I also had a similar problem in a bedroom that I spent months working on and a friend who hangs wallpaper for a living came and talked me through the whole process. If you're willing to do the tedious and messy work and assuming that the sheetrock was damaged--Remove all paper and paste as best you can. Grit your teeth and pull all loose sheetrock paper off. Use 100 grit sandpaper and quickly and lightly go over the wall to smooth out all the roughness of where the sheetrock paper was removed. This next step is crucial. A lot of the sheetrock paper will still be loose but you can't see that until it gets wet (don't let anyone tell you to prime the wall at this point). Get a can of Gardz (paint stores have it), and doing one wall at a time, roll onto wall and the loose paper will bubble up (you'll want to remove these bubbles also because they will bubble up later when you paint and you don't want that). I just used a razor blade, cut around the bubble, and it lifted right off. ReGardz these spots. The point of all of this is to get the wall as smooth as you can. Next, use joint compound to patch all of the rough spots where paper was removed cuz you want this to be at the same level as the rest of the wall. After dry, sand lightly with fine sanding spong to smooth. I close my eyes and run my hands all over the wall and "feel" for the roughness. Good time to fill all nail holes and such. After all walls are patched, sanded, cleaned of dust (worst part of the process), get a can of spray-on texture. I can't remember the name of the stuff, but I'm pretty sure I saw it at Walmart. It's a spray-on orange peel. My friend did this for me, but she very quickly and lightly sprayed the wall--kind of like spraying hairspray with wide sweeps at the wall. Use latex--the oil which I mistakenly bought--took forever to dry. Prime and then paint. You don't have to prime, but I did because I painted the room a dark brown. Hope this helps. It sounds like a lot of work, which I suppose it is, the end result is pretty good.

Ms. HGoLightly: (love the name btw...)... I just spent the last YEAR removing wallpaper that had been painted over through the various eras in my kitchen. Tedious and frustrating are two words that I would use to describe this task. Unless you want the next owners of your home or whoever takes on the task of removing the painted wallpaper, to curse your mere existance, then do not paint over wallpaper - EVER. If there was a decorating crime that should be punishable by death, this is the one. If you don't believe me, I still have two more rooms that have painted wallpaper to be removed. You can come for a visit and help me do this task and you will understand very quickly. Plus, painted wallpaper looks like crap on walls. It's lumpy and over the years, a section or area will peel and it's impossible to even out. A good steamer will remove your current wallpaper and also mixing hot, hot water with Downey (or similar)in a spray bottle easily removes the glue and paper. You may also use a soft, vinyl bristle brush for the tough areas. You can use the chemical stripper also, but frankly, I have found that hot, hot water and Downey works just as well (and even better in some cases) and without offensive chemicals. Plus, it's cheaper too. Resist the temptation to cut corners and paint over the wallpaper....it will cause you many many more hours of labor later.

Gosh, thank you everyone - it feels really good to be able to give something back here; I've learned so much from y'all! awm the paint is my mix of RH Saffron & Butter, done in Aura paints. I really like it in every light - this room gets a LOT of light, but none of it is direct sun. I tried a ridiculous number of sample paints, & finally decided to have my mix custom done in Aura. Unfortunately I bought too many gallons of RH paints (I do love their colors!) before discovering Aura & Ellen Kennon) The kitty is Django. & yes, he is a happy kitty, except when he's hungry. He was rescued as a tiny baby, from a dumpster, hungry, & 12 years later I still haven't convinced him that he'll always have enough food. daisy yes - those are the infamous stairs. Doing projects like this does make me understand at least one good reason for blogging, but good heavens, if I started blogging I'd have to read other people's blogs, & I already know how lost you can get in them! I spend enough time on the internet as it is! I guess this IS my blog lol! Besides which, I appreciate the well-written blogs - here you can just pound out the words w/o paying too much attention to editing. Not always such a good thing, I guess ;-D

The job is a PITA for sure. I had 3 or 4 rooms to tackle in my home. I swear the paper went up over the drywall in some rooms or over the primer, hard to tell. After a few failed attemmtps at a 'fast' removal methods, I found one that worked...just requires patience. Take a test run on a 2 foot section of wall..... 1) Get a wall claw. Take a 2 foot section and claw it over and over. When you are done walk away a few minutes because when you get back you will claw it again. This step is important. 2) There will be areas where the claw does not reach, usually in corners or along the ceiling. I bought a second claw and disassebled it and mounted the claw part on a bolt. Now I had a tool to get to most of those other areas. You need not do this on the first 2 foot section, wait and make sure this method works for you first! 3) Get paper remover. I bought stuff from Sherman Williams-- their brand. Get a spray bottle...forget a garden sprayer...too messy. Fill the spray bottle with hot water from your tap. Pour in some remover...never mind measuring it out you want a very strong mix. 4) Spray the 2 foot section of wall slowly letting the spray absord as much as possible. Some will run so have a towel ready to keep the area below you dry....keep towels on the floor too. Refill your spray bottle with hot water as necesary adding remover solution. Once the entire area is wet...spray it again. 5) WALK AWAY FOR 15 MINUTES. Return ONLY after 15 minutes and spray the area again...you may grab a corner to see if the paper 'falls right off' but I doubt it will...spray it a second time and WALK AWAY FOR ANOTHER 15 minutes. **The waiting part seems to be the most important! 6) Come back and spray again. The paper should now come off fairly easily...except for the areas where the claw could not reach. Some will not simply lift off but if you swipe a 3" putty knife it will come off. 7) Spray the wall again. Run a putty knife along the wall...you are now gathering excess glue on the knife. Wipe the wall with a wet sponge ringing it out as you go along. 8) If successfull...go to the next section. You can likely work a 4 foot area at a time. 9) Once all the paper is down let everything dry for 24 hours. 10) Clean the walls with wet water and towels twice. I then used a mild solution of TSP (I believe they sell something less harsh though) and rinsed twice. ALL TSP MUST BE OFF THE WALLS! 11) Let dry 24 hours 12) Spackle and patch and sand. Repeat as necesary. 13) Prime. Let dry. You will now likely see some areas that you missed, spackle etc as necesary. 14) Paint. YOU ARE DONE! There was nothing really hard about this but you had to commit to it being a slow moving job ahead of time. Now, before I did this I would certainly try just pulling the paper off or seeing you can get it off following the instructions on the remover solution or even renting a steamer---I never tried that one myself. In my case the easy / quick methods did not work. I hope you have better luck.