I have wallpaper that I spent a fortune for, and for re-sale, would like to keep. My teenage daughter wants to paint over it with black paint. I just read how a couple of coats of primer would cover up the wallpaper, then the black, but a friend said there's some way that you can put black fabric, like curtains, throughout the room, using rods or some other way of holding them up.
Problem is, you can't hang anything on the "curtains". Has anyone ever done this? Has anyone truly painted over wallpaper, with black paint, and then brought it back to life in a neutral color. Has anyone heard of this fabric hanging? I've been surfing around, but can only find people that use fabric over the wallpaper. Does it pull off the wallpaper once you take off? I'm at a loss. Any suggestions would really help. Thanks.
First, do not ever, ever, ever paint wallpaper. The results never look right and it's aweful to try and remove later.
We encountered a similar problem of wanting to cover up walls and found a cool system at IKEA. It's called Dignitet Curtain Wire. It has a small bracket on each end that can be mounted to the wall or ceiling with an adjustable length of wire in between. They have inexpensive little clips that you can use to hook the fabric to the wire, or you can make a fold in the top like traditional curtains. Check it out on line. You may be able to find a similar item at a store that sells curtains.
if you have fabric that you want to use...kinda hold it up there and paint the fabric with Elmers glue and stick it to the wall..might need a few tacks to hold it until dry...when she is tired of it spritz it with water and it comes right off...then wash off the rest of the glue and presto you have your wall paper back penny
Agree with all except for starching fabric to the wallpaper. Even though starch is mild, over time and depending on the wallpaper itself, could damage the wallpaper permanently.
A huge NO painting the walls black! Not only will this ruin your nice existing wallpaper but will take coats and coats of primer and paint to cover over it so the black won't be bleeding through!
PS Yes, do keep re-sale under consideration! And your daughters taste may change in just six months ;-)
If you want to keep the wallpaper as is, I think you should go with the curtain idea. If you use a staple gun, you will have holes in the wall, which will not be good for resale value, as they will have to be repaired.
On the decorating shows, they paint over wallpaper all the time, but I personally think that it looks tacky, and I would not be happy if I knew that was done in a house I was buying. I imagine that it is very difficult to remove wallpaper that has been painted over.
To hang a picture on the wall that has drapes over it, all you would have to do is make a small hole in the drape where the nail in the wall is. If you daughter wants to hang lots of posters and decorate with CD s and whatnot, and has her heart set on this black decor, perhaps it would be wise to remove the wallpaper and paint as usual. It would not be that difficult to repaint the room when it was time to sell-- make the deal that she can do what she likes with theroom provided that it is back to neutral when it is time to sell. Fresh interior paint in trendy colors is a big seller for homes on all the TV shows. Wallpaper might have limited appeal, no matter how nice you think it is.
As I did myself to cover a couple of ugly walls in an apartment, I used a sheet that I liked the pattern on. Have a bowl of spray starch and a sponge. I washed down sections of the wall with the starch, pressed the fabric to the wall, and sponged the fabric with starch. do this over the entire area to cover. I used staples in the corners to hold until the starch dried. When your ready to change the "wall" the fabric will peel without causing any damage to the wall or wall paper. Company often thought I had put up wall paper it looked so good.
If you install curtain rods around the room by the ceiling and another one down around the baseboard. Put a pocket in the top and bottom of the black fabric.
Of course you can hang things on curtains. If it is a poster or other paper items, you can use straight pins.
A better idea might be to hang the black fabric like wallpaper. What you would need is liquid starch. Soak the fabric in it an then smooth it over the wall like wall paper. When you want to remove it, the fabric will come off easily and you just need to wash the residue from the starch off the walls.
To hang like curtains, look for those tracks and rings that they have in hospital ER's. you can hang the tracks from the ceiling and pull the "curtain" across the wall. It's great if you want to divide a room (i.e. office/guest room)
Login using the form on the top of the page to post feedback (if you are a registered user). If you have not yet registered, click here to do so. It's FREE!.
