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.
Julia @ Cuckoo4Design says
I have never witnessed anybody as excited as you about removing wallpaper LOL! Too funny! Maybe it is the same way how I get excited about pressure washing. I actually had a dream about my excitement for washing our house the other night and the hubs told me that I was nuts. There is just something about seeing the dirt coming off…LOL
Looks so much better now!
Jill says
I haven’t read through all the comments to see if this has been mentioned, but my fave way to remove wallpaper is to use a squirt bottle with half warm water/half vinegar. Spray on, let it soak in, and then pull off. Works like a charm,no chemicals, and is very inexpensive! The vinegar also cuts the sticky residue that the wallpaper paste can leave on the wall. Am anxious to see what other methods you use, and how well they work. Good luck!
YoungHouseLove says
There seem to be lots of fans of this method, so it might have to be next!
xo
s
Alissa says
I’m excited to see which method(s) work best for you. After removing TOO MUCH WALLPAPER in my lifetime, I’m ready to never ever do it again. Especially after I figured out that wallpaper stripper gives me hives. Or maybe it’s just removing wallpaper that does that…
The only problem I foresee with using a different method in each room is that (in my experience) different wallpapers have different glues. I’ve done some that peels off with no water or stripper or anything, and others that require scoring, cussing, and hours and hours of labor.
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, that’s a bit of my fear too, although we’re nearly positive the paper all went up at the same time by the same people (experts we believe) so we hope there might be some sort of consistency… who knows though!
xo
s
Alissa says
Worst case scenario, if you find out that the kitchen wallpaper is horrifically sticky and your method of experimentation is causing inordinate amounts of tears and words-inappropriate-for-Clara’s-ears, I’m sure none of your readers would fault you for switching to some other method after a valiant attempt. At least I won’t. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Alissa! We definitely are committed to trying every method, but we’ll document them and then bag them and switch to something that works if anything’s a bust!
xo
s
Erik says
It’s great that you saved a small piece of wallpaper to look back on & posibly make a shadow box like collage of all the different wallpapers. Our house had 5 different wallpapers as well (Foyer, Dining Room, Kitchen, 2 Bathrooms). We are down to the Kitchen & 1 bathroom! YES!! :) We saved a small piece from each room, and plan on making a collage out of the 5 small pieces and framing it.
When we removed the wallpaper in the Dining Room, we found where they had written on the drywall when & who it was wallpapered by. 1991 really was the year of the floral! haha
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s
Bonnie says
Lucky you, that it came off so easily, and didn’t even damage the walls!
cat says
What i find helpful when scrapping wallpaper off is using a CD that you no longer listen to. It doesn’t damage the wall and it helps me to get the every last bits of the wallpaper off the wall. :)
christina @ homemade ocean says
I have only removed wallpaper once…and it was torture with some solution and a steamer and all that nonsense. I will have to keep this in mind for the next time!!!
Question: did you drop the bottle much? Anytime I try to use those silicon pot holders I have a really hard time keeping a good grip (although ours doesn’t look as deep as yours)
YoungHouseLove says
I think I was oddly aware of not wanting to drop it so I clutched it like crazy. So amazingly there were no spills!
xo
s
eileen marie says
In case you didn’t know/hadn’t seen, your office chairs are featured in BHG!
http://www.bhg.com/blogs/better-homes-and-gardens-style-blog/2013/06/22/best-of-the-blogs-furniture-refreshes/
YoungHouseLove says
No way! Thanks for the tip!
xo
s
Elizabeth says
I appreciate your excitement over peeling wallpaper! I didn’t have any to peel in my house when I bought it, but I did enjoy scraping old linoleum from the kitchen floor and peeling paint from doorways! People always look at my funny when I tell them I love to peel things! Haha :)
Sarah @ The Ugly Duckling House says
I have the exact same plan with my old wallpaper! I’ve been saving the “good” pieces from each room as I’ve gone through the guest bedroom, all three bathrooms, dining room, and kitchen. I have been trying to think of a great way to display them and think I’ve come up with something interesting. Of course, it won’t feel proper to create this little piece of art until the kitchen is done. Sooooommmmeeedaaaaayyyy….
betty says
i used this method to de-wallpaper my kitchen when i moved in last year. lets just say we got into the house at 12pm after closing and were in there until 12am that night. instead of ‘boiling water’ we used our shark steamer. it worked great.. it was just a lot of wallpaper.
Alisa says
Our house is completely wall paper free after what seemed like an entire year of removing it. Unlucky for us they used it to hide gaps in dry wall in the kitchen. So it wasn’t nearly as pretty when it came down as we hoped. I did love the wall paper in our entry way (the kids that lived here previously destroyed major parts of it with permanent marker drawings), so I cut scraps into little flower shapes and poked holes on them so I could put them on some dried sticks in a vase.
