I am wanting to paint my paneling walls and old dark wood kitchen cabinets and need tips. My brick house seems to be dark and gloomy inside at times and I'm ready to brighten it up. Do yo have any tips you could give me for painting over the paneling? Prep work, paint type, etc. The trim is also very dark wood.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Deanna, when we lived in a trailer house I painted the horribly ugly wood paneling by first painting with kills primer, then painting with regular paint. It worked great, never peeled off or anything, and looked so much nicer than dark gloomy wood.
One thing that you might want to consider, depending on the look you want, is putting something like wood putty or drywall patch in the grooves of the paneling. The people at Lowes or Home Depot could probably tell you the best product. It makes the walls smoother for painting or papering.
I have painted paneling in pretty much half my house, you HAVE to sand it with about a 90 grit sandpaper to rough it up, then at least two coats of primer, KILZ is best. Then you can paint it any color you want, if you don't sand and prime though, the paint will peel off like your wall had a bad sunburn, and it takes the smallest bump to make it peel right off.
Our family has done lots of remodel. We always take the paneling off, turn it around, nail it back up, and texture it. You can buy cans of spray texture that are pretty easy to do. It may be more than you want to do, but it gives you the look of sheetrock without having to replace the paneling.
A.
www.greenbabydiaperservice.com
Hi,
We did paint the paneling in my Grandmothers home years ago. It was such a drastic improvement! The living room and kitchen was dark brown paneling and the room looked small. When we painted it a light color it was a huge change and actually looked larger. My Grandmother really liked it!
I hope your painting goes fast and looks great!
R.
We jsut moved into an older home....lots of paneling. Yeah! But the previous owner did paint everything. I am not sure what paint to use but they did tell me they got everythign from lowes in our town. Anyway.my main reason for responding was this........ Keep a touch up can. The painted paneling looks great but ti does come off in a peel like section if nicked. I have 3 kids so we have crashes not just nicks. I also taped a picture to my kitchen wall from one of the kids and the tape pulled it off. Now i pay attention to the pictures i tape up there and haven't had that problem anymore.
Yes I have. We bought a home that was built in 69 with one owner and it has paneling in living room and half wall paneling in dining and both restrooms. You have to clean them first we used a bleach and water mix (cover your floors) and we got foam mops at dollar store. Then you get from paint department at walmart KILZ it is a good primer it took two coats. Then we picked our color. We went with walmart for that also. Hope this helps
Not only Kilz, but you need to rough up/sand the wall, then Kilz once, maybe twice. Most wood panel has a shiny coat on it, and if you try to just paint it, the paint won't stick. It's not fun. But worth it. Or you can rip down the wood and put up drywall. There were times I thought about that during the entire painting thing.
Rough them up a little with sand paper and use Kilz. My parents did this and their's looks great. Also I believe my dad used some calking.
We painted our paneling before. Just make sure you use a good primer first. You have to make sure to get in the crevices. It may take two coats of primer, but then the paint will go on smoother. Its really not that difficult. For our wood cabinets we just sanded each one and then primered and painted. Good luck.
When my husband and I first got married we moved into a house that had dark paneling. We sanded and put Kilz on it. I can't remember if it was one or two coats of Kilz. Then we painted white. It really made the whole room seem bigger and brighter. It is time consuming, but it is very worth your while. Good luck.
H. M.
Kilz and lots of it. The paneling will soak up some of the paint it might take 2 coats of it before you can use the color you want.
Talk to the people at Lowes they will help.
I have painted my paneling. First you need to clean the paneling with a vinegar was, then prime with an agent like is used to cover up smoke. Then you can paint but be sure to cover with at least 2 coats.
Hi Deanna,
When my husband and I bought our home 2 years ago, ALL the walls were an ugly DARK panel... very gloomy! We either painted or wall papered all the walls in the house, and the results were wonderful! To paint or wall paper paneling, it's best to Kilz the panel first. We put one coat of Kilz and 2 to 3 coats of paint and the walls turned out great! The Kilz will help wall paper or boarder stick to the paneling better... we learned this one the hard way! Good luck!!
You will either have to strip the paneling or sand it. I learned the hard way. Honestly I would rather sand than strip just because of the fumes. On the other hand the dust can be pretty bad too. Once you have sanded or stripped make sure that you put something like a coat of Kiltz on before you paint. It helps make sure that the paneling it going to keep the paint and not peel. Also make sure that you don't get any oil based paint it can take months to dry.
Hi I had dark paneling in my kitchen and it wasn't in very good shape, lots of nails holes etc. I didn't want to spend the time and effort of spackling all the holes or filling in the grooves, so I did the following.
First I painted over it with Kilz. I made sure it wasn't an oil based Kilz since I was going to use latex paint. Kilz in an excellent primer (cover coat) to use on dark colors. Then I bought a box of medium texture and stirred it right into the paint, then rolled the paint on the paneling. It came out with a rough texture and covered all the holes. It didn't matter that the grooves weren't filled in cause the whole wall just looks textured. I did this on three of my paneled rooms and they all turned out great. One note of caution, you have to keep stirring the paint to keep the texture from settling. Hope this helps. Good Luck.
My best friend painted the paneling that was over a large fireplace in her old house. It was only one wall, but it made a huge difference. She used a primer let it dry and then painted it the beige color she wanted. She didn't get anything fancy, just Behr paint from Home Depot. She even painted the trim. I had my doubts when she told me she was going to do it, but it looked great! Our houses were matching floor plans and it made me want to paint my paneling too.
You can paint over paneling. You will need to use a primer first and then you can paint your wall color over it.
If your kitchen cabinets have varnish on them, you will need to sand them before you paint. Happy painting!
