Painting Over Wallpaper - Oh Yes I Did!


posted by Rhiannon

7 comments

Our kitchen has a FABULOUS 16 foot bank of windows looking out onto our patio.  But along with those fabulous windows are fabulous stark white walls mixed with fabulous stark white tile.  Hello.  The 80's called...they want their decor back.  And eventually I intend to give them every piece of it!

I have been dying to add some color to the kitchen since we moved in, but our biggest challenge painting this kitchen was not choosing the color, it was the fact that those fabulous white kitchen walls are covered in fabulous WHITE WALLPAPER!!!  Dear God, Why me?!?!?

I debated on stripping all the paper, but flashbacks of a week spent stripping the wallpaper in the dining room (post coming soon) was almost enough to make me rock uncontrollably in a corner.  Then I remembered that my sister Jess had painted over the wallpaper in her house.  Genius!  It must run in the family, lol.

Pantry and Basement Door - Before


I started by making sure there were no rips or tears and that the seams were all tight.  Check.  There was just one spot of bubbling, but it was in a corner and I didn't even notice it until I started really looking close. Paint over it?  Check.

I was really intimidated by painting over wallpaper, but in the end I really didn't have do anything special.  I bought my usual Valspar Paint + Primer and went to work.  The only difference I noticed painting over wallpaper was that it took a little longer to dry and you could really tell if you had skimped on the paint in an area - like the trim - which I tend to do.

Pantry and Basement Door - After


We chose a color called Mother Nature by Behr (color matched to Valspar paint, of course).  I had seen this color in a friends house and loved the warm feel of it.  The camera doesn't do it justice...it is very pretty and earthy.

Windows - Before

Windows - After


 Another view of the windows before & after





Door to Dining Room - Before 


Door to Dining Room - After 



Luckily, like I mentioned above, our wallpaper was stark white.  No stripes or patterns or anything that we needed to really try to cover. You might have to do a little more research, or I can ask my sister Jess, what to do in those situations.  But we got lucky and it turned out really well.

And just like no one will ever notice the fancy white rods in my closets, no one will ever notice that this is wallpaper.

There is still a lot more work to be done in the kitchen.  New floors, counter tops, hire a maid, etc.  But for now, I am happy just to have some color.






7 comments

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