Sorry but you need to remove border. Paper or paint will only make it stand out more. Vinegar and water sprayed on border with help release glue, really not a tough job. Good luck!

Denise, how do I stop the white wall paint either side of the border from peeling off when I remove the border?

You don’t. You’ll need to paint the room after you remove the wallpaper.

Nelly, I was afraid that would be the case. Maybe a panel of peel-and-stick tile would cover it and tide me over until life is less crazy.

And one more reason to not have textured walls as for the peeling paint it looks like they painted over oil paint with no primer so unfortunately you will need to remove the paint too or maybe try Cat_ky’s idea.

This is not a suggestion I would ever give as a permanent solution, but if you truly just want to cover it quick and easy for a few years you could just simply do some wainscotting up to the height of the top of the strip.

It will be cheapest if you are willing to paint it yourself, and you'll need a high quality table saw and miter saw to get clean cuts. Don't use cheap latex paint, get a high quality trim enamel, and make sure you don't blow a nail through plumbing or electrical when you are tacking it to the wall. Remember you could have wet vent pipes all over in the walls.

Can you just use a box cutter blade to incise the wall along the top edge of the wallpaper border? Then use the suggestions above to remove the seascape. You could then finely sand the area that you scored, followed by painting the wall. A temporary cleaner look until you move ahead with your project.

Wainscotting would definitely work, but, it would be time consuming to get it done right, and it will be as much work, as removing the border, and doing it right the first time.

To be honest, a person with even moderate skimcoating skills could make quick work of this whole situation. You could probably do it yourself after watching a couple youtube videos. Peel off the wallpaper and then lookup “skimcoating over textured walls” on youtube.

Nelly, I had looked at skim coating videos - maybe....

you're going to get a lot of people here who want you to do this job the right way, but that means a lot of time and elbow grease. in your case, when the paint gets peeled off, you're going to need to scrape as much paint off of ALL of the walls and sand what's left behind (or else you will see the edges of the peeled paint). sanding will ruin the deep texture of those walls, which causes a whole other huge problem. I can see how that can seem like an impossible task. if you can swing it, I'd almost just wait until you could pay a pro to do it for you.

so, I'm going to go with unpopular opinion and side with you: I do think peel and stick tile might be a good temporary solution if you think you will not be able to get to this project for a few years. I'd buy one panel and see if it actually sticks to the wallpaper. I've seen some bad tile that just curls at the edge and looks fake. (and really clean the wallpaper beforehand.)

If that tile doesn't seem like it's going to stick very well, then yes -- paint. my suggestion: don't paint the whole wall one color. choose a different color for the wallpaper, so there's a stripe around the bathroom. that way the line at the edge seems more intentional.

you might get bleeding under the tape. tutorial on how to get a perfect line here.

It's not a big job at all and it's the simplest solution to remove the border as carefully as you can and then lightly sand the edges of the areas where you might take a layer of paint with it. You can then paint the entire wall. Particularly since the wall is already textured, the sanded paint edges will hardly be seen. The other options mentioned here make the job much more complicated than it needs to be.

Can you post a picture of the whole bathroom so we can do some more helpful brainstorming?

Thanks, Nelly. Here is the only other photo of the room that I have handy. I can post more later. The seascape border goes all around the room. Here is the vanity, which I’ll probably paint a charcoal color. I’ve read elsewhere from another DIYer that using a particular SW paint on the bathroom vanity cabinet made her yellowing vanity countertop look whiter/creamier, so I’m curious to try that. But with three,
small demanding kids, including some special needs, all I want to do is make quick cosmetic changes so it’s a more relaxing space that I don’t cringe at every time I walk in. so, paint the vanity, add some modern pulls to the vanity, cover the ugly vinyl flooring with a few little nice geometric throw rugs, get some nice marble/bamboo or some kind of holders for soap, toothbrushes, makeup etc, maybe a couple of new towels rolled in a basket, a faux monsters or fan palm in an unbreakable vase, maybe a quirky piece of art from Etsy in a cheap frame on the wall - and call it a day.

jay06 I respectfully disagree. any sanding around the edges of peeled paint will sand down the wall texture too, which could look pretty noticeable once the wall is all one color.

Alley Cat there's nothing wrong with doing quick cosmetic "patch jobs" if it's temporary. have fun, and keep us posted with the results!

What if you embraced the border for the moment and painted the vanity cabinet a deep emerald green. Change the door handles to something more attractive (that still matches the faucet). This Sherwin Williams “Underseas” color looks like it would match perfectly.

Use the boxcutter and the ruler suggested by flopsycat1 above. Quick and easy.

Doing a proper paint job on the vanity is also a big job! In my opinion, removing the wallpaper is a bigger improvement than changing the vanity color.

You could get a 1/4" thin wallboard and cover everything and smoothcoat it. Probably best for a professional to do and doesn't seem that your bathroom is a large room so less $$.

I would get some prices from a few painters. It might not be as much as you think to have it removed and the bathroom painted.....some things even though you can diy, are worth it.

Personally, I find painting easy but time consuming.

I think that you should not paint, do not glue paper. It does not look modern. There are many projects where the interior can be embodied in all shades of green.

If you skim coat the area where the border is, it won't match the texture of the wall above it. I would invest in a cheap steamer and try to get the border to loosen and peel off.

Just tidy the tear by gently cutting it straight for now and use a little white paint to cover the cream- a tear line will be seen but not as much as the cream colour- it will do until you find the time to redo it all. It’s a quick fix anyway.

I'm with jay06 and think you can gently remove the border and sand just enough of the transition that it will not be noticeable when you paint it all white (or whatever color you choose). You can do it! Just take your time and work on it as circumstances allow.

Your flooring and vanity top are neutral enough that it will look great when you're done. No geometric rugs or baskets of rolled towels required-- unless of course you love them ;) I especially like the colors in Nelly's first inspiration picture (I love green though) and think you could totally pull that look off with some brushed brass pulls below your cream vanity, but your charcoal idea would look great too. I wouldn't leave the border though.

Whatever you do, I hope you'll keep us posted! I think you'll end up with a really cute bathroom.