How to Remove Old Wallpaper Using Nothing But Hot Water and a Sponge

Recently we decided to convert our old guest room into a study. One of our older children just moved out and went off to college, so that room works well now as the new guest room. Unfortunately the old guest room used to be a baby’s room before we bought the house, so it has this really tacky wallpaper we never removed.

Obviously we’re going to spend a lot of time in there now with it being the study, so we don’t want that wallpaper anymore. We started trying to remove it the other week and it did not want to come off no matter what we did!

Well, you know how much we love DIY hacks around here for remodeling and beautifying your home—like these 60 fantastic tips. We have plenty of ideas for decorating walls, but not a lot for removing what we don’t want. So I decided to hunt around, and then I found this:

We were just getting ready to head to the hardware store and buy some ridiculously overpriced wallpaper remover solution. Thankfully I managed to stop my husband on his way out the door. I showed him this video and we gave it a try.

… The wallpaper is coming right off.

So it actually works, and all you need is hot water and a sponge. We had the sponge on hand, so we literally spent nothing to make this happen. I can’t believe how fast and easy it is. We’re already halfway through removing the old wallpaper. In a couple days we can start preparing to put up the new wallpaper!