wood paneling......options?

[bell]

right now in my basement (which has become my "fish room") it has a dropped ceiling with white tiles and wood paneling floor to ceiling on the walls. carpet is a short ply grey.
has anyone painted paneling? how did it look?
i'm currently renting and have the option to buy but haven't decided yet, so ripping out the paneling and installing drywall isn't an option right now.
room width is 10.5ft by 30ft long.
here's a pic of what i'm dealing with, the tank stand in the pic will be finished from the wall and cieling to "box" it in.

[Dantilla]

Peel the paneling off, and glue it to the sides of 1970's era station wagons.


It will take a couple coats to cover that dark color, but as long as the paneling is clean (really, really clean), the paint will adhere just fine.

As far as home improvement goes, about the best bang for the buck is a bucket of paint.

[lendaddy]

Hit it with Kilz primer and it'll paint any color just fine.

[jim72911t]

The house I previously rented had a full Brady Bunch styled living room, wood paneling everywhere. I painted it a light color and it really brightened up the room. Took a coat of primer and several coats, but came out decent looking.

[allaircooled]

Hit it with Kilz primer and it'll paint any color just fine.

+1

I have painted a couple of paneled walls using Kilz first and they came out just fine.

[bryanthompson]

You can fill in the cracks with spackel(?), sand it smooth, prime, and paint. it'll look decent.

[WOODPIE]

Likewise regarding the painting, it'll stick just fine if the paneling is clean, and use a good primer. This little ****box we moved into five years ago sported wood paneling in every room, and an even more (ahem) economical paneling in the kitchen and bath. It is all painted now, holding up very well, and we're satisfied.

Just to break things up a little, we took out all the moulding in the guest and master bedrooms, replaced it with new baseboard, door and window casing, crown, and chair rail. Same patterns in both rooms, but cherry in the guest, red oak in the master. Below the chair rail we painted a Van Dyke brown in the oak room, a baked bean (deep orangy-red) in the cherry room. Above the chair rail both rooms in a ivory tone. Ceiling flat white.

Makes the small rooms look a little bigger.

Just throwing out ideas.

Ed

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
You can fill in the cracks with spackel(?), sand it smooth, prime, and paint.

Or you could pound finish nails into your knee caps.

Damn bryan, you a satist?

[notfarnow]

I'll second the Zinsser primer suggestion, although the shellac based stuff blocks stains better. If that's not an issue, the water based is great and the fumes aren't too bad. Zinsser is great stuff... dries in 20 minutes or so, and the adhesion is incredible.

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by lendaddy
Or you could pound finish nails into your knee caps.

Damn bryan, you a satist?

+1. The painted panels look great; hard to justify the labor for filling the grooves.

If you're going with a light color, be sure to fill any open seams if there are gaps between the panels, and use some sort of trim around the ceiling. It'll look great.

[Dave L]

I covered panels in my last house with textured wall paper and painted it, It looked great.

[rsNINESOOPER]

Actually more than likely there is already sheet rock underneath the wood paneling and you only need to take the paneling down. I have done this before a few times for remodel projects and there is usually very minimal damage to the wall. A little light weight spackle to fill in the nail holes is usually all you need to do. If there is not sheetrock the walls would be very flimsy if you were to push on them, they would flex between the studs.

good luck with your project-

[john70t]

Painting a lighter color will make the room seem about twice as big. Open the windows and get fans going.

[edit]get the LL's aproval in writing.

[pbs911]

Originally posted by bell
i'm currently renting

what does your landlord say?