I know that stripping wallpaper can cause damage… boy, do I know. Those little gouges can show up like the huge caverns when it comes time to paint.

So… how do you cover damage from stripping wallpaper?

I am brand new to this but decided to remove wallpaper from my powder room.

The guy at Lowe’s told me what I need to do a finish called Venetian plaster. I am priming the wall, lightly sanding some places where it was really rough and caused feathering in the drywall, then
putting on 3 coats of Valspar Venetian plaster with a $10 tool that is similar to a putty knife.

Is Venetian plaster a faux finish? Does the procedure I was given sound right to you?

Thanks so much.
Love your website and newsletters.
Karen

I am sure that the guy at Lowe’s was trying to be helpful… but this is
a large project for some one that is new. He wasn’t helping!

I am guessing that you wanted to give the walls a smooth finish because
their was some damage when you stripped the wallpaper?

Venetian Plaster is a type of faux finish in some worlds… it’s really
plaster made with marble dust and the reason it takes 3 layers is
because of the polished finish you would end up with…

But it’s a lot… I mean a lot of work and in a powder room trying to get
the finish just right around a toilet and sink would just be a nightmare
I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Plus Venetian Plaster won’t make your walls smooth… you will still
have parts of the wall that are dented where you have pulled off “stuff”
with the wallpaper.

And it’s expensive….

So I have ranted enough.

Please tell me if you can how much damage was done to the walls…
Really you probably only need a skim coat of regular old joint compound.

Debra

Thanks so much for the reply. The damage is that I dug in with the scraper
instead of spraying more wallpaper remover on. The damage is probably 5%
of the wall surface, maybe less.

I took some of the sheet rock paper off and a couple of places I dug into the sheet rock, not deep but enough to make a little stick up (1/16 of an inch?).

It makes sense that joint compound would cover it. I’ll try that.

I changed my mind about Venetian plaster because in the samples, I found it was smooth & shiny, supposedly like marble and what I really want is what Valspar calls Tuscan accents.

Is there an easier way to do this?

P.S. I wish you lived in Houston so I could get your paid services to help me. I really want to learn to do this because I have been in this house 15 years and I am sick of the wallpaper!

I have seen the Tuscan accents in a house and I really like it. But if it’s tough for a beginner, I might
need to scale back to something easier at this time.

P.P.S. My husband doesn’t really think I can do this. After all, he’s always done the painting and that sort of task and I never have.
Soooooooooo I have a lot to gain by proving that I can. He’s not mean, just skeptical.

Dawn… One of our “Painter Lady Experts” completed this answer:

I checked out the Valspar site and the directions they give to do the Tuscan Accents finish, and it is actually very simple.

I honestly don’t think that there would be anything easier then applying the glaze with a large brush in a criss cross motion and then blending with either their tool (Tuscan Smoother) or any soft blending brush.

I would just suggest using a good quality glaze and make sure you tape off the room first. If you are unsure of your skill, do a couple samples first using the exact paint colors that you will be using on the
wall.

Keep in mind that corners can be difficult, so maybe pick up a smaller brush to get into those areas.

Hope this is helpful!!!
Dawn… one of the new THAT Painter Ladies…