How to Remove that Awful Wallpaper Border You Have Had Since Middle School or Earlier

Here is my border... which is finally gone and shredded into a million pieces.

There is nothing wrong with it, it was just not my taste. After a few years, I hardly noticed it anymore but now it is time for it to finally come down. I am in the process of redoing my room (YAY!) which involved removing the boarder, painting, and getting new carpets and furniture. I of course had never removed any type of wallpaper before and so was a bit unsure of where to begin. I searched the internet to see what everyone else suggested and then ended up modifying the results to however I felt like doing it. *NOTE* I was not very careful and ended up scraping up paint and reaching drywall. This was not a problem since I knew I was painting however if you are not planning on painting this is probably not the best idea...

It was not that hard (although my arms were tired after a while) and the best part is....

No fancy tools required!!

What I used:

1)Spray bottle filled with water

2)An ordinary kitchen spatula

3)An old shirt to dry any drips of water or glue

First I tried peeling off some of the paper since the edges were lifting. That actually worked out best since my brand of paper was somewhat waterproof. Once the I got to the bottom layer of the paper I was able to spray it with water to the point of saturation.

When the paper is saturated, both the paper and the glue begin to weaken, making the whole removal process somewhat easy.

All that was left was to scrape off the rest of the paper with the spatula and vacuum up the mess of shredded paper that fell to the floor!!

Having trouble? For stubborn paper, wet it and then go to the kitchen and have a sandwich or bowl of cereal. After eating said food, return to the room being beautified and spray it again so you can get to work. Sometimes that extra time given to allow the water to seep into the paper really helps. If you let it dry too much though, the extra spray may have been a waste.

Still having trouble? I could try to give more advice however I have only done this that one time in the pictures so try asking someone at a hardware store. They tend to know everything.

Good Luck!