Painting - Prepping a work surface?

Hey all.

I have just gutted and redone a bedroom, and I love the way the 2 layers of paint look on the new drywall. I would like to simply paint other walls in my house, and I know that they have been painted many, MANY times before. My question is this: Is there any way to remove some of the previous layers of paint from a drywall or sheetrock surface safely, without damaging the wall itself. Thanks in advance.

I have learned, rather quickly, that the previous owner of my house felt that a layer of paint was the best way to repair things that were broken, dirty, or sometimes for no reason at all!!!

Removing layers of paint from walls would either take an extreme amount of sanding (wall paint does not sand well) or stripping them chemically, I would suggest neither. Most of the walls I repaint, I remove any loose paint, clean the walls good and repaint. If the walls are in such bad condition that simply repainting is not the answer (aside from minor repairs) I would suggest a drywall finisher come in and make the nesasary repairs and you prime and paint, unless of course you are familiar with the finishing tools and proper procedure of course.