Wallpaper, huh … What is it good for?… Absolutely nothing!
Well not exactly, but you’re not going to like the answer. If the wallpaper on your walls was applied within the past decade—maybe you’re ok. If it was installed any time before that – uh oh. If it was applied before you moved in – you’re in need of an intervention.
To buyers wallpapered walls, unlike painted walls, represent a lot of time, work and money. When they view a house that has wallpaper they are immediately turned off. I have taken buyers through homes that had every feature they truly loved, only to reject it because of wallpaper. In their minds they envision a huge job ahead of them before they can feel settled in a home. Very often wallpaper will have a print or style that will clash with their furnishings. It is disconcerting to them and causes them to start deducting big bucks from the sale price of the home; if they are at all willing to consider it.
A room painted in a color that clashes with a buyer’s furnishings is easy and inexpensive to remedy. They know that. But in their minds wallpaper is much trickier and thoughts turn to:
Will it come off without damaging the walls? How many layers are there? How much time is this going to take? How much would it cost to have a professional do it?
To them they are all reasonable, unanswerable questions. To you, the seller, that is another scenario.
Since I recently worked on this project myself, I can give you a bit of insight as to what is involved and how to go about it. To transform an average sized room from bad to rad will take two people a weekend (including Friday after work as prep time). The key is to rent a wallpaper steamer. Many of the big home improvement stores or local rental facilities have them. A steamer will make the job go much quicker and will cause less damage to the walls. Two cautionary notes:
1. Be careful not to allow the steamer to drip on your skin. It is boiling hot water in there. 2. Protect your furniture, floors or carpets by covering them.
You can search the internet for videos and how to information about the process. Here is one to get you started. http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-remove-wallpaper-with-steam/index.html
Once you have removed the wallpaper a critical step is to scrub off all of the glue from the walls with a scrubby sponge and water. If you don’t the paint will not go on smoothly, or worse yet it won’t stick. A little spackling and sanding will patch up those oops areas and any other holes left in the walls.
Now you’re ready to paint. Well, almost. You need to apply primer to the walls before you can apply your preferred paint color. Believe it or not paint over non-primed walls that were formerly wallpapered can slide right off the wall. The person in the paint store would be a trusted adviser as to whether those paint/primer combos would be appropriate for this purpose. Don’t forget to give the ceiling a fresh coat of paint while you’re at it. Ceilings are very often overlooked, and yet a newly painted ceiling brightens everything.
See my blog post for help selecting paint colors.
By now your eyes are probably glazing over and your motivation waning. That is exactly how buyers feel. Find out from your local painter how much it would be to have it professionally done. If you can afford it, by all means go for it. A job that might cost you $500 to have it professionally handled is far less than the price reduction a buyer will take for those unanswered questions they have in their minds.
I can honestly tell you from recent experience. Once the job is done it is truly rewarding. The house looks better and you feel better. That burdensome project that has been looming over your head for years will have finally been lifted and you feel inspired. Isn’t that how you want a buyer to feel? –Inspired.
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