You decide! Here is my Kedron project. The house is post World War II fibro with small rooms, small windows, dark stained floors and low ceilings. Old fashioned wallpaper with light coloured flowers and leaves adorned many of the rooms. Really very pretty in the 50s – not too heavy or dark but all pervasive! I love how the pastel colours (blue, pink, grey) in the bedspread above have come back into fashion! Just not that Chenille bedspread!
I got a professional painter in to strip the wallpaper and he used an electric steamer which gently removed the wallpaper but left the plasterboard undamaged. Choose a bright crisp white (Lexicon Quarter) as the paint of choice for walls and use ordinary ceiling white and Vivid White for all the door, window trims and skirting boards. See how the results speak for themselves. Even these phone-taken poor quality photos show how much more open, brighter, clean and warm the rooms now look. Use wash and wear on wall in living areas and semi gloss on trims.
Stripping the Wallpaper
Stripping was a big job, but worth the effort. If you can afford it get a professional to do it.If you want to do it yourself, then check out this Bunnings video. Ignore the chemical removal section and skip to the steamer removal as this is by far the easiest. You can hire the steamer or if you want to buy one make sure you get a decent one that has been reviewed. Be really careful when removing wallpaper from a fibro type wall as if it gets too wet you could remove the whole wall! By the way if stripping is not an option for you, you can paint over wallpaper and it will leave an interesting textured finished. Not unpleasant – definitely interesting. Use a white which won’t throw shadows.
Bedroom before and after.
The bedroom – before and after. See how the warm lights in the room give a more beige look to the walls but that can make it look more cosy.
Dinning room before and after.
Dinning room- before and after. Always make use of a ‘crisp’ white colours in a small dark room. It will open it up even if you haven’t de-cluttered yet!
Living room before and after. Here the room was dark and dated. Now you could refurnish and style it in Scandi or Japandi look!
Living room – before and after. Here the room was drab and dated. Once painted, you canrefurnish and style it in Scandi or Japandi look!