What to use for drywall repair/painting prep

We removed old wall paper and the drywall (walls & ceiling) in our bathroom needs some prep work to get it to the point where the surface would be similar to new drywall. I've scraped off all the loose glue etc but the surface is uneven all over. I need to lay a skim coat over the whole surface area to smooth it out. What would be best to do this with?
I've tried 'spackling paste' and this has turned into a nightmare. It dries too fast. I end up created lines in the spackle as I go over it with the 12" knife. I had no trouble getting my joint compound to smooth out over my joint tape without a crease anywhere. This spackling paste seems to be for smaller areas I guess. It doesn't really work well when doing a whole wall. And yes I tried watering down the spackling paste so it didn't dry as fast.

I have not used this, but I believe they make a wall paper like material that can be painted. After putting it up you use some drywall mud to hide the seams. Might be the easiest way to go.
Good luck.
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You mentioned a 12" knife so I will use that as reference. I prefer a 6 or 8".
Use regular or setting drywall mud based on your time preferences.
Looking at your wall lay a thin even coat of mud from left to right at the ceiling level. Drop down and lay another coat at 20" from the ceiling (based on a 12" knife). Drop down leaving the same amount of un-skimmed wall and repeat until you get to the floor. At this point you will have bands of mud separated by un-skimmed wall. Allow the mud to set or dry based on what you chose. Go back and fill in the voids. Sand or scrape the ridges. Repeat as necessary to achieve a uniform appearance.
It really isn't as hard as I made it sound. The real trick is applying a uniform thickness. That does take a little practice.
Colbyt

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You could just float the walls with that. If the paper facing of the drywall is damaged, sand it lightly to knock it down some. Then prime it with oil-based primer and snad again after it dries. Then float the walls.

What do you mean by 'float' the walls?

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:
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Picture a beachball...

The original poster said "the surface is uneven all over. I need to lay a skim coat over the whole surface area to smooth it out".
To "float" a wall is to do what the OP said he needed to do -- basically applying a thin layer for the purpose of evening out a surface that isn't flat.

You said in your first post "the surface is uneven all over. I need to lay a skim coat over the whole surface area to smooth it out".
To "float" a wall is to do just that -- basically applying a thin layer for the purpose of evening out a surface that isn't flat.