paintable wallpaper border

How To Paint Paintable Wallpaper

Before we begin you must understand that if you are a novice painter and don't have any skills with common painting handtools, you'd be doing yourself a favor by letting a professional Paint Contractor handle this task of painting paintable wallpaper.

While this undertaking is not rocket science it does indeed require a bit of expertise. Having said that, We will begin.

Step #1 - Preparation.

Examine your wallpaper and using a drywall knife, cut away any curled up, loose edges, especially at the top and bottom edges where the wallpaper meets the baseboard, crown molding, and the seems where the wallpaper butts together.

Next, you will need to fill the cut away areas using drywall, all purpose joint compound. Fill the recessed areas with the joint compound, using a 5 or 6 inch taping knife, and wipe the surrounding areas clean by increasing the angle of your taping knife. This will leave the compound in the recesses while leaving the surrounding area clean.

After the joint compound dries, you will in all probability have to apply a second coat of compound to finish the patching process.

Once dried, feel your patches by rubing your fingers across them, making sure the patch is flush with the existing wallpaper. A good rule of thumb is, if you can feel it, you can see it.

Satisfied that the patch work is complete, with a damp sponge, wipe away any excess joint compound from the areas surrounding your patches.

Step #2 - Priming

What you are attempting to achieve with priming the surface is to form a moisture barrier between the new paint and the wallpaper adhesive. Most wallpaper adhesives are water soluable and if you don't prime the surface with a good oil based primer you run the risk of loosening the wallpaper adhesive which will create bubbles and possibly cause the wallpaper to seperate from the wall.

With a brush and roller apply a coat of oil based Kilz. (Kilz being the brand name you'll ask for at your home improvement center.) Follow the directions on the can allowing to dry completely. Repeat with a second coat, insuring that a good moisture barrier has been achieved.

Step #3 - Apply Finish Coat Of Paint

By this time you will have picked the color of your top coat. Using your latex (Water Based) Top Coat, Apply as many coats as necessary to cover the white primer. As a side note, you could have your primer tinted at the paint store to match your finish coat so that you don't run into coverage problems with you finish coat.

Well, there you have it. As I said in the beginning, If you feel this is a bit more than you want to tackle, you always have the option of calling in a Paint Contractor.