Painting Over Wallpaper: Is it a Good Idea?

a person painting over wallpaper with a roller
(Image credit: getty images)

Painting over wallpaper is a quick solution for refreshing your walls, especially if you're fed up of looking at dated wallpaper in your home or if you hate the style and colours left behind by the previous occupants. But is it a good idea?

Stripping wallpaper can be a real hassle, but painting a wall over existing wallpaper can come with its own challenges in getting a quality finish to your paint job. 

Steve Jenkins

Steve Jenkins is a freelance content creator with over two decades of experience working in digital and print and was previously the DIY content editor for Homebuilding & Renovating. 

He is a keen DIYer with over 20 years of experience in transforming and renovating the many homes he has lived in. He specialises in painting and decorating, but has a wide range of skills gleaned from working in the building trade for around 10 years and spending time at night school learning how to plaster and plumb.

He has fitted kitchens, tiled bathrooms and kitchens, laid many floors, built partition walls, plastered walls, plumbed in bathrooms, worked on loft conversions and much more. And when he's not sure how to tackle a DIY project he has a wide network of friends – including plumbers, gas engineers, tilers, carpenters, painters and decorators, electricians and builders – in the trade to call upon.