
Mikey says
I’m very disappointed in the mature way you danced around the term ‘de-flowering’.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha! But what about the title of the post? A gentle nod, no? I like to picture myself sending out a little wink with the deflowering mention… you know, to those who know my fifth grade sense of humor ;)
xo
s
keapdx says
Ooohh.. you might need an electric teakettle (besides a non-melty spray bottle (would your sprayer thingy screw on to a regular glass bottle of some kind?). Electric teakettle = portable (you could have it handy in the room you are in) and pourable into your spray bottle… Who needs excess appliances, but they aren’t super expensive and are almost as fast as microwaving for the odd cup of tea or ramen.
stefanie says
When my mom and step dad moved into their current house, they knew they were going to change the hall bath wallpaper too…it was dogs on chairs. No joke. Dogs on chairs. So, at the house warming party, my mom set up chalk in the bathroom and told people to help themselves to giving the dogs a voice. It was hilarious!
https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.kline.397/photos#!/photo.php?fbid=2391596482414&set=pb.1625963293.-2207520000.1372096164.&type=3&theater
YoungHouseLove says
The pic is private, but that sounds hilarious!
xo
s
Amanda says
I have been looking forward to Whodunnit ever since I saw the first commercial. Total sucker for murder mysteries, and a game at that. My husband and I watched it, and were dying (no pun intended) laughing 5 minutes into it. Awesome and hilarious! What more could we ask for? Where did they find these people, willing to walk around a room all alone pitching their idea of what happened? Love it. I’m in!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, the big pacing-around-the-room confession is hilarious. Also when the butler said “also we have finger sandwiches” we busted out laughing!
xo
s
Danielle says
So cheesy! It reminds me of the show from maybe ten years ago, The Mole. Loved that show too. The big room confession is a little much, it’s almost too cheesy to watch, but it’ll be a fun summer show. My bet is Melina, the curly haired girl. No real reason why, but I’m already convinced it’s her. What are ya’lls guesses?
YoungHouseLove says
I have it narrowed down to two people that I’m pretty confident about, but I’m waiting to see at least one more show to be sure…
xo
s
Chyenne says
Game of Thrones reference FTW!!!
Sarah Delacueva says
Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to hear the results of your other methods! And then I want to go back in time and use the best one in my house. A few years ago, we bought a 1,700 square foot 1904 construction with wall paper in EVERY room. That was 13 different wall papers (most of them floral)! My husband and I spend six weeks removing wall paper, patching our plaster walls, and repainting (fortunately with the help of both of our sets of parents) before we finally moved in. It was kind of dreadful for us, but it was so wonderful to make the house our (completely non-floral) own. Good luck!
Lindsay says
This is fabulous and you always make me laugh out loud with your quips. We dream someday of a whole-house-redo, but until then, we are loving our quaint apartment in Hawaii and moving around the world where the military sends us;)
Stacy says
The previous owners of my new house painted directly over a wallpaper border in the bathroom. I’m not sure if there is any way to still try to remove it or if I’ll just be stuck with it forever. I’m really sad about it.
Glad this removal process worked fairly well for you.
Stephanie says
Wow, I’ve never heard of this method and can’t wait to try it out now! The people we bought our house from renovated the bathrooms before listing the house last summer *and then added new border* to the hall bathroom. Naval ships. It needs to come down.
Jennifer says
So, do you have an idea of what other methods you’ll be trying? My mother swears by diluted fabric softener, but I’ve been scared to try anything. I know I have more than one layer of wallpaper, and we’ve also found that many of the walls in my 1950 house aren’t actually drywall; they’re some sort of layered pressed paperboard that does NOT appreciate getting damp. My husband is scared of home improvement projects because his hatred of drywalling is so strong, and he’s afraid this stuff will dissolve if we touch it the wront way.
YoungHouseLove says
We have a lot of suggestions that we can’t wait to try out (like the fabric softener one, the vinegar and water one, a steamer, etc). Should be fun to see how they go!
xo
s
Alison says
So question about the tile in there, is it blue? Gray? some pictures look Blue and others look gray. Are you planning on keeping it?
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a blue-gray slate (we think). We’d love to work with it but some of it’s damaged in a few areas, so we’ll have to see if we can save it.
xo
s
amy @ drivethirtythree says
yay for wallpaper removal. nice work!!
but on to more important things…laaahhhooovved whodunnit! i so want to be on that show. i already have my guess on who the killer is..but i know it’s way too early to make sure outlandish proclamations!
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I told John by the third episode we have to write down our guess in a sealed envelope and see if we’re right at the end…
xo
s
Trish says
Your new house’s decor reminds me SO MUCH of the home I grew up in, it’s eerie. Except instead of all that blue my mom chose a color she called “dusty rose”. Oh, the ’80s.
My parents still live in the same house, though they’ve completely updated it in the last couple of years. I’ll admit I LOVED the house before the updates – it was what I grew up with and so close to my heart. It’s weird to watch the process you’re going through now and think about what someone would have had to deal with if my parents had decided to sell their house without updating it first. I miss the decor of my childhood, but I know my folks did the right thing. (And their updates really are gorgeous, so I should probably get over my nostalgia!)
Lisa says
Great job. Can’t wait to see other techniques. I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but next time, use a funnel to pour the water into the bottle :) Taking down wallpaper is a big pain the bum. LOL I know some people love peeling the paper off. We used vinegar mixed with hot water once, it worked ok but stunk. Hehehehee.
Evonne says
Counting 10 different types of wallpaper (some layered) in our house, I’m keenly awaiting the results of your wallpaper removal experiment! Just curious about whether your walls are plaster or drywall? We found that on some walls, the wallpaper was keeping the plaster together.
Also, this sounds like a good use for those double action spray bottles that spray both when you squeeze and depress: http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=70801&cat=2,42194,40727
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for that link! So cool! As for the walls, they’re all drywall, so we’ll have to see how it goes with them…
xo
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