My living room walls are covered in a beige wallpaper, there is no real print on the wallpaper but it does have a sort of tweed like pattern all in the same boring shade of beige. Do I need to remove the wall paper or could I paint right over it? Removing it seems like a huge job.
Thanks.

If the wallpaper if adhered really well(not coming loose from the wall) - Then yes, you can paint over it- with the understanding that you will retain the "texture" of the paper as it is now. I have painted over grass-cloth and other paper before. There is the possibility that some color could "bleed" through- but sometimes that just makes the walls interesting. You could prime it with latex first if you don't want that to happen. Otherwise, paint it- if it turns out horrible, you can always take the paper down, sand the walls and start over-- nothing to lose. PS- I would use Eg-shell latex paint over the paper.

Siber is right to a point. Yes, if the paper is adhered really well you can paint over it however, the application of paint may cause the paste to be reactivated to the point that is may lift. That is brought about by the fact that the paper can no longer breathe and the sealing of the surface and the moisture from the paint could cause the lifting to take place, I do not agree with the latex paint unless your first step is to prime the wallpaper with an alcohol based paint. The alcohol based paint dries very quickly and the negative impact on the wallpaper will be minimal. If the wall paper does lift in spots and bubbles, you can cut the bubbles out with a pen knife, seal the new edges with polyeurethane, wait for it to dry, then skim it with a littlke joint compound before priming it again with the alcohol based primer. Hope this helps as I have done it numerous times.
Jerry

By the way, if alcohol based paint is not available, shellac based paints like Bin are and they are acceptable to use as a primer as well.

In the long run it is cheeper to rent a steamer, or get wallpaper remover and take the paper off. That is if you want smooth walls to paint. If your paper is new(put up in the last 5-6 years) you can take an edge and pull it should come off in strips. I now live in a house that has paint over wallpaper, you can see the seams and the cracks. Jerry has more work for you, it would be easier to take the paper off, use a good base-coat and do it right.

Actually Ladycat, what I recommended was an answer to her questio; can I paint over wallpaper. My recommendation was simply a solution to her inquiry...may be something YOU should think about.
Thank you.

By the way, yes you can pull more recent papers off in strips but it is a real mess when it comes to removing the glue residue left behind AFTER you have peeled off the strips. This requires wall paper stripper and hot water, lots of newspaper around the floor, and lots of scotch brite green scouring pads to lift the glue. GOOD LUCK

Joie,
You asked if you can paint over paper? Yes you can BUT it is NOT recommended to do so. Stripper and hot water is used when you are taking off the paper. Warm water will take off the glue residue just by washing the walls (IF) the walls were prepared the right way when the paper was put up.
Sorry if I stepped on toes, I guess I was lucky when taking down paper it didn't seem to be such a big deal to me. Jerry must have run into some real messes, Sorry.

Thanks for the suggestions. I figured that I would need to take the wall paper down for the best results, but was hoping that someone had good results without taking it off first.