Wallpaper border - what would you do?

[gongju18]

So the people before us in our house had one of the rooms already done up as a nursery (basically there is a baby's wallpaper border on a neutral colored wall). It's not my taste (and of course, everyone wants to have fun decorating for their first baby!) so I'm wondering what my options are:

1) Can I just peel the border off and paste a new one right where it was? And if so, any good recommendations for a place to get borders? I really like Jacadi's look for bedding if it helps - not into the cartoon-y or too childish look.

2) If I choose to not go with a border, will I have to paint the entire room, or can I just remove the leftover wallpaper paste and paint just that area?

3) Any other options? I would prefer not to have a border at all, but if it's a simpler option than repainting the whole room, well...

Just wanted to see if anyone has ever been in this situation.

Thanks in advance!

[TracyBee]

Are your walls textured? I'm asking because ours are textured and it was fairly easy to just tear down the border and get any leftovers off with a wet rag or sponge. BUT, we have flat paint and you can still tell where the border was because of the glue residue that was left behind. We're painting DD's room, so its not a big deal temporarily, but I'd be irked enough about it to make me want to paint - even if I'd not intended to in the first place.

[gongju18]

When you rubbed your residue off with a wet sponge, did it damage the underlying paint at all? I'm just wondering if I can get that stuff off without having to repaint the whole room. Wishful thinking?

[tiapam]

What about putting up crown molding or a chair rail if the border is lower.

-Pam

DD - Two years old!

[TracyBee]

No, it didn't damage the paint at all. I just wet it and peeled it off. I tore off was much as I could and then went back, wet and tore some more - lol! But, like I said the walls are textured so I don't think the border was ever really stuck on there tight like it would be if the walls were flat.

Before I just started ripping, I attempted to steam it off, then I attempted to use some sort of wall paper remover. The tear, wet and tear method worked best believe it or not.

[kusiakje]

Something else you might want to brace yourself for...glue might not be your only problem...

I tore off some truly awful border that the previous owners of my house had put up in the bedroom. It fell off in chunks because the people apparently put as little effort into decorating as possible. They only wet the glue in the corners and the center, rather than throughout...which is yet another reason it had to come down...it was sagging/bubbling something fierce. Anyway, the point is that I didn't have a lot of glue residue to scrub off...but I still had to repaint because the sun had apparently faded the walls but the paint underneath the border was preserved a shade darker.

Hopefully your paint job is relatively new so you don't have to worry about that, but just in case it isn't and you hadn't thought about this potential problem, I thought I'd mention it. I think having a Plan B in case you have to repaint is a good idea, be it new border or crown molding as the PP suggested...

--Jessica
Mom to Katarina (DOB 9/16/05)