It looks like a heavy version of Monterey Drag Textures. LOTS of material to sand away if it is. A fresh skim coat may be more practical if it really bothers you.

Michelle, I may be wrong, but to me it looks like her texture is rising bumps, not the flat surface with recessed areas like the Monterey looks. I don't think she can skim coat what she has; it looks like it would need to be sanded off.

Best of luck, windsorwinkler; I love to do projects in my home, but that one doesn't look like fun at all.

Heavy Monterey -

My3dogs you are correct. The bumps are raised and they are bigger then any I have ever seen in any house. The picture doesnt come close to doing them justice.

Ah, thanks - on my monitor they looked like recesses. Sorry!

Thanks for all the responses. I have had several professionals who have looked at at the walls and all of them couldn't believe the horror of the texturing. I have a contractor who has a very expensive sander that was purchased just for this type of project. He is confident he can sand it down. We shall see. He is coming in a couple days and i let you know how it goes.

Great new. The special sander my contractor used actually worked. I now have all walls smooth as a babies bottom and it looks like knock down. My next issue is I was going to put faux brick on the wall across from the stove. It is too expensive for my budget. Any suggestions for that wall? I am going for a more rustic look but not a fan of the wood paneling. I am at a loss.

Wallpaper that looks like brick?

Faux brick wall panel, drywall mud and faux paint.

Your walls looked to me like the heavy texture paint that can be used to hide cracks and repairs. It rises like that. Glad that the sander worked on it.

What is the code in your area for the wall behind the wood stove? There are rules saying that a wall has to be finished in a fireproof material if it is within a certain distance from the stove. You need to figure that out, then decide.

Luckily no problems with the walls, just a texture job gone really, really bad. When I bought the home the wood stove had a rusted hole inside and was too close to the wall. It has been replaced with a brand new pellet stove the correct number of inches from the wall. No fire wall is required behind it. It was inspected by the city after it was professionally installed and boy does it work great. Heats the whole house.

If it is allowed, then, you can use the faux brick panels. Are you planning on doing the whole wall, or just the area near the stove?

I looked into a pellet stove once. They seem like a great alternative.

I did a wall in the living room using a faux panel from Home Depot. I put black paint on some of the bricks and then used drywall mud all over it.

you do realize the drywall mud will come off with water? no washing that wall.

Correct. I have no reason to wash it. It has a protective coating on it also. A lot of people are doing this now and aren’t having any problems with it.