Wood paneling- should we replace or paint?
Question:Just bought a new house, and there's old-school wood paneling throughout the kitchen and family rooms. Should we just paint over it, or pay to have it stripped and replaced with drywall? Would it look awful if we painted it? Thanks!
Answers:
first find out if there is drywall behind the panneling or not. If the panneling was an addition, then its likely theres good drywall behind it, you would just have to patch up where the glue tears away the drywall paper with some spakal. Unless you like the look of painted wood paneling <I dont> I would remove it. It will help with the resale value of your home, as well as the functionality of the walls <hanging things in wood panneling is a pain if theres no dry wall behind it!> So my reccomendation would be remove it.
I would paint it. It depends on the look you are going for, though. If you want country/cottage or a less formal feel and don't mind the vertical "stripes" where the cracks are, then painting it would be okay (even if it's the thin luan paneling). If you want something more contemporary or formal, then it may be worth the cost of having it replaced with drywall (expensive and messy process, though).
If you do paint it you will have to fill in all the cracks, then sand smooth. Im thinking this will take forever and you may not end up with the look you want. I would say take it off and put up drywall. Good Luck!
Paint it. Prime it first depending on the primer you choose might need 2-3 coats with 2 coats of wall paint. My father have an amazing home which was built in the 80s and one of the rooms had dark wood paneling and he simply painted over it and to those that never knew paneling was there, they cant tell. To be honest first time I visited his home I didnt know. My husband and I also flip homes and to keep costs down on houses that have wood paneling we simply paint over the paneling.
unless money is no object, it would be very costly to remove and replace. i would just paint over it, i've seen it done, and depending on the color you choose, it really doesn't look bad. besides you can take away from it by adding some nice wall art in the rooms. good luck!
replace it!!!!!!
looks crappy if you paint over it.
my house had that dark paneling on all the walls and believe me when i say sheetrock over it. you can do som much more to the walls when you aren't messing with the paneling.
I like the look of painted paneling. I think it adds interest to boring walls. It all boils down to cost. Do you want to spend the money and do you think you would ever get the money back out if you went to the time and expense of stripping and replacing. Drywall dust is not fun stuff, if you do replace, do it before you move in.
my aunt and uncle just painted over panelling and the result is great
I painted mine and it turned out quite lovely.
I didn't fill in the join lines or any of the paneling lines and it looks quite unique.
I lightly sanded it and gave it two coats of good primer.
I used latex paint with a matte finish.(light grey)
I think you'd like the end result.
in our living room the paneling only went from the floor up about 30" so put a chair rail around the top , primed and painted it, looks great, in the bedrooms we had one wall with paneling, instead of removing it we just covered it up with 1/4" drywall, texture coat, primed, then painted it
I have actually seen the wood paneling that you are referring to in some homes. I know people that have had that paneling and they painted it. I actually looked really good painted.
Painting it would be the most affordable and easiest way to go. We've painted two rooms in our house with the old-school wood paneling and they turned out amazing. You will need to first paint it with a primer, like Kilz, so that the paint doesn't soak into the wood. Then paint away! If you leave the small groves between the "planks" it adds character to your walls. Go for it!
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