Decorating Ceilings & Walls

I have never been any good at papering a ceiling. Nowadays, it is definitely out of the question due to me having a bad back. I decided to contact a firm of painters & decorators with a view to getting a price for papering two bedroom ceilings. The emails exchanged were all in French so I had to translate certain words/terms that I didn't understand. It was suggested that there may be a ''toile de verre'' (glass paper) between the existing ceilng paper & the plaster of the ceiling. I have pulled the paper off one ceiling & the residual coating just looks like dry, flaky wallpaper paste. It is my intention to paper & paint the ceilings & walls.

Does toile de verre act in the same way as a lining paper would or is it much thicker in order to hide cracks & blemishes in the plaster? There is a video on the internet about toile de verre (posted by Big Mat) but it is in French & I couldn't understand much of it. Please can someone give me some clear, prescise information about toile de verre & when to use or not to use it? Thanks in advance.

ARKWRIGHT wrote:I have never been any good at papering a ceiling. Nowadays, it is definitely out of the question due to me having a bad back. I decided to contact a firm of painters & decorators with a view to getting a price for papering two bedroom ceilings. The emails exchanged were all in French so I had to translate certain words/terms that I didn't understand. It was suggested that there may be a ''toile de verre'' (glass paper) between the existing ceilng paper & the plaster of the ceiling. I have pulled the paper off one ceiling & the residual coating just looks like dry, flaky wallpaper paste. It is my intention to paper & paint the ceilings & walls.

Does toile de verre act in the same way as a lining paper would or is it much thicker in order to hide cracks & blemishes in the plaster? There is a video on the internet about toile de verre (posted by Big Mat) but it is in French & I couldn't understand much of it. Please can someone give me some clear, prescise information about toile de verre & when to use or not to use it? Thanks in advance.

Toile de Verre very much acts as a disguiser of cracks and blemishes as you thought. It is much thicker than standard paper, therefore it will take a fair bit of movement should that still be the case. It can be used on walls and/or ceilings and is a lot more resilient and hard wearing than regular paper. It usually comes in 1mt wide rolls, which can be a serious challenge getting it on the ceiling without the proper equipment. It is available as a flat 'paper', presumably for covering with a textured paper, or ready textured/patterned which only requires painting. I have resurrected several flaky/lumpy ceilings with the stuff and I am very glad that I came across it.

Le-Dolly, many thanks for the info on toile de verre. I'll be back in France in about 5 weeks time so I'll have to take a close look at the bedroom ceilings to see if the flat paper type has been used.