Painting "Marblelite/Marlite" in bathroom?

My goal is to paint and put up a wallpaper border in my bathroom, but there is a problem doing so, or at least I've been told.

I have put up wallpaper border in bathrooms before and stay up for years (to the point when it was taken down it needed to be belt sanded down,) but it required setting the border right into the wet paint. My problem this time is my bathroom walls are two different patterns of what some people call "Marblite" and others call "marlite."

This "marblite/marlite" is hard to explain. One wall is this blue-ish, marbly, turquoise-y (the stone not color,) wallboard-ish stuff that looks like it's installed in a similar manner to paneling. The other half looks like it's made out of the same stuff, but is a shiny white with gold specks all over it.

I have been told if I paint over this it will bubble and flake off, especially in the moistest room in the house.

The questions are: Is what I heard true? And if so is there anyway around it, such as technique or products?

Thank you for your time,
Davinya

 

From what I can find, this is a veneer product. It can be painted if properly prepared. Sounds no different than painting a veneered panelling. Others may be able to offer different experiences however.

Lightly sand the surface for better 'tooth' when priming. Clean surface with TSP and rinse. Apply a top quality bonding primer such as Bullseye 1-2-3, Fresh Start or Aqua Lock...allow 24 hours to cure, then paint.

 

I had Marblelite or Marlite in my home as floor. We ended up thin-setting and tiling right over the screened-in porch floor. The other was one floor surface in the middle of many layers of flooring in a 1940's kitchen.

My adventure made me curious about the history of this varied, colorful and nearly indestructible product. Do you know anything about it? Is it pre-1960's? Was it developed in northern America? Southern America? Australia?

Thanks,

faughtwoman