*This home improvement post is sponsored by Trimaco. All content and opinions are my own.
Today I am sharing tips for one of my most effective renovation strategies – how to remove wallpaper! My latest home project is giving our dated master bathroom a little refresh. The master bathroom in our home is original to when the home was built – the late 1960’s.
The bathroom has retro blue shower tiles and even matching blue sinks! My goal is to give this bathroom a modern update without a major renovation. Removing the wallpaper and adding a fresh coat of paint on the walls will completely change the vibe in this room.
Here is what it looked like when we moved in.
As a realtor, house flipper, and homeowner, I have seen SO MANY people scared away from houses with dated wallpaper. When you learn how to remove it correctly, removing wallpaper is not as intimidating. I have taken down a lot of wallpaper over the years and I can’t wait to share my process with you!
How to Remove Wallpaper | Tutorial
I partnered with Trimaco for this project to protect the floors and surfaces in our master bathroom. These products work super well for wallpaper projects and can certainly be reused again and again for all kinds of projects! Scroll to the bottom of the post for a complete list of materials used for this project.
Step 1 | Protect Floors & Surfaces
Before removing any wallpaper, it is important to protect the floors and surfaces in a room. To protect the new carpeting in the vanity room, I laid down the Stay Put Canvas dropcloth from Trimaco. The wallpaper pieces you remove will be wet and sticky from the glue so you want to make sure to protect the surfaces in the room.
With this triple-layer dropcloth, I was able to remove wallpaper without worrying about the wet and gluey strips ruining the carpet. The canvas has a thin layer of plastic to prevent any leaks beneath the dropcloth. The final layer of the dropcloth is a rubber backing to keep the canvas in place and prevent slipping.
In the toilet and shower room, I used Trimaco’s toilet cover to prevent any glue from sticking to the toilet. The best part is that I can re-use these same products when I paint the room.
Once your surfaces have been covered, remove as much as you can from the walls. For example, the outlet covers, hooks, and towel racks should all be removed before starting. Removing these barriers will allow you to remove the wallpaper more quickly and easily.
Step 2 | Steam the Walls & Scrape
As the wallpaper steamer heats up, use your scoring tool on the walls to allow the steam to penetrate through the top layer of the wallpaper. Bathrooms typically have vinyl wallpaper which holds up better in high moisture rooms. The scoring tool creates small holes in the vinyl wallpaper to allow moisture to seep beneath the top layer. The purpose of a steamer is to reactivate the glue that holds the wallpaper in place.
When the steamer is ready, place it on the wall and saturate the wall for 5-10 seconds. Move the steamer to another spot on the wall and use your larger putty knife to scrape off the saturated wallpaper.
As you move across the wall, your scraper will get sticky. Keep a cloth rag on hand to wipe the glue off of your scraper. I like to scrape the blank walls one more time after I pull off the wallpaper to remove as much of the glue as possible.
Step 3 | Remove Wallpaper from Tight Corners
There will be some areas in a room that the steamer cannot reach. This is where the spray bottle of wallpaper remover and the smaller putty knife come in. Saturate the wallpaper with the spray and scrape it off of the wall with the putty knife. If you don’t remove the toilet, it is a challenge to reach this area with a steamer. The spray bottle and small scraper work really well around a toilet and outlets close to door jams.
Step 4 | Remove or Seal Remaining Glue
Remove remaining glue on the walls with TSP and a sponge. When you begin wiping with the sponge the glue will feel slippery but the more you scrub, the less slippery it will feel. This indicates that the glue was removed. After scrubbing the walls, I use my cloth rag to wipe the wall dry and remove any lasting glue from the wall.
If you do not want to scrub the walls to remove the glue, another option is to apply a coat of flat oil-based primer to the walls before painting with standard water-based paint. Oil-based paint does not reactivate the glue (like water-based paints will). Once the primer is applied, you can paint with standard interior paint. Oil-based primer is very smelly so ventilate the space as best as you can.
Step 5 | Fill Holes & Sand Walls
Fill in any holes in the wall with spackle.
Use a sanding block to smooth out the walls. Wipe the walls down with a damp cloth to remove any dust.
Step 6 | Cleanup
Toss the wallpaper strips into a garbage bag. Bring the dropcloth outside and shake out the debris. Remove the toilet protector and fold up the canvas drop cloth to be ready for your next home project! In my case, I will be using these again to paint the walls in the bathroom.
You now have a blank canvas to paint the walls any color your heart desires! For the bathroom, I chose Snowbound by Sherwin Williams. The neutral palette allows the retro blue tiles and sinks all of the attention without competing.
Sourced Materials to Remove Wallpaper
- Stay Put Canvas Dropcloth
- Cloth Rag
- Toilet Cover
- Wallpaper steamer
- 4-inch Putty/Knife Scraper
- 1.5-inch putty knife/scraper
- Spray Bottle Wallpaper Remover
- Wallpaper Scoring Tool
- TSP
- Bucket & sponge
- Sanding block
- Spackle
- Garbage bag for clean up
- Oil-based Primer (optional)
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