how to make textured "bumpy" walls smooth?

we're about to move into a shotgun in germantown that we love. however, the walls in the two front rooms have a bumpy, orange peel texture that we hate. we'd like to have these walls smoothed out and painted, preferably before we move in. any recommendations on the best technique for this? or better yet, any recommendations for the best person to do this job for us? the cost of the job and the length of time it would take are two big concerns, but most importantly we want to find someone we can trust who does good work. thanks for any guidance or suggestions.

There are several to get your walls . The most expensive would to have the walls skimmed coated. The other two ways I know would be to hang paneling ( there are lots of options and they can be painted) or to hang a textured wall paper. The textured wallpapers come in many styles, they are a heavy paper and are made to be painted, there are patterns that are made to look like drywall.

I wonder if there's any reason drywall couldn't be hung over the textured walls? Skim coating as someone else mentioned, was the other option that came to mind. We had a similar problem in our house, except the texturing was extreme. Our plaster had points that stuck out 1/2 to 1 inch from the wall. It would hurt your arm if you bumped into it. We were able to scrape the points off by hand & then skim coat.

One could hang drywall over the existing walls. That is commonly done. But I wouldn't do it. The main negative is that you literally lose some of your room (volume). Every inch counts when you're living and trying to put furniture in place, etc. Also, when you hang new drywall, you still need to tape, mud, sand, skim, etc.....in short, you still need a good drywall guy(s)...plus, add the material cost, and the time to hang.

Without seeing the current surface it is tough to judge, but if it really is quite smooth, like an orange, then a skim coat would be very quick and easy for someone who is any good. Perhaps just one coat, sand and that is it. But possibly a second coat and sanding, depending on how perfect you want it.

I cannot overemphasize how crucial it is to get someone who is good at it though. They can do it literally five times faster than someone less experienced. (and probably do a better job too) Unfortunately, I've lost contact with one guy who I knew who was real good at it, and a second guy quit doing it to go into woodworking full time. The job woud go very quickly for a competent drywall finisher...no taping and seams makes the job much much faster (thick mud takes longer to dry).

I'd say a skim coat is the way to go. Oh, and yes, by all means try to do it before moving in. You will have dust aplenty during sanding. Still, you can isolate rooms with plastic sheeting if necessary.

good luck

Try misting a small out of the way spot with water a few times, them try to scrapeing it off with a 4" drywall knife. If it does not have to many coats of paint you should be able to knock down the texture.

Thanks to each of you for your wonderful, informative suggestions. At this point, we're showing the walls to folks who have expressed interest in doing the job to find out what methods they'd use, how much it'll cost, & how long it'll take.