Patching and Plastering - Fixing a teenagers room...

I am a novice to home decorating. I have redone a bathroom and it came out awesome! However, I need to redo a bedroom that was inhabited by my teenage niece. There are thousands of pin holes in the walls. I want to redocorate this room for my 3 year old son. How do I fix the walls so they can be repainted for him? The holes are from push pins. The previous tenant, my wonderful teenage niece hung all kinds of posters and pictures and other objects on the walls with push pins and now there are probably a couple of thousand pin holes in the walls. Where do I start? What do I use? I do know that I will need to 'patch' all these little holes before I even attempt to primer and paint for my son. But, being such a novice, I have no idea where to start. Any advice for me out there????

Thank you!

If there are really "thousands" of pin holes I think I would consider sanding the wall lightly, filling in any really bad ones,(sanding again) and going with a vinyl wallpaper with a juvenile print. They have some now that are fairly easy to put up and much easier to keep clean. IMO,if you think the teen made a mess, just wait!!

If you do as jczxohn suggets as to putting wallpaper up afer patching holes. When jczxohn says dust free he means dust free. I learned the hard way. I vaccum my walls first before cleaning them with a rag or sponge. Makes cleaning easier. If your son is anything like mine. I would just suggest paint, kids grow fast, change their minds often, and will out grow the wallpaper, then you won't be changing the room again in about a year. This too comes from experience. Hope your project goes well! Have your son help along with the redecorating he will appreciate his room more. Erin

Wash walls down with all purpose cleaner. Holes can be filled with flexible spackle. Sand if necessary for a smooth surface. I am always hesitant to recommend juvenile wallpaper as kids grow so quickly and their interests change. At 3 it may be dinosaurs, at 4 race cars, etc. Keeping the walls plain and changing bedspread, draperies, and accessories allows you more freedom and eliminates worrying about having to repaper. You might want to consider a semi-gloss latex which lends itself to washing more so than flat latex paint.