How To: Remove Wallpaper

I've never removed wallpaper before. I don't think I've ever even lived in a house that has wallpaper. Although I have to say that thanks to Design Sponge, I'm becoming a fan of wallpaper. I always think of ugly, tiny flower patterns when I think of wallpaper, but it turns out now you can find really modern, hip patterns by companies like Madison & Grow (right) and Graham&Brown (left). I like the idea of using it for accent walls or instead of contact paper in cabinets, drawers, and closets.

But back to the How To portion of this post...

First, My Wallpaper
Apparently I was the winner of the wallpaper-over-wallpaper lottery in my house. Under the faux pink marble wallpaper in my kitchen and breakfast nook, there was the ugly, tiny flowers pattern I'm familiar with. And the faux marble wasn't full sheets of paper, it had been torn into roughly 12x12 squares and given a "rough edge" treatment, then layered one on top of the other. Great. So everyone had me scared about removing wallpaper and how difficult it usually is. How you'll start to pull up a piece and then it will just stop coming off. And with my treatment, it would probably be even harder.

So I read up online to see what I'd need and gathered my tools:

• Wallpaper Scorer($8.50)
• Wallpaper glue remover - I bought "Chomp!". It's new and the guy at Home Depot said customers had been saying great things. ($7)
  
• Paint scrapper - metal ($8 - I've used this for a lot of different projects already)
  
• Paint scrapper - plastic ($1)
  
• Needle nose pliers (I ended up needing these to grab at tiny strips that stuck near the window panes and for stuff that was stuck behind the chair rail dividing my room) (free b/c I had a pair)
  
• Dish sponge with rough scraper side

Ready, Set, Remove!
I approached my first section of wall paper with dread. I started by the door where some was already peeling, got an edge up and sarted pulling. And it came up so easy! Both layers came off together. The only parts that were difficult where when I'd get to the edge of a new sheet of the original paper (the flowered paper on the underneath the layered marble). But even that was pretty simple. Sometimes I'd use my fingernail, but using the metal paint scrapper was quicker, get it under the edge to pull it away from the wall, then back to pulling it off the wall. I didn't end up needing the wallpaper scorer - sweet, I get 8 bucks back from Home Depot!


It took me about two hours to remove all the wallpaper from both rooms. Not bad! Next step: remove the glue backing still stuck to the wall.

Removing the glue turned out to be really easy too. Just soak the wall with the glue remover (Chomp! comes in a spray bottle so application was easy). I started at the top of each wall and soaked sections roughly 2x2 feet at a time. You can do more, but you just need to make sure you get it off quick or it'll start drying.

Let it sit for maybe a minute, then you can pull the backing right off with your hands, and it usually comes off in full sheets or at the very least, really large chunks. Then I'd take the plastic paint scrapper tool and scrape of little bits that stuck by door and window moulding. And the final step was to wipe the wall with some water (I did this after I finished each section).