Painting Over Wallpaper
Why You Should Never Paint Over Wallpaper (And Why Removal Is Always Better)
Painting over wallpaper might seem like a time-saving shortcut, but in reality, it often turns into a costly and frustrating mistake. What looks fine at first can quickly unravel—sometimes within hours or days—leaving peeling paint, bubbling walls, and a much bigger project than you planned for.
As one homeowner experience perfectly illustrates: the room looked great initially, until the wallpaper absorbed the paint, loosened, and began falling off in patches. What should have been a one-day paint job stretched into a week-long repair. This scenario is far more common than many people realize.
Why Painting Over Wallpaper Fails
Wallpaper is not designed to be painted over. Here’s why problems almost always occur:
1. Moisture Weakens the Adhesive
Paint—especially water-based paint—adds moisture. That moisture soaks into the wallpaper and reactivates the adhesive underneath, causing seams to lift, bubbles to form, and entire sections to peel away.
2. Uneven Absorption Creates a Poor Finish
Wallpaper absorbs paint inconsistently. The result is blotchy color, visible seams, and texture showing through no matter how many coats you apply.
3. Hidden Damage Gets Worse
Any imperfections behind the wallpaper—cracks, loose drywall, or old repairs—will telegraph through the paint and often become more noticeable over time.
4. Future Removal Becomes Much Harder
Once wallpaper has been painted over, removing it later is significantly more difficult. The paint seals the surface, making it harder for removal solutions to penetrate, often leading to drywall damage.
“What If I Seal It First?”
Some people attempt to seal wallpaper with a stain-blocking primer before painting. While this can reduce certain risks, it’s still a compromise—not a best practice. Even sealed wallpaper can fail if the adhesive underneath loosens. Priming does not fix the core issue: wallpaper is a temporary wall covering, not a stable painting surface.
Why Removing Wallpaper First Is the Better Choice
Taking the time to remove wallpaper before painting offers long-term benefits:
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A smooth, professional finish
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Proper paint adhesion
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No peeling, bubbling, or seam lines
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Easier future repaints
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Protection of your drywall investment
Once the wallpaper is removed, the wall can be properly cleaned, repaired, skim-coated if needed, and primed—creating a solid foundation that ensures your paint job lasts for years.
The Bottom Line
Painting over wallpaper may feel like a shortcut, but it almost always leads to regret. What starts as a quick update can turn into days of extra labor, added expense, and wall repairs. Removing the wallpaper first may take more effort upfront, but it saves time, money, and frustration in the long run—and delivers results you’ll actually be happy with.
If you want walls that look great and stay that way, removal first is always the right call.
1 comment
I hope the paint man can answer my question,
Somebody is selling 2, 1 gallon cans of Boero metalic grit, pearl, for 50 each, never opened. Is that a good price?
About 15 years ago, I wallpapered over my mother’s wood paneling. This is a very heavy string cloth, so the groves in the paneling weren’t a problem. I used a heavy duty adhesive and sized the walls and also rolled it on the back of the paper. She loved it and talked me into doing the whole house, some store donated it to a charity store here new, so it was only about 4 per double roll. It is light tan and still looks good, not peeling anywhere.
The problem is that over the years it has yellowed a little and with the new floor looks very yellow and dirty. I have tried to clean it with water have used every harsh cleaner and even full strength bleach, it looks a little better but still yellow. Not tan.
It got wet in a couple of places and molded, I cannot get it off the walls, a section I kept wet for 3 days and still it won’t come off. My plan was to paint or stain it white with a little purple to tone down the yellow, but am worried about getting it even.
PLAN#2. Skim coat the wallpaper with drywall joint compound, then paint it with eggshell paint, then use this Boero stuff over that. Seems like I should use a primer over the skim coat, but what kind? And then paint it eggshell. Could I then use the Boero over the paint and how many rooms would 2 gallons cover? I don’t think they sell it in this country so I can’t get more of it.
Would you be so kind to advise? While searching for this metalic grit, the ONLY info I could find was your tutorials. My computer won’t let me get on their website if it is still up.
I hate to bother you, but I don’t know what to do. This looks bad.
Thanks.
BTW, the paneling she had was very shiny, and this paper looked great because these are small rooms with 7 1/2’ ceilings, so the wallpaper being so matte made it look bigger and softened the walls. That is the reason I want the walls to look more dimensional than just a flat paint. Lime wash would also work.