Walls and Ceilings - Ready to paint or prime?

I am extremely inexperienced with home improvement and moved to a new (to me) home in August. I have bookshelves and decided to paint the beige back-wall a nice, rich red color. Well, I hadn't realized it, but the beige background was actually wall paper.

I removed the wall paper and the glue but I think some of the 'white' stuff covering over the drywall also came off...here's a picture of what I've got now: http://www.americanrecycler.com/drywall.jpg

I'm assuming I can't just begin painting...right? What do I have to do to ensure good-looking results?

Thanks for any and all help! :)

Mary

Welcome to the forums

I couldn't tell from the pic whether or not the wall had texture on it. Doesn't look like you removed any of the drywall paper so patching [with spackling] and sanding should fix everything.

If the walls do have texture and it would be noticable if you didn't retexture, you would either need to retexture the affected area or skim coat the whole area - so it all would be smooth.

I think I'm worried that the drywall paper (?) has been effected. Is that what the white is that was under the wallpaper glue? Because some of that white is gone and that's in particular what I'm worried about.

But no texture, it's all smooth. What if it is the drywall paper that's been ripped up a bit? What do I do then?

Thanks for your help... <very grateful!>

Mary

If the paper over the gypsum is missing it is a good idea [sometimes neccesarry] to prime the exposed gypsum with a solvent based primer prior to patching - this keeps any water from the spackling from affecting the gypsum. You should remove any loose paper, seal with primer and then spackle. Sand when dry [apply more spackling if needed] and prime again [latex or oil] and you are ready for paint.

Thank you very much! I hadn't thought to use a primer before the spackle. Very good point :)

Marksr said

"If the paper over the gypsum is missing it is a good idea [sometimes neccesarry] to prime the exposed gypsum with a solvent based primer "

Not regular water based[latex] primer. Bin is one such solvent based primer. Dries quick, seals great, best choice imo. Don't skimp,but not too much either.Lightly sand the edges when dry then fill