Walls and Ceilings - Options for painted over wall paper.

Hello, I purchased a property a month ago. I'm a single mother, handy with the right guidance and grateful for these forums. Unfortunately, to my untrained eye I did not realize that the previous homeowners had painted over wall paper many times in almost every room in my home. How can I cover the seams and cracks in the paint on the walls currently? One suggestion I received was to smooth over the entire surface with spackle then paint. I was thinking of smoothing over where the seams and cracks are with spackle and possibly use a sand paint to add texture and hide any imperfections? Is there a better solution? Please keep in mind, I have two small children so I will have to take one room at a time and want the least mess and spackle dust possible. Thank you.

You should be able to spackle the seams, prime the spackle and repaint. If you neatly apply the spackle, it shouldn't take much sanding to get it smooth. Ideally you would strip the wallpaper but that wouldn't be a small undertaking.