Stephanie says
I have an 8 month old baby and I’m desperate to paint our bedroom. Any tips on painting with little ones in the house? I’m worried about fumes.
YoungHouseLove says
I would definitely use no-VOC paint (Olympic Premium or Benjamin Moore’s Natura both are options for you) and try to do it when they’re sleeping for the night with lots of lights on in the room so you don’t miss anything :)
xo
s
Caitlin says
the bug sprayer suggestion was my idea! Can’t wait for you to try it…its such a life saver!
Same thing still applies, do it in small sections. When the paper was really stuck on there we went over it a few times before starting to rip, then it would come off (glue too!) in sheets.
We never actually boiled water, just used the hottest water possible from our tub to fill it up. Also, I noticed the wallpaper came off much easier in bathrooms with showers (and we had 2!). It was a little tricker with bedrooms and the kitchen.
aint no party like a wallpaper removal party!
Janel says
OMG, I was literally LOL-ing at every other sentence!!! Dearest Sherry, you just made my week! Xoxo!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw shucks, thanks Janel.
xo
s
AnnieK says
We also just moved into a house with heinous wall paper in 2 bathrooms and ALL over the kitchen…question: did you consider just painting over it instead of removal? Can you tell I’m extremely lazy?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, but I’ve heard horror stories about painted over wallpaper, so I would definitely recommend spending the time (even if it ends up being 8 hours or even a few weeks of on and off work) just because we hear that painted paper can be terrible (and MUCH harder to get off after it’s painted, so you’re stuck with it).
xo
s
Meredith says
I would love to hear about this! We have a hallway and dining room where wallpaper was applied directly to the wall- it was never painted- so we’ve been told that we’d have to actually re-sheetrock the rooms to remove the paper. Has anyone (successfully) painted over paper?
YoungHouseLove says
Anyone?
xo
s
Kate says
This looks great! Wow, the improvement in the bathroom just from having white walls is really impressive. Thanks for sharing!
Megan says
Looks great! I’m currently tackling my daughter’s future big girl room and there’s wallpaper on top of wallpaper on top of wallpaper on top of plaster. On top of some of ALL that, there’s what appears to be a thin layer of plaster, texture, paint and glitter. It’s been fun….NOT! But luckily, we are adding insulation on top of it with new 2×4 walls and drywall. Wonderful, smooth, paintable drywall.
Yoli says
Your outlets look like little faces saying ‘oh no! We’re going to be stripped’
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Marie says
I am so excited every day to come and see the progress. It is how I start the day with morning coffee:):):) I used this sprayer to remove wallpaper and scrap popcor ceiling. My hot water heater is set really high so we used it straight from the tap and the bottle is heavy duty, while still being light weight.
Can’t wait to see what’s next.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_36943-89543-5318_4294936085__?productId=3711310&Ntt=sprayer&pl=1¤tURL=%3FNtt%3Dsprayer&facetInfo=
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link Marie!
xo
s
Katelyn @ evanandkatelyn.com says
You guys worked Ermahgerd into a post and I officially love you even more now. Good luck on the rest of the wallpaper!
Jenni Bailey says
I still have nightmares about taking down the wallpaper in my kitchen. It was 30 years old and had been painted over a few times so it was not so easy to get rid of. I’m glad yours was less stubborn!
Ashlee says
My house was remodeled in the late 80s so it was wallpaperpalooza for us. I bought a $40 steamer at Home Depot and it was the best $$ I’ve ever spent. No chemicals and my wallpaper came down quick and easy. And if we are competing – my dining room has a border of Prancing elks in hunter green and mauve.
Amy Beam says
After removing wall paper in put last house I decided I’d never put it up. It is so much easier just to repair ya wall. It is nice to know that they did a good job at it this should give you confidence in the way that they did other jobs in the house.
Christine Schwalm Design says
You know what I bet would work well? One of those hot pots–remember from back in college days? You could keep it nearby, reheating and refilling your spray bottle easily without spilling.
YoungHouseLove says
That would be nice! And I could make ramen!
xo
s
Kerry says
My kitchen has wallpaper with the outlet covers matched perfectly – to the point that when the inspector came to go over the house, it took him a minute to find the kitchen outlets!! Glad the wallpaper is down – looking forward to your findings, because I know the stuff in my kitchen has to go!
Talia says
Just wondering, how did you remove those behind the toilet? I tend to get squeamish when I get near one.
YoungHouseLove says
It actually just went behind it by like an inch on each side, so it was easy to reach it and pull.
xo
s
Jen says
I laughed when I read this post because I too also find peeling wallpaper to be a “good time” I also have lived in several old houses in RVA and had spent A LOT of time renovating on my own. One thing I have found is not all wallpaper/laminate flooring/paint is created equal. One method may work on one kind of wallpaper glue but it may not work on another kind. Lucky for you all the wallpaper in the house was probably done by a professional and around the same time so it will probably all come off that easy. I will keep my fingers crossed for you!
