Easy Ways to Remove Wallpaper from Your Walls Less Than 10 Years Old

Putting up the wallpaper in my kitchen seemed like such a good idea at the time. I must admit I actually enjoyed it the first few years, but with a household of boys and me the only female my floral kitchen lost its luster fairly quickly. Seven plus years later and new dishes and furniture purchased it was time to repaint the family room and kitchen to a more neutral tone. This meant the removal of my floral wallpaper which was in every nook and cranny of the kitchen appliances and wrapped around the ceiling, etc.

My painter suggested that I use ½ fabric softener to ½ water solution and begin to soak the paper to peel it off. My sister in law started the same process and told me the softener was actually messy and more of an issue to clean up than the actual paper. We both found that ALL you actually need is really HOT water.

First start by getting a spray bottle and putting in the hottest tap water you can get. Start spraying an area of the paper and get it wet enough that you can peel the vinyl portion of the wallpaper off. Once you have that gone you will need to re-spray the leftover paper part with HOT water again. By doing this and letting it soak for at least 10-15 minutes the paper will pull right off in one piece (most of the time - if it doesn't get it wetter) and you can start on your next area.

After getting both layers off, take the really HOT water and spray the wall area lightly to soften the paste residue. Take a wash rag and begin to scrub the area with enthusiasm. The paste will scrub right off leaving your smooth walls with no damage. Using tools like scrapers are sometimes helpful but can also make it worse if you gouge your walls. The last thing you want to do is spend time repairing the walls from not taking the time or precautions to do this right. This method definitely takes some patience and I suggest doing bits and pieces of the room so that you don't overwhelm yourself or get too tired. Make sure you have a step stool so you are working "down" most of the time instead of reaching up which is really not good for you health wise to do.