Will wallpaper stick to painted walls?

Can you apply wallpaper to a painted wall?

If you were to call me indecisive then I’d have to agree with you; I change my mind more than the wind changes direction.

A perfect example of this is when it came to decorating my home office; despite painting it from top to bottom, a couple of months later I decided I wanted to add some wallpaper.

While some of you may have concerns about wallpapering over painted walls, especially freshly painted ones, there was absolutely no issue: I prepped the walls as I normally would and I was good to go.

The wallpaper looked great…until I decided I wanted to do something completely different a couple of months later, but I’ll save that story for another day, the point is, wallpaper will stick to painted walls, despite how long ago they were painted.

Have no fear, old paint or new paint, wallpaper is going to stick.

harlequin Amazilia Wallpaper – John Lewis £75

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The most important thing to consider when wallpapering walls is the condition of the walls, you don’t want anything to distort the wallpaper; uneven texture or lumps and bumps under the wallpaper will be visible and cause an uneven finish.

According to decorator and builder, Calum Henderson, as long as the wall is in good condition and you have good quality wallpaper and materials, your wallpaper will stick onto a painted wall.

In order to make sure you get the best look possible with your wallpaper, fill in any holes, prime over any chipped paint and sand out any lumps. If the walls are in really bad condition then consider using a lining paper or getting them re-plastered.

Anaglypta 1400 double lining paper – Homebase £8

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Will wallpaper stick to silk paint?

Although silk paint has a sheen to it and has a softer texture than matt paint, wallpaper will still stick to a wall painted in silk paint.

Wallpaper will stick to any type of paint including gloss, lustre, oil, emulsion and matt.

How do you put wallpaper on a painted wall?

Sand or scrape off any loose, flaking and cracking paint.
Using 60-80 grit sandpaper, give the whole wall a key and sand it down.
Dust the wall and the room with a cloth and a hoover.
Wash the wall with a sugar soap (this can be bought pre-mixed or as a concentrate).
Wash the wall again with plain water.
Let the wall dry completely.
Apply the wallpaper using the paste to wall or paste to wallpaper method.

Sugar soap bundle – Amazon £16.49

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Dapetz wallpaper brush – Amazon £6.99

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Is it better to paint a wall before wallpapering?

If you’re painting and wallpapering a room then it’s best to get the painting done first so you don’t splash the wallpaper with any paint, otherwise, it might be a tricky mistake to fix and you could end up needing to replace the whole sheet of wallpaper.