Rachel H says
Wallpaper stinks. Luckily on my first house we just demolished all the walls down to the studs so I didn’t really have to worry about the wallpaper. I’m excited to see the transformation of your new house.
We watched Whodunit? last night too and I will definitely watch again. Those “murders” seem so real! Great idea for a show.
Meredith says
My beloved husband bought our house long before we met. It was built in 1974 and, at some point, someone went wallpaper-happy. We’ve only stripped the “guest room” at this point- we used the blue gooey remover, and steam…and now have to go back in and clean all of the blue gooey stuff off of the walls before we can prime and paint.
If you truly dislike someone, don’t threaten their pets or TP their yard– wallpaper something they love. It’s the ultimate revenge.
YoungHouseLove says
Hilarious! It’s true. That’s going to be my comeback from now on. Oh yeah, well I’ll wallpaper your kitchen. Booyah.
xo
s
Paige @ Little Nostalgia says
Is it just my monitor playing tricks on me, or is that little vanity really cute in person? It almost looks like reclaimed wood from here!
YoungHouseLove says
Might be some monitor tricks, haha! It’s not terrible, but it’s pretty basic looking and has a bit of damage (some dings where it looks like a dog nibbled, a bit of an odor that we’re currently working to get rid of, etc).
xo
s
Becky says
“Ermahgerd” – I have never heard (seen written?!) someone capture Kristen Wiig’s Target character so well. I read this and immediately pictured the skit with Justin Timberlake doing “classic Peg!” Totally LOLing right now.
YoungHouseLove says
Classic Peg gets quoted waay too much around here.
xo
s
Jen says
Wow! I’m impressed by the simplicity of the boiled water, I’ve used the vinegar/water before with success so it’s usually a go to unless I have access to a steamer. Although it’s been years since I’ve had to stripped wallpaper, and hopefully at least a few more!
One fun idea, if you have enough larger sections of removed wallpaper, you could use it in Clara’s dollhouse or maybe even get a miniture frame to put on the wall in the dollhouse.
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo
s
Sammy says
Is it weird I like you guys even more since I found out you like Game of Thrones?? Haha
It all seems to be coming along great =)
Sam xx
YoungHouseLove says
Best show on TV. Well that and Dexter.
xo
s
Cara says
WOW, what a difference in the before and after! Awesome!!!
Steph says
I’m so glad that this worked! We tried this and well, we learned that our entire house was painted over wallpaper, except just the adhesive layer, SO annoying! It was so stuck on there (ceilings and everything) that it was safer to leave it on than risk the drywall crumbling when we took it off, which was starting to happen. They left 2 rooms fully wallpapered thankfully (which we’d prefer over painted over) and we have yet to try take them off after the month we’ve been there. Good luck with your other methods :)
Mia says
I clicked on the link in the post taking me too your Listy McListerson. You can already line out several more steps and up the percent complete. You know, when you have nothing else to do…
YoungHouseLove says
Woot! We love doing updates of that about every 3-6 months or so.
xo
s
Joanna says
Found this for you:
http://www.crunchybetty.com/how-to-turn-a-glass-jar-into-an-eco-friendly-spray-bottle
YoungHouseLove says
So cool!
xo
s
Mary | lemongroveblog says
Wall paper be gone! It’s so nice to start with a fresh, clean slate. Super pumped to see how the room transforms!
Sarah says
Wow! I hope the rest of the rooms work out this easily! We bought our first house about two months ago and have been redoing the sixty year old kitchen. It had TWO layers of wallpaper – one was 60 years old, the other was probably 30 years old and it was a nightmare! To top it all off, we have plaster walls, so the glue ripped off a whole lot of the plaster, which meant a ton of spackling, sanding, spackling, sanding, and more spackling and sanding. They even laid tile over the wallpaper using glue and it made the wallpaper moldy underneath.
Thankfully, we just primed and painted the walls and ceiling (which had sixty years of grease caked on to it – gross) and are getting closed to finished!
Exciting but a lot of work!
Tiana says
How the heck did you get behind the toilet tank?
YoungHouseLove says
Thankfully it wasn’t behind it, just about an inch of overlap to make it look like it, but I could easily reach it.
xo
s
Sara says
I was so excited to watch Whodunit because Sheri, the Rams cheerleader is my sorority sister. It was so much fun to see her on TV but not so much fun that she was the first victim!
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY! Then you can answer a giant question for us! How old is Sheri, and is that her real name? I’m convinced I’m the last known Sherry (I have never met anyone younger than me named Sherry/Sheri/Sherrie – and being named Cheryl and going by Sheri doesn’t count). So we’re dying to know if her real name is Sheri and if she’s younger than me! We have played this game for 8+ years and never found one yet…
xo
s
Christina says
I know a Sheri Beth (first name, middle name) younger than you! She just graduated college, so she’s probably 22, right? I met her in Atlanta, but she’s from New Jersey like you!
