fredbloggstwo wrote:
I am decorating my son's bedroom in out 1930's semi.
Wall are stripped back to plaster.
Walls are not in very good condition.
Have filled major holes in walls.
Son wants to paint walls off-white.
I think this will look pretty crap if painting over existing surface.
Don't want expense of skimming.

How bad is it? Small cracks, etc. can be dealt with by using a float
and wiping runny polyfilla over the surface. Holes can be filled and
rubbed down gently with glasspaper on a wooden block. You can apply
a coat of paint (do *not* use rubbish!) and see how it looks - and
then make good imperfections.


Think paper is a probable fix - then paint this.

It would work (you want "whites"), but the surface still needs to be
reasonable, or the result will "look pretty crap"! You could do a
halfway thing - paper the worst, paint the rest.


What would you paper the walls with prior to painting?

Lining paper will be most resistant to damage from furniture
rubbing against it. "Wood chip" (ingrain) is OK, but the "chips"
may come out. Embossed papers are more likely to flatten or rip.