Decorating old plaster walls.

[OnNaturesCourse]

New house is ex council and we have stripped 2/3 bedrooms - one has gone right back to the plaster, and the other has the remains of embossed paper stuck on (it looks and feels fluffy)

I really like a clean cut look in terms of decor and much prefer painted, smooth walls.

What's the best way to achieve this without replastering or skimming? Lining paper?

Yes, lining paper (heaviest weight you can), but run horizontally, not vertically. Use a teeny bit of filler along the joins, sand down to the level of the liner and then paint. If you have any bumps or holes in the walls smooth these down/fill in before using the lining paper. Bit of a faff, but it will definitely help with achieving the look you want.

The fluffy layer may come off with a wall paper steamer - our house had the same sort of paper and while the textured layer pulled off, the under layer needed steam (but search for pipletjohn's advice on how NOT to use a steamer). Cheap to hire or buy from screwfix

Go careful with a wallpaper stripper. It would likely work. But having done similar recently it blew the plaster on the wall and we ended up having to go back to brick on the whole room 🙈