How To Paint Paneling
Interior, Painting, Video by Danny Lipford
A lot of people are considering painting 70’s paneling in their own house. Danny gets some tips from a professional on just how to paint that paneling and its trim.
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July 27th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
What can I do to get rid of the lines in the paneling. Because it looks just like painted paneling to me. thanks Norma
Danny Lipford Says:August 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
About the only thing you can do other than replacing the paneling is to fill in the grooves with drywall joint compound using a 6in drywall knife. Then you will need to sand, prime and paint the walls.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I have used textured paint with a degree of success however it depends on whether you want textured walls or not.
Depending on how thick the paint texture is you will still see lines when the light hits just right if you aren’t very careful in painting. filling the grooves is the obvious answer..texture painting is the easy way out but not always the best solution.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I covered the grooves in my paneling by covering it with a wallpaper product that I purchased at Lowes. It is basically a heavy white paper with no pattern that I put up like wallpaper and gently smoothed over the paneling. There were one or two places in the panelling that was irregular and that showed thru the paper, but otherwise I was well satisfied with the “sheetrock” look of the wall.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Yes I have used that same paper on a home we lived in that was built in the 1800s and of course all the walls were in perfect condition..cough….
It didnt work that well for me in that situation…I used textured paint there as well then decorative painting on top. It came out beautifully. Wish I had pics..unfortunately we rented the house and when we moved out a contractor bought it and put up an apartment complex..what a shame. Three fireplaces..etc. But the sills were bad and alot of work would have to had been done to restore the home which is why we moved and bought our house here on the lake which brings its own set of problems like flooding.. which I am dealing with now.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
After experimenting with many different paneling “groove fillers”, I found something that worked and seems like it will be durable. When I tried Joint Compound, spackling, caulk - paint just scratched off easily. It is Elmer’s Carpenter’s Wood Filler it is paintable and sandable, comes in a tube and only $2 at target. Be sure to sand excess using a drywall sanding block (it is soft) spray some water on the filled in areas and it is very clean to use. This stuff probably only works if you have paneling with shallow grooves. Use a sanding block to Sand in the grooves a bit before applying.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I have just bought a mobile home and it has all the walls and cieling covered with wood paneling. I want to paint them but what type of paint should I buy???
March 21st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
i would like to paint my paneling, but i am not sure of the color that i would like to paint, (furniture is victorian style) colors on the furniture is pink,mavue,blue,gold,teal,beige, my rug also has the same colors (the wood color is cherry) and my curtains are a mauve color, do you have any suggestions or tell me where i can look to see what color would go well???
April 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
WE just bought a mobile home,even though it is nice every thing is late 70’s early 80’s paneling.I’d like to know the easiest way to paint it without any seams or shadows of them showing.It also has a huge sorta window sill behind the bed in the master bedroom,it looks like plywood,how could I make it look more like real wood.Al so some of the panels on the hall ceiling needs replaced.I’d rather just put in a plaster ceiling,how? And the bathroom had a look of puffy glow in dark stickers on the walls and ceiling.I took them off but they left a lot of residue,if I paint over it it will show terribly.How do I remove all the residue?
Thank You.
May 11th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Sorry I am so late answering these questions but I have been ill and not paying alot of attention to the site. Martha m: I would use a latex eggshell or satin paint of good quality. I like the texture effect but if you are going for a “cottage feel” then perhaps whitewashing the paneling is the route to go. remember to sand the panelling a bit to give it “tooth” to let the paint adhere to.
Milly: As far as your question goes, look at a color wheel. Find the predominate color of the room..in your case it sounds like mauve. Then look across the wheel to find the complentary color.. you can also go monochromatic or autogolous, but for suggestions try going to behr.com or valspar.com and they have actual rooms that you can try different colors on. If you subscribe to the behr site you can upload your own pics and actually see what the colors will look like on the walls. You have alot of colors going on there. I would tend to stay with a very neutral color such as ivory.. with a tint of green red or yellow in it depending on what colors you want to highlight. When you have so many colors going on, make sure you find a good focal point so the eye isnt going crazy when you walk into the room. make sure when you enter that it focuses on one thing then its more soothing to the eye.
Denise.. you can faux finish anything to make it look like a wood finish.. gel stains are good for that. as far as the ceiling goes you dont want plaster you probably want sheetrock.. and the residue can be removed easily usually with a product called goof off or sometimes wd 40 will take it off. if that doesnt work there are stronger adhesive removeers on the market. just make sure that it doesnt damage the material underneath.
I hope this helps.
July 6th, 2008 at 7:58 am
I am attempting to remove 2 layers of wallpaper over hardwood paneling in our bedroom. Our home was built in 1957-58,we live where my husband grew up.
What is the best way to paint the paneling after paper removal. (my husband likes the paneling, he remembers it from a small child)uhgg . Is it okay to prime/paint only?
Should I fill in the grooves first?