People do try to paint over it but I would still suggest having it removed first.

I'd avoid painting over it if at all possible, stripping does involve a fair amount of work, but it'll be worth it in the end. I'd spend the time to take it down, you'll need a scoring tool (can get from any hardware store for less than $10), a bottle of wallpaper stripper (which for a small room would be less than $5, large room less than $20), and a putty knife or painters multi-tool (can be had for less than $10). If you do decide to paint it, be aware that the paper has to be well stuck down in all spots (no loose corners), and that it may start to lift as you paint it from the moisture in the paint, and that any seams between sheets of paper will likely be visible through the paint. You'll need to wipe it down with TSP or a similar product to remove any dirt and grease, you'll also need to prime it before you paint.

It is worth it to remove it (even though it is unpleasant to remove it).

Any imperfections in (or behind) the wallpaper are magnified when you paint over it. The seams also show some. Use a steamer to remove the wallpaper and have the walls properly prepped for paint.

I agree with Deborah, best way to do this, is to remove the paper and prep the walls. Some paints will make the paper bubble down the road and you end up with a huge mess on your hands and to correct this issue you end up doing double the work.

With that said, if you visit Benjamin Moore website, they explain how and what steps you have to take to prepare your wall for painting,i.e caulk the entire perimeter of the wall, repair imperfections by applying spackle also spackle the seams and lightly sand them, if you have thick textured wallpaper you have to apply skim coat over it and lightly sand it smooth (it's a big messy job) .

Again as I said before, there is no guarantee that the paint or the wallpaper under it will hold up, so it's up to you if you want to take that chance or not. I've seen some jobs which came out ok and people said it was done awhile back... I also seen some bad jobs where everything had to be removed.

Best of luck.

I agree with the two pros before me. You should definitely remove the paper. I have seen before when people have painted over the paper, and it ended up with ripples, or bubbles from the paint moisture loosening the paper and then drying back up. It isn't a pretty sight. But even if you were to avoid the dreaded bubbling effect, it would still begin to separate and lift at the edges. It may take some extra time and effort to remove the wallpaper, but you will be so glad when it is all done that you did. The easiest way is to use a steamer. You can rent one from Home Depot. If that is not something that you want to do, then you can use the manual method of scoring, wetting, and scraping.

www.queenbeeofhoneydos.com

I have removed lots of wallpaper and you don't need to score it at all and you don't need the pricey wall paper remover stuff. Just take a good paint scraper or putty knife (not too wide, about an inch) and get between the top layer and the backing paper. Slide up and the top paper will (mostly) shave off in nice ribbons. Then I used a spray bottle with about a1/3 vinegar and 2/3 warm water and sprayed the under layer well. Let it set for a few minutes and it too will shave off very nicely. If not add more spray. Once it's all off simply wipe down the walls with the vinegar/water mixture to remove the rest of the glue. That's it. You will have to then patch the wall for painting but the prep for trying to paint over wallpaper is 5 times as much trouble as this method. I've only used this on fairly modern wallpapers (last 20 years) so it might be different with really old papers.

Resist the urge to paint over paper. Just trust me. It's generally not the "paper" that is difficult , it's the backing and glue. If unsure of your skill, get a good painter who will remove it, remove all glue, do the prep work and paint .

Oh Shelley. I thought it had to do with the age of the paper. Makes sense that poorer quality paper would come off badly. I never thought of it. Thanks.

Take the time to remove it. I have used Fabric softener and hot water. Long process but worth it in the end.

Remove it. Your walls will get over it, but you may never. Then spend the rest of your life refusing to ever have wallpaper in your home again, no matter how many gorgeous photos you see on Houzz.

I have removed wallpaper in two rooms. One being a combined kitchen/dining room. It was an absolutely pain in the arse BUT worth it.

If you can buy a used steamer (they are $50 normally) ..... It will make your life easier. The wallpaper sprays are just not at all up to par IMO. I started with those and it was just frustrating and lots of curse words flew from my mouth. :) They sucked.

A scorer and a scraper (buy a few... Many different sizes. I even utilized a paint scraper in the smallest I could buy for a tight corner.) so, I think we had a large, a couple of medium sized and a small. Don't bother with the aerated hockey puck looking thing. It wasn't handy either.

Oh! And I agree with above! Our wallpaper was original when the house was built (1986) and we bought last year.... It was a nightmare to take off. Little bitty strips even with hot water and sprays! I suggest just shelling out for a steamer. You will thank yourself.

And after my battle with two rooms, I will never, EVER put wallpaper up. Ever. Ever.

I actually tried using a wallpaper steamer on some of mine and it was just a huge time sink to no effect. I think every wallpaper job is different, most important is to find what works best for your room.

I don't understand why its so worth the trouble to remove it first. Most here seem to avidly agree, but i don't see the reasons listed. Can someone expound please? And I'm curious if its mostly a concern about the wallpaper seams.

Seams, bubbling, smoothnes are one part of the potential problem and taking the chance is not worth it...as once it's painted, then you are taking about a horrible job to fix. Other consideration is that it is not fair to the next home owners having to correct, because they can't live with the condition of the wall.

We just had a customer make us paint over wallpaper. He was advised repeatedly not to do it. We actually walked around the room before painting and pointed out all the little ripples and bubbles in the wallpaper that had been there for 28 years, seams and rounded corners (wallpaper not pushed up into the corner or not cut so it goes evenly in the corner) and we told him that these imperfections will show up MANGIFIED 100% when you put a solid color paint over them. We also told him it was not in the price to fix these items because we can't get to the wallboard behind it. After it was painted, He complained about every one of the items that had been pointed out (duh, like he wasn't warned repeatedly!!!!!!!!!!!) and wanted them all fixed and is upset that the seams still show up. He thinks he got ripped off. Several of the items got fixed for free. We think he got more quality than he paid for. No one is happy. Why do things that people are not going to like in the end? If you want to do it yourself and it looks crappy, then that's fine. Only you have to live with it and it's nothing but your own time. As a pro, we won't do it again and we will continue to recommend against doing it.

And even if there are no obvious current issues with the wallpaper, there will be later on. I mean, the wallpaper can be in pristine condition with every seam perfect and absolutely no flaws, but after the wet paint sits on it and then dries, well then you have opened up another can of worms.

Sure some people may do it and swear that it looks good, but give it time. That moisture will expand the wallpaper, later the moisture content will go down and the wallpaper will contract. The weight of the paint will pull on it and eventually those perfect seams will begin to separate. Bubbles will appear where once a perfectly flat wall was, and all of a sudden a nice paint job is looking not so nice anymore.

Queen Bee of Honey Dos (site)