Help! How to get lovely painted walls!!

[MrsElsa]

Finally stripped off the dated old wallpaper and started painting a nice warm biscuit colour. But it looks absolutely terrible!!

Under the wallpaper was patchy old paint. So I got "smoothing basecoat" and did 2 coats of that. It seemed to clump together though. Then put 1 coat of the colour on and I'm about to cry it looks so awful.

What am I doing wrong? How do you get smooth walls?

You either need to do a shit ton of prep work which will make them look better or get them skimmed, which will make them perfect. If it's a south facing room, or one that gets a lot of light, it will show up every lump and bump.

I had terrible walls in a flat I used to live in. I spent so much time and money on fillers/sandpaper/tools, I should have just bit the bullet and got them skimmed in the first place!

The only way is to get them skimmed by a plaster. Especially in a sunny room, the walls will only look good this way. or you need to get an electric sander and get all the old paint off.

It almost looks like you didn't get all of the wallpaper bits off. Is is definitely uneven paint? That's harder to smooth.

Sometimes people get the walls done with lining paper and paint over it as a cheaper alternative to skimming.

I agree that the lovely smooth walls you see are recent plasterwork, you can improve things with filler and sander but can’t make them into new plaster. I usually paper again if the walls aren’t great

Lining paper is also an option. It comes in many different "weights" so there's a bit of a job in figuring out which is best for your walls.
Personally I'm a big fan of wallpaper in general. I'll often use a plainish paper rather than mess about with paint.

I would do a skim plaster with toupret. Just a couple of mm and it will look fantastic

Wow thank you all for replying! Skimming? Hadn't heard of that. Can that be diy? Do I need to strip this horrible paint off before I do that or can I just go over the top of it?

It's definitely the paint going weird. All the wallpaper came off really nicely, sponged it down to try and get the old glue off as well. A lot of the old paint came off with the wallpaper and exposed the plaster, I'm guessing that's part of the problem?

Venting.. thought painting would be cheaper than wallpapering (have done that successfully in other rooms) but I've spent £57 on tools and paints so far.. and sounds like I need to skim it which will need more tools and materials.. starting to wish I'd just wallpapered!

It is a lovely biscuity colour though!

I wouldn't attempt DIY skimming, it's not very easy to do- and make a right old mess! Will be quite expensive as well.

I think lining paper (so like wallpaper, but just plain off white) and then painting on top might be your best bet.

No I wouldn't attempt skimming either, you will need a plasterer for that as it's a thin layer of plaster all over the wall. The only thing I can suggest is trying a small patch with an electric sander to see if you can get it smooth (wear a mask). Doing the whole room will take a long time, a lot of sanding pads and it'll be very dusty but it will be cheaper than a plasterer

Confirming that skimming isn't a DIY job sorry

Oh goodness me. I have tried sanding a bit and that seems to be helping but I think it needs a lot more sanding to save it. Thank you!

Once you have thoroughly sanded the entire surfaces, OP, you will need to do a base coat of primer. You can use a thin coat of watered down acrylic paint or any basic priming paint. This will allow your biscuit colored paint to adhere well to the different surfaces of paint/ glue/plaster underneath that are now smooth and be absorbed evenly. Do not neglect this step after your careful sanding.

I would skip the wallpaper step as it will add to your cost and work load and you will still have to prime before 2 coats of painting.

Don't lose patience though. Smooth painted walls are gorgeous and well worth the time invested to do it right. Remember, a paint job is 90% preparation. Good luck.

Definitely need skimming. We’ve just stripped all the old wallpaper off in half our house and had to have it all skimmed. The finish is immaculate now it’s painted, definitely worth the money!

PS , @MrsElsa , I know this isn't helpful now but to avoid alot of extra work and wasted paint you should always do a well lit test spot of about a square meter. Sanding old plaster and glue is a lot easier before a fresh coat of paint.

However, you can still do this with your primer coat to see if you have sanded enough, before priming the whole thing.

Think how much you will have learned from this job! This is a great skill and you will be able to apply to any new room in the future.

We had to reskim the whole house after taking off decades of wallpaper.

I'd use thick lining paper before painting.

I would avoid lining paper personally and just get it skimmed.

Lining paper looks naff AF, the house we are buying has it on 1 wall and I notice INSTANTLY because it just looks crap in comparison. every single edge and join of the paper stands out like a sore thumb on what is otherwise flat.