painting panneling

our living room is going to be all paneling.. i despise paneling (long story that i wont get into its funny but lets not go there) anyway can you sand it and paint it?

its so dark and dreary what can i do to make it brighter

Re: painting panneling

I don't believe you need to sand it. I believe a good primer and then paint. maybe two coats of primer and two of the paint. do a search on the home board. Plenty of girls on here have done this before. GL, it will look like a whole new room. And make sure you ask when buying the primer, which one works best for this sort of project.

Re: painting panneling

thanks jen my grandma did it like 30 years ago in her house but she cant remember how they did it.. my dh on the other hand told me that it must be torn down i told him to stop making more work and ill just paint it!

Re: painting panneling

well if there is sheetrock underneath, I would just want to take it down, but it could be glued to the walls and then you would have to probably skim coat the whole wall, prime then paint. GL!

Re: painting panneling

what im worried about is if we take it down and then the sheetrock needs to be replaced its a much bigger and more expensive job and were limited with our budget! so down the line i would love to take it down but to make it move in ready i think ill stick with priming and painting

Re: painting panneling

ours was mostly nailed down but in areas their was glue and we could of sanded (a lot) skimmed, etc and after trying we figured it would be cheaper and prettier to just sheetrock.

It really is not expensive but it's MESSY i think i paid like $300 on the rock, $75 on the spackle, $20 tape, nails like $30 but labor is $$$ unless you can diy.

As far as painting over it, clean it first, then prime with super coverage primer, then paint over 2x's.

Re: painting panneling

thanks jenn... we would absolutely be able to DIY but even still thats way out of our budget at this point because every room needs TLC. so were just making it our own slowly.. sounds like primer and paint is going to be it for now!

Re: painting panneling

My mom has painted paneling down her basement.

Prime, prime, then paint.

Re: painting panneling

yea make sure you barely see anything coming through that primer if you do then prime again unless you want to see grain (if you have grainy paneling)

Re: painting panneling

It can definitely be done and makes a world of difference.

Check out this house renovation blog:
Young House Love.

They have step by step instructions but it's really not that hard.

Good luck!

Re: painting panneling

There's a special primer--check at Lowes or HD but I think it is Kilz Gripper primer. We did two coats of the special primer, then painted, and it looks great!

Re: painting panneling

Painting it makes a HUGE difference. We painted a bedroom that had teal paneling (yes, TEAL). Use two coats of primer and at least two of paint - paneling absorbs everything!!

Re: painting panneling

no sanding needed with muralo primer