Can You Paint Over Wallpaper?

It’s one of the most common questions that comes up in older New York apartments: Can you paint over wallpaper? The short answer is, technically, yes. But as with most things in home design, the more useful answer is a bit more nuanced, and depends a great deal on the state of your walls and what you’re hoping to achieve.

Painting over wallpaper is possible when the paper is in good condition—well-adhered to the wall with no visible peeling, bubbling, or lifting seams. If the paper is genuinely flat and tight-fitting, it can serve as a reasonable surface for paint, provided you prepare it properly.

The process generally involves pressing down any loose seams with seam repair adhesive and allowing them to dry completely before applying a coat of oil-based or shellac primer.

This step is critical: water-based primers introduce moisture, which can cause wallpaper to bubble or warp. Once the primer is dry, two coats of a quality Benjamin Moore topcoat will provide a durable, even finish. In certain situations, like a powder room with particularly adhesive paper, for instance, or a space where removal would be unusually messy or risky, painting over can be a practical solution.

Painting over wallpaper is doable, but it comes with real tradeoffs that are worth understanding before you commit.

First, even with careful preparation, the wallpaper’s texture and seams almost always show through the paint to some degree. In a well-lit New York apartment, this can be particularly noticeable, and it tends to look more like a shortcut than a design choice.

Second, once you’ve painted over wallpaper, removing it later becomes significantly more difficult. Multiple layers of material that have been essentially laminated together require considerably more effort and, in older buildings, can sometimes damage the wall surface underneath.

If the wallpaper you’re working with is already showing its age, painting over it is unlikely to produce a result you’ll be satisfied with for long.

If you want a truly clean, polished surface, for either new wallpaper or a painted finish, removal is almost always the better long-term investment. Yes, it’s more labor-intensive. And in older NYC buildings, it can become complicated if the walls weren’t properly sized before the original wallpaper was applied. But the result is a surface that performs better, looks better, and gives you far more flexibility going forward.

Painting over wallpaper is a reasonable short-term solution in the right circumstances. But for a result that looks genuinely intentional and holds up well over time, starting from a properly prepared wall is almost always worth the extra effort.

If you’re weighing your options and aren’t sure which route makes the most sense for your apartment, the team at Janovic is here to help! For over a century, we’ve been helping our New York neighbors fall in love with their space all over again, thanks to great color and a professional paint job.

We’re locally owned and operated, happy to serve New Yorkers throughout Manhattan, SoHo, Chelsea, Long Island City, Gramercy Park, Hell’s Kitchen, Lower East Side, Throgs Neck, The Bronx, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Uptown West, and Yorkville.

Book a Free Shop-At-Home Appointment or visit one of our showrooms today!