Anyone ever painted wood paneling?

[Kymberley]

Oh yes, the dreaded ugly-as-sin wood paneling. Our den, which is 75% of our basement/first floor (split-foyer home) has wood paneling on the walls. I believe they are stained a cherry color. It makes the room feel like a cave and I can't take it anymore. We can't afford to drywall, mud, prime, and paint the huge room as DH is facing a cut in his hours at work. I've been contemplating painting the paneling for a while now, but it's going to be a gigantic undertaking. I'm worried that I won't be satisfied with the result. So, has anyone done this before? Are you happy you did it? Care to explain the process? TIA!

[Drag0nflygirl]

Is it actually wood or is it the fake-o paneling from the 70's?

[Kymberley]

Is it actually wood or is it the fake-o paneling from the 70's?

It's the fake-o. Total 70's in here. With teal carpet to boot. Gag.

[brittone2]

THe Lettered Cottage (blog) couple have info on painting wood paneling I think. I did a quick search and couldn't find it but I'm pretty sure they have the info on their site.

eta: removed my comment about shellac since you are dealing with the fake paneling. Some of the good blogs have info about painting stuff like MDF using a good primer. I think finding the right primer is probably the key.

Back to add:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0218514029299.html
Painting laminate-maybe this would have some relevant tips? Not sure if it is exactly the same as the fake wood paneling but I would think it would work?
http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2010/04/go-right-ahead-and-paint-that-laminate/

[Drag0nflygirl]

Easy. Prime and paint away. It will look fine. If the lines bother you fill them in and sand them down with light weight spackel. I think it looks ok without doing that. My BFF did it, along with pale blue wainscoting on the ceiling and blue pergo on the floor for a shore theme and it looks amazing. I know youre not doing that much but my point is don't be afraid.

[peanut520]

i'm not pround to say i've done it. a good primer and fluffy roller (the kind for painting masonry) is all you need.

[Kymberley]

Great! I'm going to do this! So excited!

Now to start a new thread about decorating with teal carpet. *shudder*

[hellokitty]

It's doable. Our old house prior to our present house must have had that ugly paneling and the prior owners had painted it white, so it ended up looking like a cute cottage look. The only thin is that they used a paint that IMO was too flat. I would go with a more glossy paint, but maybe that's just me.

[BDKmom]

We did it at my mom's and it turned out great. Definitely prime first. Good luck!

[Indianamom2]

My mom and dad did this in their master bedroom and in my bedroom. It looks much better. I think all they did is prime and paint.

[catsnkid]

I think all they did is prime and paint.

:yeahthat: We did this a few months ago. Much better.

[brittone2]

Great! I'm going to do this! So excited!

Now to start a new thread about decorating with teal carpet. *shudder*
I have seafoam/teal in my current house. Not all rooms, but it is on the stairs, and in the dining room and our study. Hate it, and yes, hard to decorate around. DH doesn't want to do hardwood right away since DS2 is still young, and our dog is approaching 10 years old. He wants to wait a little longer to get past those phases, since the carpet, while ugly, is in good condition.

PITB though. The carpet color made a lot of neutral tans look fleshy like a bandaid. We have a good BM paint store, and they helped me find some tans to swatch that didn't have any pink or red undertones. Anything with even a touch of pink undertones in the tan (very common) turned into yucky on the wall.

[octmom]

Your house sounds like mine. We had someone paint our family room paneling about 6 years ago and it looks a million times better than it did before. They just primed and painted. We went with a light sand/tan (can't remember the color) and it was a HUGE improvement.

[Kymberley]

I have seafoam/teal in my current house. Not all rooms, but it is on the stairs, and in the dining room and our study. Hate it, and yes, hard to decorate around. DH doesn't want to do hardwood right away since DS2 is still young, and our dog is approaching 10 years old. He wants to wait a little longer to get past those phases, since the carpet, while ugly, is in good condition.

PITB though. The carpet color made a lot of neutral tans look fleshy like a bandaid. We have a good BM paint store, and they helped me find some tans to swatch that didn't have any pink or red undertones. Anything with even a touch of pink undertones in the tan (very common) turned into yucky on the wall.

I never would have thought of that. Thanks for the info!

Our carpet is also in great condition and we won't replace it for a while. It's pretty dark and has dark blue undertones. I think the previous owners were going for a Pub theme in the den or something. Put a dart board on the wall and you have just that. I'm Googling different things, but having a hard time coming up with decor options that look nice with that color. I lean towards white or very pale colored walls with dark furniture and pops of color in the rest of the house. Well, that's what I strive for anyway. Our kitchen cabinets are still the most horrid fuchsia color you've ever seen. Yep, you read that. Fuchsia. I'm embarrassed that I still haven't done anything about that.

