Things You'll Need:
- Wood Filler
- Drywall Tape
- Putty Knife
- Primer
- Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Paint Roller
- Paint Tray
- Gloves
- Sandpaper
- Drop Cloth
- Painter's Tape
- Drywall Joint Compound
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Step 1
Wood paneling is usually very dark and boring. It will also make a room darker. Framed art, pictures and wall decor usually do not look attractive hanging on paneling. If your paneling has been hung over drywall, you should be able to remove it, fill in the nail holes, sand, prime and paint. If you have paneling that was hung without drywall behind it, you can still paint over it and make it look like drywall.
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Step 2
This is what you will have to do. Remove any furniture and objects from the room. Clean the walls by vacuuming and wiping down with a damp cloth. You will need to use wood filler to fill in the grooves in the paneling using the putty knife. Follow the instructions on the filler. This will dry hard so you will want to be neat in applying this. You will want to have the filler flush with the paneling. Any protruding areas of filler will have to be sanded down when the filler dries. The instructions on the filler should tell you how long to wait before sanding. If it does not, check a groove to see if it completely dry. Filling these grooves in will be time consuming. After the grooves have been filled in and been sanded where needed, you will have to go back over them with drywall tape and tape them off. Next you would apply drywall joint compound over the tape. You will apply a thin coat and let dry. After this has dried, lightly sand with a fine grit sandpaper. After sanding, take a damp cloth and wipe off any dust. Stripe off around the baseboards with the painter' s tape to keep the primer and paint from getting on the baseboard. Lay down the drop cloth to protect the floors.
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Step 3
Now you are ready to prime. Have the primer tinted the same color as your paint. You will probably need 2 coats of primer and paint over this paneling being that wood is more porous than drywall. Someone at the paint store can tell you what would be the best primer to use. Shake the primer before pouring into the paint tray . Using your paint brush, prime around the baseboards, wall outlets etc. first. Then you will be able to take the paint roller and prime the rest of the walls fairly quick. Make sure the primer is completely dry before applying the paint. Follow the same steps for painting that you did for the primer. Once the paint is dry, you can remove the drop cloth, painter's tape and return the furniture to the room. No one should be able to tell this is not drywall when you have finished the walls.
Comments
naturalpath said
on 4/27/2009 I have done this. A lot of work but can be very pretty once its painted.