pre 1970 home means your in for a mess, if that is when the wallpaper was installed. good news is you dont know when it was LOL here is what to expect. anything!!! one job will peal off the walls no problem, the next one will require the removing all of the drywall and starting over. pre 1970 drywall is a gamble of its own, any moisture on some of it will create blisters (paper coming loose from the gypsum) so just the moisture from the solutions to remove wallpaper is enough to destroy old drywall in some cases, depending on if it was primed, or even painted before wallpaper. also keep in mind that much of the old drywall had asbestos in it/ and many paints before 1978 had lead in them. so any work done to an old house needs to be done carefully. many contractors dont care about the particles that are left in your home for you to deal with. so when you are looking at estimates, you need to think about the knowledge of contractor, as well as the additional costs that a good one will incure, including test kits for your older home project, and the possible need for air scrubbers, suits, and masks.

I am not talking about "wallpaper". Commercial grade wallcoverings are almost like hanging vinyl sheeting. With 54inch widths, there are a minimum of seams. It is absolutely water impermeable. They are always backed by a heavy fabric, not mere paper. That they are not seen in pool areas is more a factor or cost. Such coverings are many times the cost of paint or mere wallpaper. Often, where moisture is anticipated, the bottom seam will be sealed with a small bead of clear caulk.

If you like staging, why not get into it? I purchased my sofa from a woman who did it for a condo complex, and she was busy. She had her 2-guys-and-a-van that she used, and she purchased high quality stuff off Craigslist and then sold it (she didn't do storage). I believe you just have to introduce yourselves to realtors as a kind of internship (prob. super low pay at first, but that's a very positive perk for the realtor to offer his/her clients...Of course you would just have to use the clients stuff if you don't want to "own" anything. Many folks (not you clearly) need an objective third party when getting a house ready to sell (the queries on the subject here are proof of that).

It's difficult to install and remove wallpaper in a stairwell. If you find someone to do it, that's great, but we did not get any offers when we went to sell our last house until we removed the wallpaper in the stairwell. IMO the wallpaper was not great (might have been there 20 years), but not terrible. Clearly all the buyers didn't want to remove it themselves. Also, while grasscloth is very popular now, I am old enough to remember when it wasn't. It was popular in the '60's-'70's, but wasn't in the '80's and '90's. Anything you put up now will probably be dated in approximately ten years. So part of this decision should take into account how long you expect to be in the house. That being said, in general, I love wallpaper and am getting ready to put it in my dining room. :-)