I have one room in my house that is all paneling. Every wall is floor to ceiling. At first I really liked it, but it is mostly a spare room and when my outdoor chain link fence fell, I kept my big, completely outdoor dogs in that room as I did the repairs. Needless to say the beautiful wood paneling is now scratched and nicked and hideously damaged in more than one spot from my dogs jumping up on the door, window sill, etc.
If you remove the paneling you may find a lot more to fill in. I would get plastic wood and fill the scratches. There is a plastic wood that is easy to sand but I don't remember the name. Then buy an electric sander, they are not expensive and will eliminate a lot of work. You can then paint or wall paper the room.
Hi, we remodeled our living room on the cheap. We had the old 1970's paneling on the wall. By this time we had discovered joint compound in doing the master. We bought a like 28 lb bag of dry mix for under 30 bucks, and mixed it with water as told in a big bucket. then we mudded our walls with the spackler whatever its called. but the point is we filled in all the paneling grooves and then swirled it in there making it a decorative finish with random protrusions from the compound.
Nothing new to add but the last house we bought is almost all paneling and that does get to you after awhile. The first room I did I put spackling in all the grooves, primed it with Kilz and wallpapered it. Lots of work but it turned out really cute. Now 4 years later the paper is starting to curl at the seams. I had kinda hoped that it would stick good and I could possibly paint over it some day. In my hallway, I applied Kilz again and then painted the walls a light creamy color.
Hi Corie,
I had natural wood paneling in my sunroom and could not stand how it looked. So I lightly sanded the paneling, primed the walls and painted. (Don't try to skip priming the walls: this extra step will provide the proper base between the paneling and your chosen paint color. Without the primer the paint could easily peel off the paneling). The resulting look is reminiscent of old fashioned bead-n-board.
FYI. if the grooves are really deep you can always fill them with wood putty to even out the wall prior to painting.
We had paneling in our gameroom and it made the room very dark. We just used Kilz primer and Benjamin Moore taupe colored paint. It was very easy to do and really brightened up the room. We also used MDF for crown moulding and baseboard.(very easy to paint and to work with in general). The room looks great and it has been about 5 years. Just go for it.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I varnished all my paneling and some of it came out darker than the others. If I re-varnish the lighter pieces will it match up? Should I use polyurethane to seal it?
By Ben
I have stained and vanished custom wood picture frame paneling in the living room and some in the dining room. I would like to whitewash or paint the paneling in the living room to give it an old Western or antique type of look. Anyone have some suggestions on how to achieve this finish?
By Barbara from Greenville, TX
