Send out the ravens! (Yes, that’s a Game of Thrones reference.) The wallpaper stripping has begun.
I was genuinely excited to tackle the half bathroom’s wallpaper removal. I know, I’m a little odd—this kind of project is my idea of a good time. Since five rooms in the house had wallpaper (the foyer, half bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and main bathroom), I decided to try a different removal method for each space and report back with pros and cons. The plan was to figure out which techniques worked best and which ones were best left behind. Consider this a series of small experiments in practical home improvement—part curiosity, part stubbornness.
First, I cleared the room of accessories: soap pump, mirror, toilet paper, and anything else that might get in the way of some serious peeling. Then I removed the wall plates to expose the edges of the paper and make the removal easier. I had to admire whoever papered this room—outlets were covered, and the pattern even matched up perfectly across seams. That kind of commitment is equal parts impressive and slightly terrifying.
For the half bath I decided to try a very simple method I’d heard great things about: boiling water applied with a spray bottle. No scoring, no steamer, no heavy tools—just hot water to loosen the adhesive. If it didn’t work, at least it was the smallest room and I could switch methods without too much hassle.
Filling the spray bottle with boiling water proved mildly dramatic. I stood there a full minute worrying about scalding myself. After trying to ladle the water in and deciding that would drip down my hands, I plunged the empty capless bottle into the pot and used the ladle to fill it. When I pulled it out, the bottle had warped from the heat, but it still sprayed, so I pushed on. A silicone pot holder protected my hands while handling the hot plastic.
Lesson one: don’t overcomplicate this step—just be careful. The warped bottle worked well enough, and the method itself started to show promise once I changed how I applied the water. Instead of saturating the entire room at once, I found it far more effective to work in small sections—about half a wall at a time—so the paper stayed wet long enough to peel off easily. When I sprayed the whole bathroom up front, the first areas began to dry before I could get back to them and the paper started re-adhering. Smaller sections kept the paper pliable and made peeling much smoother.
Spraying continuously can be a bit of a forearm workout, especially when using a small handheld bottle. For larger rooms, a garden-style sprayer would save your wrist, but in this cramped half bathroom a big sprayer would have just made maneuvering awkward. A silicone pot holder was useful for holding the bottle during repeated use because the bottle itself got quite hot from the boiling water.
Most of the wallpaper’s front layer came off during the first round of spraying and peeling, which took about one and a half hours. After that I re-sprayed to loosen the backing and remaining adhesive, and a second pass removed most of the residue—another hour and a half. Altogether, the project took around three hours from start to finish.
When I finished, I had a garbage bag full of removed paper and fresh white walls. The transformation felt glorious: the room went from heavily patterned and busy to calm, clean, and ready for whatever comes next. I kept a small square of the floral paper as a memento—framing little samples of each wallpaper type seems like a fun way to remember the process and the decisions made along the way.
So: one room and one removal method complete, four more rooms to go. This approach—hot water in small, focused applications—worked well for this tightly contained space. It’s simple, low-cost, and effective as long as you work in manageable sections and take sensible precautions handling very hot water. I’ll continue testing other methods in the coming rooms and compare their results, time, and effort.
Psst—who’s watching Whodunnit? We caught the first episode last night and we’re hooked.