Today we’re answering the question that comes up regularly in older Colorado Springs homes: is painting over wallpaper actually okay, or is it the kind of shortcut that comes back to haunt you? At Simplify Painting, we provide professional residential interior and exterior painting services to homeowners across Colorado Springs, including Broadmoor, Flying Horse, Briargate, Old North End, and Rockrimmon.
If you have wallpaper and you want it gone, you’ve probably considered both options: strip it and paint the bare wall, or paint directly over it and skip the messy removal work. The first option is more work and more expensive upfront. The second option is faster and cheaper in the short term. But the honest answer isn’t simply “always remove it” or “painting over is fine.” It depends on specific conditions, and knowing which conditions those are will save you from making a decision you’ll regret when the paint job starts revealing problems six months later.
Can you paint over wallpaper in a Colorado Springs home?
Technically yes, but with conditions that determine whether the result will hold up or fail relatively quickly.
Painting over wallpaper can produce an acceptable and durable result when the wallpaper is old enough to be well adhered to the wall with no lifting edges, seams that are tight and flat, no bubbling or damaged areas, only one layer of wallpaper on the wall rather than multiple layers stacked, and a wall substrate behind the wallpaper that can handle moisture from primer and paint without damage.
When those conditions aren’t met, painting over wallpaper tends to produce a result that either shows the wallpaper pattern and seams through the paint, develops bubbles and lifting as moisture from the paint activates the wallpaper adhesive, or peels in sheets when the wallpaper eventually releases from the wall and takes the paint with it.
Why is wallpaper removal so common in older Colorado Springs homes?
A significant portion of Colorado Springs homes built from the 1950s through the 1990s, particularly in established neighborhoods like Rockrimmon, Old North End, and the Broadmoor area, have one or more rooms with existing wallpaper. In some cases those homes have had wallpaper applied in multiple layers over decades.
Wallpaper removal is messy, time-consuming, and sometimes damaging to the underlying drywall or plaster. The removal process involves scoring the wallpaper, applying a removal solution to dissolve the adhesive, and peeling the paper away in sections. On older homes with plaster walls, this process is more forgiving because plaster is more moisture-resistant than drywall. On newer homes with standard drywall, the paper facing of the drywall can be damaged or destroyed during wallpaper removal, which requires skim-coating the damaged areas before painting can proceed.
That damage potential is why painting over wallpaper is tempting. It avoids the risk entirely. The problem is that it defers the risk rather than eliminating it.
What actually happens when you paint over wallpaper that isn’t fully adhered?
The moisture in paint and primer activates the water-soluble wallpaper adhesive that was holding the paper in place, causing areas of the wallpaper that had minor lifting or weak adhesion to release from the wall surface.
When this happens, you get bubbles under the paint surface where wallpaper has lifted, raised seam lines that weren’t visible before because the seams weren’t fully adhered, and in some cases large sections of wallpaper that partially lift and create a lumpy, irregular surface under the paint film. These problems develop as the paint dries and the activated adhesive dries in a different position than before the paint was applied.
In Colorado Springs, where the dry climate means rooms dry faster than in more humid environments, this process can happen quickly enough that you’re dealing with a bubbling and lifting situation within hours of painting rather than days later. The dry air removes the moisture from the paint faster, which means the adhesive that was activated has less time to re-set in a flat position before the paint is anchoring it.
When is painting over wallpaper actually a reasonable choice?
Painting over wallpaper makes reasonable sense when the wallpaper is old enough to be thoroughly adhered throughout, with no lifting edges, bubbling, or seam separation that you can detect by running your hand across the entire surface.
It also makes more sense on plaster walls than on drywall. Plaster is more moisture-resistant and the underlying substrate is more forgiving of the moisture introduced by primer and paint. On drywall, even well-adhered wallpaper carries more risk because the drywall itself can absorb moisture during the painting process in ways that affect adhesion.
