Celebrate with us—our house is officially wallpaper-free! After many hours across multiple rooms, the last stubborn layer is finally gone from the en-suite bathroom, and we’re sharing the full cleanup and next steps: how we prepped damaged walls, primed and painted trim, and what paint plan we’ve chosen to balance the bold floor tiles.

Removing wallpaper turned out to be a major relief. We’ve spent over 45 hours stripping paper from five rooms over the last six months, so finishing this last one felt like a huge win and freed us up to tackle more creative bathroom work before the baby arrives.

This bathroom’s removal process began in a surprising way: steam. Years of shower steam had curled the wallpaper edges, and one morning several panels peeled away almost effortlessly. Encouraged by that, we borrowed a clothes steamer and tried a few approaches, including a pre-spray of fabric softener mixed 50/50 with warm water to help loosen adhesive.

Despite the steam and fabric softener, this room ended up being the most difficult of the bunch. Where other rooms came off in large sheets, these walls peeled in small strips and flakes and required a full day of work. After the paper was removed it was clear the walls were in rough shape—lots of adhesive residue, dimples, and torn areas that left the drywall looking uneven.

We approached the repair in a few steps. First, we removed adhesive and residue with a light scrubbing of warm water and vinegar. Then we sanded the walls with a sanding block to knock down any remaining rough spots. Where the drywall had small recessed areas and torn paper impressions, we applied thin coats of spackle, carefully scraping each application so the patches blended in rather than building up thick ridges.

The spackling step was time-consuming but effective. Rather than skim-coating entire walls—which would have produced a huge amount of sanding dust—we filled only the damaged areas. After the spackle dried we sanded the spots smooth and thoroughly cleaned the room to remove dust before priming.

Primer made a dramatic difference. The previously yellowed, uneven walls brightened and evened out with a coat of quality primer, creating a consistent base for paint. With walls primed, we also took the opportunity to freshen the trim. The cream-colored trim and wooden quarter-round were taped off and painted white. Two coats of primer followed by two coats of semi-gloss white trim paint instantly sharpened the room’s details and removed the last reminders of the old finish.

Before moving on to design choices, here’s a concise recap of the wallpaper removal methods we tried, and how they performed in different rooms:

• Hot water and peeling by hand: slow but effective in rooms where the adhesive loosened with heat and moisture.
• Clothes steamer: slightly faster in some rooms, though it was physically demanding to reach high areas and not a guaranteed fix.
• Warm soapy water and a wet cloth: effective for loosening the underlayer when repeated soaking and peeling were applied.
• Dry-peeling then damp-sponge to remove the underlayer: worked in some rooms but not fast.
• Fabric softener spray plus steaming: in our en-suite this combo ended up slower than other methods and still required extensive prep after removal.

Our overall takeaway: the adhesive type and how well the walls were prepared originally are the biggest factors in difficulty. None of the methods yielded instant miracles, but with persistence most of them removed wallpaper after several hours of work.

With prep completed and trim painted, we moved on to the aesthetic plan. The room has strong blue floor tile, so we decided to draw the eye upward to make the space feel taller and less weighted by the floor. Our plan is to add a simple wood border near the ceiling and paint the upper portion of the walls and the ceiling a soft, complementary blue. This introduces color high on the walls in a subtle way, balancing the bold floor without competing with it.

Next steps include painting the primed lower walls, installing the wood trim around the ceiling, and applying the accent blue above it and onto the ceiling. We expect that once the white shower curtain, new art, and final accessories are in place, the transformation will feel complete and the original wallpaper phase of the room will be a distant memory.

If you’re doing your own bathroom update—removing wallpaper, spackling, priming, painting trim, or installing a painted wood border—know that patience and careful prep pay off. Share your experiences or tips for anyone still wrestling with stubborn wallpaper or planning a paint-plus-trim feature.

Note: we documented what worked and what didn’t so others tackling wallpaper removal can try these methods for themselves.