By Mi-Ling Stone Poole –

DEAR MI-LING: I am about to redecorate a spare bedroom of a house I’ve lived in for a couple of years.

The former owner had the builder personalize one of the bedrooms and the bathroom next door to it with a decorative wallpaper border at the top of the walls all the way around the room. The border is about 6 to 8 inches wide, which seems huge.

The border does not fit in with my decor, and I can’t figure out what to do with it. The bedroom walls are lightly textured, but I don’t think the walls are textured under the border. I know there is no texture under the wallpaper in the bathroom. Imagine that!

But even if there is texture under the border in the bedroom, there won’t be much left if I remove the border. I don’t cherish the thought of retexturing the entire bedroom because of the cost and hassle.

If texturing is the best option, can I texture over the wallpapered border? Can I texture over wallpaper in the bathroom? What do you suggest to remedy my border-wallpaper dilemma?

J. Lowrey, Edmond

I am a firm believer that you should do a project right the first time so that you don’t have to repeat the process later on down the road.

Based on my personal experiences with wallpaper, I would highly recommend removing the old border first and then texturing over the untextured portion of the wall. You should not have to do the entire wall over. After you have your walls all prepped, paint them the color of your choice and be done with it.

If you would rather texture over the border, you can purchase a product called Shieldz Primer from a wallpaper store or home improvement store.

“Shieldz is a sealer that will seal off the border. It has a white pigment so that you can texture right over it, or wallpaper over it, said designer Susan Truelove.

Sometimes the hardest decision is to make a decision. Good luck with your project.

What design decision are you dealing with currently?