How would you fix this? (Preparing walls for painting)

[andantecantabile]

We moved into our house 3 years ago and have finally gotten around to decorating the living room. The house was dated throughout, wallpaper and dado rails everywhere, artex ceilings etc. When we stripped the wallpaper off, we found the paint and plaster in quite a bad way. When I washed all the wallpaper paste off by the French doors and front window the paint was already so peeled it washed straight off (see first couple of photos.) there is also a large amount of sealant and I think residual wallpaper stuck at the edge. The previous owners have also gloss painted the dado rail directly onto the wall without being careful about the edges and then wallpapered over the top. Same with the coving at the top and the skirting at the bottom so we have 4 lines of gloss paint running around all walls (3rd photo)

I am desperate to get rid of the yellow walls (and pink carpet!) and have a lovely, airy, cream painted living room. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can fix any of these issues? There are many, many places where the paint has peeled off to the plaster and I have been filling these with filler and sanding them gently. TIA!

There's plaster-like stuff from Wickes called Ready Mixed jointing compound which we use to deal with walls like that. Apparently it's easier to work with than plaster and smooths over bigger areas than Polyfilla. Good luck.

Here it is:

www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Ready-Mixed-Jointing-Compound-10kg/p/220995

It has good reviews and other people also seem to use it for filling cracks in old walls, so not just us.

To get that gloss paint off I use these scrapers. I know it's says for glass but still. Very satisfying.

www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Glass-and-Window-Scraper-57mm/p/154855

*get some extra blades too.

Scrim tape over the cracks or will just come back.
Then use plaster skim, go way over the area needed then use 240 grit to sand down.
Makes a mess but great stuff

I have an easier idea -well it worked in my case. The walls I inherited in my 20s were in a shit state from years of people taking the piss. Cracks everywhere & crappy patch-up jobs. Then my angelic decorator introduced me to 'Wallrock'. Wallrock is a product like lining paper but it's made from tiny fibres laid down like felt so it can accommodate any movement and not show it. You hang it exactly like regular lining paper. We even did the ceilings with it. When our house was surveyed the surveyor said the ceilings had 'probably reached the end of their life'. After we wallrocked them they looked brand new and 25yrs on still do. Obviously fill and sand holes & gaps first but don't worry too much about being perfectionist. Wallrock is very strong. You'll have immaculate walls in no time.

As for the gloss painted dado, just sand, paint with whatever finish you now want and do the wallrock after. I always do all my glossing first, then paper/paint walls after because you can wipe emulsion off gloss but not vice versa.

Thanks everyone, snore really useful replies there, I think a trip to Wickes is in order!

Snore?! Some even!