We've got a room that's ~23' long x 11' wide and 9.5' tall. It was previously covered in paneling. We've pulled down the paneling which was stapled to the walls. There are probably 1000 staple holes in the walls. Otherwise, the drywall isn't in bad shape.
Hopefully, these pics will show the staple holes, but they may not show very well.
On top of the staple holes, the window casing is 1x6 pine boards that have been stained and finished. Those boards cover 3-5" gaps between the drywall and window all around. We'll be replacing the casing. It will probably be as wide as the existing casing, but not cheap, knotty stained and finished pine.
What should I do with the drywall?
1 Pull it all down and replace - drastic
2 repair each hole and issue (if so, it feels like that's going to be very visible)
3 lightly sand the whole room and then skim the entire thing with joint compound to go back to a nice smooth surface. (is this going to be faster/easier than #1)
4 something else?
If we go with all new drywall, we may (probably) hire that out as it will be faster than for me to do it and presumably, someone with more experience would do a better job, even with me watching the Vancouver carpenter videos.
I assume trying to patch each hole will look like hell. I assume to do a good job, I'd want to sand around each hole, then patch so the surface is flush with the existing, then add texture.
Could I just coat the entire room with a thin layer of mud or is that just asking for trouble?