Speaking of Painting.....

[so lucky]

The builders of my pre-owned house put up wallpaper on bare drywall, thus causing me big headaches and mess when I wanted to change it. I wanted to paint, but settled for new wallpaper, thinking it would be easier. When I took off the old paper, it was stuck on so tightly, chunks of drywall came out, so I had to fill it in and sand, etc.
So now I am wanting to take the wallpaper down and paint, many years later.
My question is this: When I take the wallpaper off, could I do some texturizing on the bare drywall, to make the non-professional patch job less noticeable? Could I just use spackle, and trowel it on thinly? Then paint on it when it is dry? Anyone have suggestions for me? I did prime the walls before putting up the newer wallpaper, so taking it down will be less of a chore, but there are several patched areas that will be visible.

 

[Smart Red]

We deal mostly with older houses and have found that wallpaper is usually put on to cover cracks in plaster, so what we have done is more involved than Spackling.
However, you can get a sand texture sprayed on the walls, there are paints that simulate a sand texture, and we once covered some cracks by rolling joint compound on the wall and then painting after it dried. Personally, I prefer non-textured walls (mine are mostly sand plastered) so if I thought I could fill the divots and sand the spots even, that would be my choice. There is a (relatively) inexpensive sanding attachment that goes onto the end of a shop-vac that makes sanding much cleaner and easier.

 

[NwMtGardener]

I have no idea if you'd have any interest in doing this, but i found them kinda fun! Drywall stencils - you use ordinary mud that you used to patch your drywall, and it leaves a raised pattern on your wall. This websites has TONS of them, and lots of other ideas as well.
http://victorialarsen.com/index.htm

We decided to do this because after we scraped the popcorn off our living room ceiling, you could see all the horrible seams and cracks, etc. We didnt really have the time to replace the drywall (and all the insulation in the attic would fall down if we tried) and we didnt want to just put new drywall over the old because our ceilings are so low. So we put a trellis like drywall pattern up on the ceiling. It was a lot of work, and you can only do every other one at one time - because you have to wait for the mud to dry... It didnt completely cover up the different textures underneath, but it did add interest to the ceiling, and i like it a lot.

I also did a tree on my dining room wall, that was fun! Its free form - you have one stencil of leaves on a branch, and one curved branch stencil. And you have to plan out how you want your tree to look. You flip the stencil around to get branches that curve the other way. You can paint the stencil a different color than your wall (or use colored plaster) or make it really subtle and paint the wall and stencil the same.

I have used texture additive (basically sand) in paint to cover up cracks in my living room walls and i hate it. Because i rolled it on its gloppy - heavy sand in some areas, light in others. And i've scraped my skin off on it when i've brushed my hand across it. BUT i do think it would work to cover up your patchy areas, so something to consider. BTW it didnt work to cover up the crack in our wall, that just came back later!!

 

[NwMtGardener]

Oh, and besides textured sand, it is pretty easy to make your own texture pattern with spackle. I think the technique you see quite often comes from putting a bunch of spackle on your trowel, smacking it flat onto the wall. Then pulling your trowel backwards, drawing some of the spackle off the wall towards you. Next you lightly smooth out those ridges, but not all the way. Does that make sense? Its confusing to explain, easier to show! There's probably a youtube video!

 

[catjac1975]

I would bite the bullet and do the job right for the long term. Remove the wallpaper. sand, spackel, prime and paint with a dull surface paint. It will take longer but you will be pleased in the end. I had a damaged ceiling from a plumbing leak. The drywall had to be patched on a ceiling with a sand paint surface. I had used that when I was young and stupid to hide cracks on the ceiling. I ended up giving the entire ceiling a skim coat of mud. I took my time and did it over several days. That position of working on a ceiling gets painful. I then primed it and painted it with a very dry flat finish which helps to hide any remaining imperfections. I love the outcome.

 

[MeggsyGardenGirl]

Why not a plaster skim coat? This may be a regional wall finish, but many of the homes in New England have a plaster skim coat on walls and ceilings and it is a pretty durable and nice finish. I don't know if the cost is more and I'm pretty sure a professional plasterer has to do the work, but the end product is great, IMHO. I'm no expert by any means - just a satisfied consumer.

 

[so lucky]

Hmmm. I wonder if a thin coat of plaster would act like a regular plaster wall when a nail is hammered in (and then removed), or more like dry wall.