YoungHouseLove says
No way!!
xo
s
Sara says
Yep, Sheri is her real name and she just turned 29 last week. Glad I could help!
YoungHouseLove says
NO WAY! If only I met her in real life. John says it doesn’t count if she’s a friend of a friend. Haha!
xo
s
Kathy says
I also think Sherry @the impatient remodelers might be younger than you. They are out there! So who wins, you or J?
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh is she? I was a March 1982 baby, I wonder when she was born! Both J and I would love to actually meet a younger-than-me Sherry/Sheri/Sherrie, so I think the rule is that we have to actually be in a room with them (to confirm they’re not named Cheryl or something and go by Sherry, haha). Rules!
xo
s
Susan says
Hi Sherry,
During your second round of peeling, did you need to use a putty knife to scrape off excess glue? I just removed wallpaper from my entry way, and it came off like yours, front then backing. Now with the walls dry, they feel rough with glue residue. I’m thinking of a third spraying and 6″ putty knife to scrape glue, but the dread of this has made me abandon this project for outside tasks. I really need to ‘just do it’ and get my entry way back together. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks much,and your bathroom looks so much bigger now!
YoungHouseLove says
I didn’t use a putty knife but I think it depends what type of glue/how much glue you have. I have clean flat drywall in most places with just a tiny bit of glue residue in a few spots that I’m planning to wipe down with a Magic Eraser that I think will be great. But I hear spraying it with vinegar and water and scrubbing it works if you have a lot of glue!
xo
s
Megan @ Apple House Revival says
Interesting. The last house we lived in I had to take the wall paper out of three rooms. I happen to have a steamer (which I LOVE for cleaning all sorts of things) and I used it to strip the wall paper after scoring it a few times. It came with an attachment just for that purpose. It was a quick and easy process. I didn’t have to go back over it twice, I just had to wipe down walls to get the residual glue off.
Can’t wait to see how the other ways work.
This is the steamer I have.
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-915-500-Watt-On-Demand-Steamer/dp/B003PGQI3Y/ref=sr_1_13?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1372087943&sr=1-13&keywords=steamer
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link Megan!
xo
s
Alicia says
I LOVE ripping off wallpaper! When I was 2 or 3, my cousin and I started ripping off the wallpaper in the entry hall at my parent’s house, then they were pretty much forced to get rid of all of it! I guess there was a corner starting to come up, even back then I just couldn’t help myself!
Katie K says
SherDog, help! I also have a half-bath with terrible wallpaper that I’ve started to tackle, BUT — the builder put the terrible paper directly onto the wallboard, no primer or anything, so when I attempt to pull off the paper, the first layer of wallboard comes with it. Am I completely out of luck, or is there any way to get that %&#@ paper off without completely ruining my walls? (sad face)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! It sounds like you need to get it skim coated to get that smooth finish back. Maybe call to get some estimates or watch a video or two on youtube about it to see if you can do it yourself?
xo
s
Jodi T. says
Great Job! You make it look so easy. Quick question: Where your walls primed under the wallpaper, or was the wallpaper applied directly to the sheetrock?
YoungHouseLove says
It appeared to just be applied directly to drywall. There we little contractor pencil marks on it and everything, which is what makes us think it’s raw/unprimed.
xo
s
Terri says
We moved into a house with copious amounts of wallpaper (6 plus rooms)…my best move, a “stripping” party. I invited a bunch of friends, made some fun appetizers and desserts and we got a TON done in one long evening.
I second (or third or thirty-ninth) that the weed sprayer works great for getting hot water onto your walls. Happy Stripping!
Lisa says
When we had to remove layers of wallpaper in our house, we used hot water in the 2gal. Round Up Heavy Duty Sprayer from Home Depot. It uses a fine mist and has a wand so your arms don’t get tired. It worked like a charm. We live in the southwest, so we also used the same sprayer to soak the cottage cheese ceilings in our house, they were a breeze to scrape off.
Peggy McKee says
I like the boiling water idea but not spraying it.
I think I would have used a paintbrush (maybe one of those sponge brushes, in case plastic bristles would melt just like the bottle did) and a small cooking pan (maybe 1 quart size) boiled 2 cups of water in it, and painted the wall with the boiling water.
I haven’t tried this, of course. Comments? Reactions? I’m facing a major wall paper removal project myself.
YoungHouseLove says
My only thought is that misting/spraying kept most of it on the walls and I worry that “painting” with water might just send it all dripping down to the baseboards and floors, which might make for some puddles/moisture down on the floor. Some other folks mentioned sponging it on though, so it sounds like it can be done!
xo
s