Painting over wallpaper

[Redfluffysocks]

I want to decorate dd's bedroom which currently has darkish coloured patterned wallpaper on two of the walls. (She picked it and it's quite in your face!!😬). I'm doing it myself and no good at wallpapering so wondering if I could just paint over the hideous paper, using some sort of base coat first, and then paint the required cream colour over that.
Would that work and anyone got any tips?
Alternatively I would have to strip the wallpaper and paint the walls but don't know if they are in good enough condition to do that (old house). I don't want to spend a lot of time and money on this considering we are looking to move house and I'm not that good at decorating.

[BobbieDog]

Its always a crap job when you paint over wallpaper thats not designed to be painted over. I ve known several people on a budget do this and its always looked a mess.

If you are planning on moving soon then i would just leave it as it is

[Redfluffysocks]

Hmmm. A house move is probably not going to be soon. We've been looking for ages but I think decorating the room will help when we come to sell.
Really didn't want to strip the walls though. I thought if I used a proper base coat it would be OK. Not going to be as easy as I thought then

[FritzyMousey]

I have always painted over wallpaper, sometimes several times over! Looks fine. Obviously it's a budget diy way of doing things but unless it bubbles you should be fine.

[Msqueen33]

I'd only paint over it depending on the wallpaper and also if the walls are god awful. I always think it needs to be done properly. I did two rooms that had paper in and stripping the walls was awful and we had it plastered over but it's a good job. My dad is very precise and I like this done properly if I'm going to the effort of doing it at all.

[Indaba]

I too have done it quite a bit. Never looks perfect but absolutely fine. And no one ever noticed. Once you get the furniture back in, pictures up should be fine. Done it in reception rooms and a bathroom. If the walls are old the worry is once you start stripping god knows what will happen and you can start having chunks falling off the walls. Why not give it a go. If it looks hideous you can always strip it off. Seem to recall somewhere if you are painting over anything with dark reds, purple etc best to do a yellow undercoat first.

[Rupster]

I think the easiest way solution would indeed be to paint a base coat on and then a couple of top coats.

In one on our bedrooms, we painted over paint that the previous owner had painted over paper, and in one place there is a definite gap between the strips of paper where the paper is coming away from the wall a bit. Tried gluing it but it never looks quite right.

The proper solution would be to strip the paper off first, but you need to be prepared to get a plasterer in if the wall crumbles. Minor problems can be fixed yourself using something like finishing skim and sanding it.

[Handyboy1]

hi painting over on Wallpaper always risk Wallpaper could bubble if you find bubbles you need treated cut bubbles and filler it
this is my experience in painting job

[Redfluffysocks]

I'm going to have a go on the smallest area that needs doing and see how it goes. If it looks awful I will have to think again.
Thanks for the tips everyone.

[Indaba]

If you can hang on, I have some men coming in one weeks time to paint over an ancient room with ancient wall paper...ceilings and tops of walls way too high for me to reach.....top tips to follow if you want!!.....