[DietCokeLover]

Wow, fuchsia! That may require a picture.

[BDKmom]

Wow, fuchsia! That may require a picture.

:yeahthat: Seriously. I cannot even imagine.

I think when you have a house like that with so much going on that you want to change, it's hard to get started, because it seems overwhelming. Go ahead and jump in with painting. I think it will make a HUGE difference, even if it isn't perfect.

[Kymberley]

Wow, fuchsia! That may require a picture.

:rotflmao: Oh if only you knew. I hate this house. Seriously. Okay, I don't hate the BONES of the house, but I hate each and every thing that the previous owners did to it. Black tile and white grout for the kitchen floor. IMPOSSIBLE to keep clean. Fuchsia cabinets. W.T.F. Brass faucets and drawer pulls. Lilac bathroom. The third bedroom, which we now use as an office, had one solid shiny black wall and the other three were white with black sponge painting. Black carpeting. It looked like a dalmatian exploded in here. Now it's okay. I painted it a pale gray and redid the trim. The other rooms aren't much better.

We bought this house as a fixer-upper right after college. Only "we" haven't been doing much "fixing". Life got really crazy, with DH's illnesses and other family issues, so it's been a very slow process. I'm finally sick of it. All of it.

ETA: Remember the movie The Money Pit (Tom Hanks)? Yeah, it's like that.

[cvanbrunt]

We had one paneled wall a couple of houses ago. I hated it so much that we used mud and sanded to get a completely flat surface. It worked just fine but that might be too much labor for so much paneling.

[Kymberley]

:yeahthat: Seriously. I cannot even imagine.

I think when you have a house like that with so much going on that you want to change, it's hard to get started, because it seems overwhelming. Go ahead and jump in with painting. I think it will make a HUGE difference, even if it isn't perfect.

You hit the nail on the head. Overwhelmed pretty much sums it up.

[swissair81]

My parents did. It lightened the entire house. It was definitely too dark before.

[DualvansMommy]

We had the same issue with our den, only it's real wood. Even if we painted with good primer and paint, it would take massive amount for it to stick. So, we sucked it up and lived with the dreaded dark wood paneling for 4 LONG years till we could afford to redo the room by removing it, drywalling, etc and now it's so worth the wait!

I'd say go for it! especially yours is fake, so it should be very doable project.


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[klwa]

My parents did through the main living areas of their house, when I was in college. As someone else said, just prime & paint. (They went from a DARK wood look to a light yellow.)

[Mommy_Mea]

We have it in our family room and finished basement. The previous owners painted it, but I don't love the color (it is a light sucking tan color), so I have been doing a little research on good colors for paneling (drywall is not in our near future). Going for the cottage feel/something light seems to be a consensus.

I agree that I don't like a flat finish, at least with the current tan color. It looks... cheap I guess? I mean, I know it is fake 70s paneling and it IS cheap, but I feel like it could look a little nicer.

Young House Love did paneling:

http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/06/paneling-the-bane-of-our-existence/

Pondering the teal carpet, I did a quick search through Houzz for teal carpet and popping with yellow seems to be a common theme, or getting a cute print with teal in it and a neutral wall. Two that I liked:

http://www.houzz.com/photos/81353/Black---White-traditional-family-room-boston
http://www.houzz.com/photos/31800/Century-City-Office-eclectic-home-office-los-angeles (No teal carpet, but show the yellow pairing)

[Kymberley]

We have it in our family room and finished basement. The previous owners painted it, but I don't love the color (it is a light sucking tan color), so I have been doing a little research on good colors for paneling (drywall is not in our near future). Going for the cottage feel/something light seems to be a consensus.

I agree that I don't like a flat finish, at least with the current tan color. It looks... cheap I guess? I mean, I know it is fake 70s paneling and it IS cheap, but I feel like it could look a little nicer.

Young House Love did paneling:

http://www.younghouselove.com/2011/06/paneling-the-bane-of-our-existence/



Pondering the teal carpet, I did a quick search through Houzz for teal carpet and popping with yellow seems to be a common theme, or getting a cute print with teal in it and a neutral wall. Two that I liked:

http://www.houzz.com/photos/81353/Black---White-traditional-family-room-boston
http://www.houzz.com/photos/31800/Century-City-Office-eclectic-home-office-los-angeles (No teal carpet, but show the yellow pairing)

These links are great! Thank you so much! I've been really digging yellow lately, so this is inspiring.