Single-layer wallpaper is a better candidate than multiple-layer situations. Multiple layers of wallpaper stacked over each other create compounding adhesion uncertainty and add significant visual texture that requires additional skim coating over the top to level before painting even if you’re painting over it.
Texture wallpapers, particularly the highly textured varieties popular in the 1970s and 1980s that are common in Rockrimmon and similar era neighborhoods, should almost always be removed rather than painted over. The texture telegraphs through paint regardless of how many coats are applied, and the finished result looks like painted textured wallpaper rather than a smooth painted wall.
What is the right way to paint over wallpaper if you’ve decided to do it?
If the conditions support painting over wallpaper, the correct process involves sealing the wallpaper before applying finish coats, not just rolling paint directly over it.
An oil-based primer or a shellac-based sealer applied to the wallpaper seals it against the moisture in subsequent water-based paint coats. This sealing step prevents the primer and paint from activating the adhesive beneath the paper. Without this step, even in ideal conditions, you’re relying on the adhesive to hold while moisture from water-based products moves through the paper.
After the sealing primer, all seams and edges should be re-inspected. Any that have lifted even slightly during the sealing process should be re-adhered using appropriate wallpaper adhesive, allowed to dry completely, and then lightly sanded to smooth the transition before additional coats go on.
Skim coating over the sealed wallpaper before topcoat is the approach that produces the best result: it fills the texture of the wallpaper surface and the seam lines, creating a surface that reads as smooth paint rather than as painted wallpaper. Skim coating adds cost but produces a noticeably better finish than painting directly over the textured wallpaper surface.
What mistakes do Colorado Springs homeowners make when dealing with wallpaper?
Applying water-based paint directly over wallpaper without an oil-based or shellac-based sealer first is the mistake that produces immediate bubbling and lifting. We see this on repaint consultations regularly, and the fix is almost always more involved than the original job would have been.
Removing wallpaper on drywall without expecting or preparing for paper facing damage is another common mistake. In many Colorado Springs homes, particularly those built in the 1980s through 2000s with standard drywall, the paper facing of the drywall tears during wallpaper removal. Homeowners who aren’t expecting this discover a surface that needs significant repair before any paint can go on. The right way to approach wallpaper removal on drywall is to plan for skim coating the entire wall after removal rather than assuming the wall will be paint-ready.
Trying to remove wallpaper in a rush, without adequate saturation time for the removal solution, leads to incomplete adhesive removal that creates an uneven surface requiring additional prep. The wallpaper adhesive needs to be fully dissolved before the paper releases cleanly. Pulling paper before it’s ready tears the paper and leaves adhesive residue on the wall that shows through paint.
Painting over multiple wallpaper layers without acknowledging that each layer adds adhesion uncertainty and visual texture that will be visible in the finished result is also a mistake. Multiple-layer situations almost always produce a better long-term result through removal than through painting over.
How much does it cost to remove wallpaper versus paint over it in a Colorado Springs home?
Wallpaper removal in a standard Colorado Springs room runs roughly $200 to $500 for a single room depending on room size, number of layers, the wall substrate, and how much repair work is needed after removal. In homes with multiple rooms of wallpaper, the per-room cost can decrease as the crew is already set up.
Painting over wallpaper costs less upfront, but the approach involves additional cost for an oil-based primer or shellac sealer and skim coating if you want a smooth result. The total cost difference between the two approaches narrows considerably once those additional costs are factored in.
For rooms where you want a smooth, long-lasting result, removal followed by painting consistently produces a better outcome. The only situations where painting over makes clear economic sense are rooms you plan to repaint again soon, or where the wallpaper is in perfect condition on a plaster substrate where the risk profile is genuinely low.
Ready to get an honest assessment of your wallpaper situation in Colorado Springs?
Every wallpaper project is different, and the right solution depends on the condition of the wallpaper, what’s underneath it, and your goals for the space. We’ll help you understand the pros and cons of removal versus painting over it, so you can choose the option that makes the most sense for your home.
Book a consultation to have our team evaluate your walls, explain your options, and provide a detailed estimate based on the approach that’s right for your project.
