How to make old painted woodchip wallpaper less depressing

[Proseccoandchips]

Hello everyone, I originally posted in the home decorating forum, but I'm wondering if this might be the best place to ask.

We've just moved into a rented flat that has what looks like very ye olde woodchip wallpaper all over the walls. To make matters worse, it looks like it's been painted over and over again with cheap shiny vinyl silk paint over the years!

The landlord painted it a really yucky, greasy-looking magnolia just before we moved in. It was a really bad paint job though - it's got bubbles and cracks, and it peels in places.

We're allowed to paint it white thank goodness, and I'd love to give it a matt finish. The shiny vinyl silk stuff only draws attention to the woodchip's lumps and bumps!

The property doesn't have rising/penetrating damp but it's prone to condensation (despite us constantly ventilating and running a dehumidifier).

From what I've read it's not possible to do a coat of matt emulsion on top of this. I was wondering if anyone has any advice for how best to tackle this to give it a less-shiny, plain white finish?

Thank you very much in advance!

Sounds like you’re going to have to do a bit of sanding if the current paint is peeling.

Zinsser 123 will work to create a key for the matt but only if the surface is sound i.e no loose/peeling paint.

Also make sure that the matt is completely dry before applying a second coat to minimise “crazing”

I just whacked matt emulsion over the top - but if you're worried, maybe just do a small area and see what happens over the next week or so?

Thank you again for all the helpful tips!

We lightly sanded down the peeling and cracking areas and we used a syringe and wallpaper glue to stick down the areas where there were bubbles under the wallpaper. We also cleaned the areas most affected by condensation. After it was all cleaned and dried we just painted it with two coats of Dulux Trade vinyl matt emulsion in white.

It's been a couple of weeks, and fingers crossed, it's been fine so far - and looks much better than it did before!