Purchased a home, previous owner had painted the wallpaper borders instead of taking them down. I have tried DIF but it is not working. I think the paint is going to make it impossible to take the border down. Any suggestions?

 

I would take a razor knife and cut a horizontal line from top to bottom of the border. You don't need to cut all the way through the border, just past the paint and the top layer of the border. Borders generally are thicker than regular wallpaper so it should be easy to cut through the top layer without scoring your wall. Next work the blade under the paint/top layer all along one side of your cut. Once you get a start, peel this layer off parallel to the floor and it should come off in one piece, only breaking at (maybe) the corners and the natural end of the roll. Repeat this process with all your paper and the backing material should easily strip off when using the proper techniques.