1/4" Drywall could be a solution. The issue would be when you add 1/4" to all your walls. You need to look at all the electrical outlets and trim that you have in your room. Adding the additional drywall could really cause issues. I would first try to remove the wall paper. Have you tried to use the Paper Tiger and a good wall paper removal product? I have always found that local painters are really good at removing old wallpaper. A trick is that after you get as much of the wall paper and adhesive off the wall, use an oil based primer(not water based) to seal the walls. Its going to be a lot of work, I would give some local painters a try. Good luck with your project!

Can be done but does require changing out all the trim in the room to accommodate the additional depth of the walls. It would be less expensive to try to remove it. We have some clients that just keep painting over it when needed. Been in place for 30+ years. We just painted over a section of it this past week. We have the painters skim coat textured walls but I don't think that would stick to grasscloth.

It affects many things like the depth of the electrical boxes the trim as mentioned the reveal on all the windows but can be done with 1/4 " .

thanks everyone for your input. I thought about the electrical boxes but never even considered I would have to replace the trim. I have not even tried to remove the wallpaper at this point because once I start there's no turning back. It's been up over 30 years. perhaps it will stand for another 5 with a new coat of paint. Lots of things to think about before I make a decision on which way to go. again thanks for all your help

This is an old post, but I have the same problem. 30yo grasscloth in an entry with multiple layers of paint. Why couldn't I just put a few skim coats directly over the painted wallpaper? It's obviously been sealed with all the paint layers? Are there traps I haven't thought of?

I know this is an old post but I still have that grasscloth. However I painted over it with flat finish paint and you really don't notice it at all. However I know for sure now that I know about outlet plug extenders that I will, at some point, simpy put up 1/4 inch drywall

The only problem with going over something is you do not know what is underneath. What if you hit a pipe...or wire. You could have a disaster on your hands. I prefer to tear out and always put new drywall on.