Strike up the band! Fire the cannons! Celebrate however you like, because our heavily wallpapered bathroom is finally wallpaper-free.
We bundled the wallpaper removal recap with other bathroom progress so you get more than just the final peel:
- how we filled, prepped, and primed damaged walls,
- how we primed and painted the cream trim and wood quarter-round, and
- what paint plan we’ve chosen for the newly stripped room (hint: we’ll balance the bold floor tiles with some soft, high-up color).
Let’s pause for a second and appreciate being wallpaper-free. We spent more than 45 hours removing paper across five rooms over the last six months, so finishing this bathroom is a huge relief. It was actually one of Sherry’s “before the baby comes” goals, so wrapping it up a few months early allows us to move on to other fun bathroom updates before the baby arrives.
Here’s what the room looked like for the last half year every time we walked in: primed walls in the photo above, which already felt like a significant improvement.
Peeling actually began earlier than the final push. One morning Sherry was showering and called me in—she’d managed to strip several panels simply from the steam loosening the paper. Steam had loosened curled corners over the years, so the shower area yielded easily.
Because the steam worked so well in the shower, we tried my sister’s clothes steamer on the rest of the room. We paired it with a pre-spray of 50/50 warm water and fabric softener (Seventh Generation in a spray bottle) after hearing that this can help loosen adhesive. I tackled the small room early one morning assuming it would be quick—so quick I didn’t even put in contacts or hide my bedhead.
Fast forward several hours and progress was slow. By the end of the day most walls came off in small strips and flakes, rather than the large sheets we’d managed elsewhere, but by sunset the paper was gone.
Unfortunately, the walls were in rougher shape than in any other room we’d stripped. We suspected either a stronger adhesive or years of steam had damaged the drywall. The surface looked, in our less-than-glamorous words, like a “gas station bathroom.”
So we moved into more thorough prepping. First we scrubbed off remaining glue with warm water and vinegar. Then we sanded the walls with a sanding block to smooth rough patches. There were remaining dimples and low spots, so we filled them with thin applications of spackle, scraping firmly to level the surface.
The spackling was time-consuming but effective. While a full-wall skim coat would have achieved a uniformly smooth finish, it would have produced much more sanding dust and taken longer. Instead we applied small pats of spackle where needed and later sanded them smooth.
Sanding the spackle was messy, but the result was cleaner, more even walls after we brushed off and wiped away the dust.
Primer was next. The difference was dramatic: the yellowed, spotty wall instantly read as fresher and brighter once primed. It was one of those gratifying priming moments where the room instantly looked better.
We taped the floor because Sherry decided to paint all the cream trim white while we were at it. The quarter-round had been wood and the trim cream, so painting them took time—especially the window panes—but it was worth it. Sherry applied two coats of no-VOC primer and two coats of Simply White semi-gloss trim paint, matching the trim finish used throughout our house. The crisp white trim made the room feel cleaner and more finished.
Here’s a quick recap of the wallpaper-removal methods we used across the house and what worked best:
- Powder room: boiling hot water in a spray bottle and peeling by hand—slow but effective.
- Foyer: clothes steamer—slightly faster than water-only methods, but physically demanding for high spots.
- Kitchen: warm water and soap (Dr. Bronner’s) sprayed on the wall, then a wet cloth to soak the underlayer before peeling—fast and effective.
- Dining room: dry-peeling the top layer, then a damp sponge to remove the backing—workable but not speedy.
- En-suite bathroom: we tried the steamer again with a 50/50 warm water and fabric softener pre-spray. Ironically, this room resisted all methods and took the longest; the adhesive seemed unusually stubborn.
In short, the method that works best depends on how the paper was applied and how the walls were prepped. No single approach was lightning-fast everywhere, but most methods produced results within a day if you stayed persistent. We hope sharing these techniques helps anyone facing a room full of wallpaper.
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With the prep work complete, we’re excited about the next step: a paint treatment to balance the bold blue floor tile while drawing the eye upward to make the room feel taller. We plan to add a simple wood border near the ceiling and paint the upper portion of the walls and the ceiling a soft, complementary blue. That lighter, high-up color should balance the floor and make the space feel more cohesive and less bottom-heavy.
Next up: paint the primed walls, install the wood trim around the top, and add the accent color up high. Once the tall white shower curtain is rehung and some art goes up, we expect the transformation will feel complete—and we’ll barely remember the old wallpapered room.
Are you tackling a bathroom update or planning a paint-and-wood-border project? Have tips on de-wallpapering, spackling, priming, trim painting, or sanding? Share your advice for anyone wrestling with the same tasks.
P.S. Sherry is over on her other blog talking about maternity clothes and her wardrobe approach.