When you’ve lived in a house for a while you tend to truly make that space your own. You have likely decorated your home in such a way that it works with your furnishing and reflects your personal taste. Unfortunately, as fabulous as those tastes are, prospective buyers are likely to not share them.
It is easy, on a weekly basis, to search the internet for new “home for sale” postings that show just how dissimilar some peoples’ taste in decorating can be to your own. Ever consider living in a home decorated exclusively in red and orange velour? Well, someone has and I’ve seen the photo evidence. Most people would balk at that kind of decorating, even in the era that particular home was decorated in; someone at the time thought it was a fabulous idea though.
In general, if you have sponge painting, faux finishes, wall paper, murals, or colored paint on your walls, you will need to remove it or paint over it. There are of course some exceptions to this but not many. I’ve seen bathrooms done in a very subtle parchment finish on the walls that looked beautiful and very unobtrusive; even more importantly, the finish on the walls worked with the fixtures in the room which wouldn’t likely be changed because it was in a bathroom.
Wallpaper is one of the worst offenders of bad decorating left for potential buyers.