Thinking of Redecorating? Avoid These Difficult Wall Treatments
Thinking about giving your walls a makeover? Just remember - what looks trendy today can become tomorrow’s nightmare. Some wall treatments are fun going up but absolutely brutal coming down. These 35 treatments, for example!
Textured Wallpaper
This looks dramatic when applied, but those deep ridges make it nearly impossible to scrape clean. You’ll be peeling, steaming, and (most importantly) cursing for days.
Wood Paneling
70s retro charm aside, removing wood paneling means prying, patching, and often replacing drywall underneath. It’s a lot messier than it looks.
Popcorn Walls
Yes, it’s not just ceilings - people did popcorn-textured walls too, believe it or not. Scraping it down creates clouds of dust and a serious headache.
Fabric Wall Coverings
These sound luxurious, sort of, but fabric glued to walls clings like Velcro. Pulling it off leaves behind stubborn glue and frayed edges everywhere.
Faux Brick Panels
These looked trendy for a while, but now they're out of style, you’re dealing with nails, adhesive, and often damaged drywall beneath.
Tile Mosaics
Sure, they’re pretty. But chiseling tiles off walls leaves behind sharp shards, cracked drywall, and a mountain of cleanup work.
Metallic Wallpaper
The shiny finish looks like you’re living in a sci-fi world, but the metallic layer doesn’t peel evenly. You’re left picking tiny slivers one by one.
Stucco Finish
Stucco walls need heavy sanding or complete resurfacing. It’s dusty, exhausting, and nearly impossible to do neatly.
Chalkboard Paint
This is fun for doodles, but the matte finish stains easily. Trying to repaint over it? You’ll be rolling coat after coat forever.
Grasscloth Wallpaper
These natural fibers look nice but rip into tiny shreds when removed. Glue residue lingers, and the wall usually needs sanding after.
Adhesive Wall Tiles
Easy to stick on, nearly impossible to pull off. They tear drywall paper and leave behind nasty patches of sticky residue.
Stenciled Walls
Cute at first, but covering intricate stencils means multiple primer coats. Removing them completely? Basically a repainting marathon.
Glitter Paint
Sparkles are fun until you want them gone. Glitter clings through sanding, priming, and even multiple paint layers - haunting you forever.
Vinyl Wallpaper
Vinyl doesn’t breathe, so the glue bonds tightly. Removing it usually takes steaming, scraping, and patching walls afterward.
Marble Wall Panels
Looks ultra-luxurious and all, but marble sheets are heavy and mounted with super-strong adhesive. Once they’re up, they’re staying unless you demo the wall.
Sponge Painting
That early-2000s “Tuscan” look doesn’t age well, and covering it evenly takes endless primer coats. No one’s scraping this off easily.
Cork Walls
Great for pinning notes, awful for removing. Cork crumbles apart in chunks and leaves glue residue that’s hard to sand smooth.
Mirrored Tiles
These were big in the 70s and not anymore. Taking them down often cracks the mirrors and leaves behind dangerous shards and ruined drywall.
Fabric-Backed Vinyl
The worst combo: fabric and vinyl. Removing it means fighting both strong glue and stubborn backing layers that don’t want to budge.
Plaster Veneer
Removing a plaster veneer usually means chiseling down to the lath. It’s dusty, slow, and a pro-level job.
Peel-And-Stick Wallpaper
Marketed as “easy to remove,” but often tears into strips. You’ll still end up steaming and scraping half the wall.
Brick Veneer
Those thin slices of faux brick stick tight with mortar. Chiseling them off usually destroys the drywall underneath.
Metallic Paint
This stuff is eye-catching but unforgiving. The reflective pigments require multiple primer coats to cover, and sanding it smooth is a nightmare.
Wainscoting With Glue
Installed with nails? Not too bad. Glued in place? You’ll end up ripping drywall chunks right along with it.
Wallpaper Borders
They sound simple, but those thin strips often tear apart during removal, leaving ragged glue lines to scrub endlessly.
Stone Veneer
Heavy, messy, and impossible to remove cleanly. You’ll likely need to replace the entire wall surface after chiseling it off.
Murals Painted Directly
That giant beach scene looks cute until you want a fresh wall. Covering it takes multiple coats and a lot of patience.
Wall Stickers
Fun for kids, but cheap stickers leave behind glue shadows and sometimes peel off the paint along with them.
Beadboard Panels
Like wainscoting, beadboard looks cozy but often hides glue and nails. Removing it means major patchwork afterward.
Metallic Foils
These shiny wall treatments peel unevenly and leave behind patches of foil that refuse to scrape away clean.
Venetian Plaster
This stuff is super high-maintenance. Removing it means sanding layers of hardened plaster and often resurfacing the entire wall.
Stone Cladding
This is not just heavy - it’s bonded with mortar. Once installed, stone cladding is basically permanent unless you commit to a demolition project.
Acoustic Foam Panels
Great for soundproofing, terrible for resale. The adhesive backing rips off drywall paper when you try to remove them.
Epoxy Wall Coatings
Durable, sure, but epoxy bonds like concrete. Sanding it down or covering it takes pro-level effort (and lots of dust).
Brick Wallpaper
It may look like the real thing, but when you want it gone, the vinyl texture peels in tiny, aggravating strips.
