OK, I'm really into plain interior walls, love the clean unbroken
look. Now the house I have just bought, once all the paper has been
removed will need skimming.

The cheaper alternative for me would be heavy lining paper and I would
have a go at this myself (never wallpapered before). The only thing
that puts me off is the fact that I have never seen a house that,
after a few years, has the odd place here and there where the paper
has started to come away from the wall at seam lines and the paper has
become hard and brittle.

Is there a foolproof way of getting paper on the wall, hiding the
joins *and* have it stay on the wall over time? Would be really
interested to hear if you have solved this as lining my walls may be
an option if this can be solved.

Cheers.