Stripping Wallpaper - Some Tips

We've been busy stripping wallpaper for the last few days and today was our first of many "Painting Days".


We stripped wallpaper in the foyer and the lovely vine border in the kitchen. Now let me say that stripping paint is no fun!! My fingers are raw from all the peeling (YES, I used my fingernails most of the time, they worked best). I do have a few tips that I've learned from our 2 day wallpaper stripping adventure.


#1: PEEL FIRST: peel off all of the top layer FIRST! you may not get all of it off but try to get most of it off, this is time consuming but really the easiest way!



#2: BUY A GOOD WALLPAPER STRIPPING AGENT: Do not believe those who tell you that warm water or water and vinegar works, it doesn't work that well at all! Go to your local home improvement store and spend $5 - you won't regret it! It made the job so much easier! It even had a nice scent.



#3: USE A GOOD QUALITY SCRAPER: We tried to use a cheap $2 scraper and it was crap. Again this is worth spending a few more dollars on. We bought this one from Home Depot. It was great.


This is what worked for us. It made the job pretty easy. We have 3 more rooms to strip so I'll find out if this works on all the different types of wallpaper.



Because I'm a dork I took before and after pictures so here ya go...




We've been busy stripping wallpaper for the last few days and today was our first of many "Painting Days".


LIVINGROOM BEFORE:










FOYER BEFORE:





FOYER AFTER







KITCHEN BEFORE:

KITCHEN AFTER