As a Realtor, I often walk into perfectly good homes that have sat on the market for far longer than they should because of obvious BAD WALLPAPER!

This trend of years past is so often the kiss of death in todays housing market. "Why can’t the buyers see past it" I am often asked by sellers. "They can always take it down and paint" the seller goes on to suggest. But if YOU the sellers are not willing to deal with the hassles of wallpaper removal, why do you think the buyer will want to take on this task? Chances are, they won’t.

Why has wallpaper removal gotten such a bad rap anyway? Mostly because people don’t know the best methods for stripping it or the best methods of installing it to begin with. If a wall is properly treated before the placement of the wall covering, then removal is usually somewhat painless.

Here are a few of the tips from 11 Tips for Stripping Wallpaper: How to Get Rid of Ugly Wallpaper! a post by Jeanette J. Fisher from The DIY Blog. 

Use a clothes steamer if you don’t rent a professional steamer
Use a "Paper Tiger" scoring tool across the damp section
Spray the section with fabric softener and hot water
Score the section with the paper tiger again
Steam again
Scrub w/ hot water, TSP, and a scratchy sponge

It can be such a dramatic transformation to rid yourself of dated styles of wall coverings (and not to mention the sponge painted or feather dusted rooms)! Hopefully these tips will help you "peel back" the years on your home and provide a new canvass for your decorative style of today.