Paint it!

I've encountered both real-wood paneling and cheap'o pressed (remanufactured?) paneling and several in between.  I absolutely hate paneling!

If it is real wood or at all pourous you could scrub with Murphy's oil soap or something similar.

I've always opted to paint it.  You'll most definitely need to invest in a decent primer and use a decent quality paint as well.  If you try to just paint it (even with good quality paint) you'll end up having to put a half-dozen coats on and that is a lot of work!

There is also a thick, stiff paper covering that you can put on it, it goes on like wallpaper and then paint over that, or leave plain if you'd prefer.  That can turn into a pretty expensive route because that covering is pretty expensive when you get the thick kind that will cover the cracks in the paneling and not let them show through.  That stuff comes in different thicknesses for various uses, so you would need to be sure to get the thick one that will smooth over the cracks, it usually tells in the "used for" section if it works for covering paneling.  If you don't mind seeing the cracks, then I'd say PAINT IT!

Good luck.

• Decorating help - Trish
  • I lived with dark green paneling for almost 20 yrs in the - PAMT~MDM
  • My mom painted hers a soft gold color - Me
  • Thanks - Trish
  • You absolutely can paint paneling, no problem - GaPeach
  • Paneling - SuzieQ
    • Oh, forgot to mention.... - SuzieQ
  • At Home Depot and Lowes I have seen... - ormtme
  • Lisa LaPorte from Designed to Sell SM - MDmt
  • Kilz primer will let you paint over it, but wear mask. Good idea to paint it. - Sally
    • You can use other primers that don't smell quite sm - mlstoo
  • Paint it! - sm
    • I filled in the cracks - Patti

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Go to sites like Lowes.com click project center, interactive disign tools and try Armstrong design-a-room or olympic paint color guide.  These will give good tips as well as let you select colors and see them on walls and ceiling to see what they look like. 

I recently remodeled.  Hubby's childhood home.  He had never seen anything but white wall anywhere.  I love to cook so afterwards we looked back and paint names were sage, olive, thyme, ginger peach, merlot, moonshine. 

They have a paint calculator there as well to make sure you don't over buy, but we did buy extra for later touch ups or "oopses" that happen.

Most stores now have a computer that you can take your pillow sham or comforter in and they can scan the color content and either mix the almost exact color you want or tell you which ones they have in stock that match. 

Some recommend mixing paint with your white to match a little closer for ceiling.  My ceilings were all ultrawhite.  I loved the crisp white feeling.  Hubby said looked like crayola box exploded.  I figured okay so what if it made it look a little smaller?  The room is the same size.  (mainly for selling factors).  I said if I paint it where it looks big and still stump my toe on furniture what difference does it make, it is still the same size room!  But I was happy with my choices.

go to the various paint companies websites (I like Behr) and fool around with their virtual rooms and color combos.  They also have good tips for the how-to of it.   Enjoy your new digs!