Can you take a picture? Is it varnished wood or some other material/finish?

I'm selecting a paint that will compliment the brick. The same brick serves as the 'back splash' across the entire utility wall of the kitchen and beyond, so I'm not going to paint it. Way too much work.

The same paneling is in the den, sun room, basement and (I'm not kidding) the garage. The basement and garage are not among my planned projects.

I like a satin polyurethane

I am hopeful they will be in good shape, once the carpet is removed. I think this this will be the biggest improvement I make to the house.

If they're old and under the carpet, they may be waxed. If you scratch a waxed floor you can repair the scratch easily by waxing over it. If you scratch poly you have to do the whole floor again if you don't want the scratched area to show the repair.

Clean the paneling first, of course. Probably 50 years of kitchen grease coating that stuff.

I will probably do some light sanding, too.

It will help the paint stick to the paneling. You might consider removing the paneling, but you won't know before hand what is under the paneling. Maybe just the studs.

Fortunately, I like the look of painted paneling so it will stay. I'm just doing what I need to brighten the place up because I'm not kidding when I say my aunt and uncle never, once, redecorated. The walls were covered in wallpaper and the floors in carpeting before they even moved in. They never changed anything.

When this house is sold, it will probably go on the market as a 'fixer upper' since the bathrooms and kitchen are definitely 60's style, and could use a whole lot of modernizing and upgrading. They work fine for me and I'm just not interested in a whole lot of disruption and financial outlay in my life, right now. I'll be thrilled with fresh paint and hardwood floors.

Benjamin Moore is the best and worked well for me. I only need one coat to cover dark paneling.

Fill up nail holes, clean paneling with white cleaning vinegar, let dry completely. Cut in good latex primer with brush, roll on the rest. It you have stain bleeding through give it another coat of primer. Then paint your chosen color ( I loved flat white on my walls ) my painted 70’s paneling has a cottage feel now. I also used beadboard wallpaper to make a wainscoting with glossy white trim it looks amazing painted the same color as my walls.

I'm going for a bit of a Tuscan theme for the kitchen. The cabinets will be painted the same color as the paneling. The walls are not a light sandy color.

If you want to paint over it you probably need a primer coat first but you are still going to experience warping and bubbling. Panelling is a very thin layer of fake wood glued to a thin sheet of cheap plywood.

What you can do to save yourself a major headache and costs is to pick a spot to test paint. You will be able to see if your panelling will hold up to the moisture in the paint and how effective the paint is at covering the paneling thus helping you determine how many coats you'll need and if you really need a primer coat like Kilz.

I will do a test spot. I figured the half walls in the kitchen would be a good place for my first attempt. I'd just remove the paneling, but it looks like it was glued to the wall board.

Fortunately, I'm not a 'Type A' personality so ANYTHING will be an acceptable improvement. I figure when/if I sell this place, the kitchen and bathrooms will likely be gutted, anyway.

However you plan on doing the project, do the full treatment on the test spot, primer and all. Again, good luck.

1. Clean paneling with trisodium phosphate solution. Most hardware stores or Home Depot, Lowes will carry.
2. Prime with Binz or Kilz flat primer. I prefer latex/water based as it's easier to clean up afterwards. Dries quickly. Don't worry about it being 'attractive', just so it covers.
3. Paint with your choice.

See what is behind the panelling. If there is sheetrock behind the panelling, remove the panelling.

If the panelling is nailed directly to the studs, well ya prolly gonna paint the paneling...there are some decent tips in the replies already. But if there is sheetrock back there, it is best to remove the paneling rather than paint it.

darker and I wanted a light color. Didn't have any problems with bubbling or warping but it was time consuming. It made a huge difference and I'm glad I did it. Good luck!

Removing and refinishing flooring will goof up your fresh paint.

As for painting the panels, I've done it a number of times. Get it super clean and free of dust. Use a good primer and let it dry completely (like 24 hours). Use a small brush to paint primer on the dark lines between the paneling boards before rolling the rest or they'll show thru the fresh paint.

Too late. The kitchen painting is done. The kitchen is CARPETED!!! What a pain in the ass. The house has 'settled' in the front, which is where the kitchen is located, so I can't even consider putting in wood floors, which is what I'd prefer. I'm going to have to go with vinyl.

As for the rest of the house, I haven't yet settled on a paint shade, but I figured it would be better to paint, first, since any drops and drips wouldn't be an issue. However, I'm open to all advice. Beneath the carpeting it is 'virgin' maple (or oak, not sure) flooring that was covered almost as soon as it was installed. But that is on my next year list of things to do. I kind of figure that sanding, treating and painting floors is probably not a good Winter time project.

in that time period was just a photographic type finish over very cheap plywood. There is no depth to it. Sanding just makes it worse.

If the paneling is varnished wood or the less expensive kind that has a vinyl surface with wood grain printed on it I use Zinsser B-I-N primer. It's shellac-based so it's really stinky but it does the job. I recently used it on the vinyl-covered walls of an RV I renovated for a customer, with an acrylic latex top coat.

I didn’t think it smells too much. It’s denatured alcohol so not as bad as mineral spirits.

Smells like a vodka martini. And who doesn’t like vodka martinis.

You clean up with denatured alcohol.

I’m painting over stained/polyurethaned oak. I wasn’t happy with latex primer. I switched to the BIN and I’m really happy. Because it has shellac It really fills the grain and makes for a beautiful top coat.

It’s a little tough to work with as it dries quickly. I would use a small roller and use a plastic tarp as it is pretty runny. The roller will help apply quickly. Even if you get some marks by going over a tacky spot, it sands out easily. Two or thee thin coats and light sanding with a sanding sponge .

It dries to the touch in 20 minutes and you can re-coat in 45.

Shellac is an outstanding stain blocker and it sticks to everything.

I believe it won’t realize the grain as it doesn’t have water in it. That should keep from causing damage to the paneling.

It would be perfect for the op.

Zinsser Bin has been around a while. Kills is the Jhonny come lately down that avenue. If you read up on zinsser bin you will note it comes highy recommended to prim coat fire damaged areas in oh say industrial buildings . Stuff does leave quite the oder but it dries fast and the oder fades away.


https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/zinsser/primer-sealers/b-i-n-shellac-base-primer/


Saves on time too, all that washing and sanding, quick wash and very fast sand than spray away unless you use a brush and roller lol.


https://www.rustoleum.com/~/media/DigitalEncyclopedia/Documents/RustoleumUSA/TDS/English/CBG/Zinsser/BIN-03_B-I-N_Shellac-Base_Primer_Ultimate_Stain_Blocker_TDS.ashx

I started one room in my house applying Sherwin pre cat lacquer. The really stinky stuff.

It looks great but I just can’t spray around all the furniture. Floors are being replaced so that’s not an issue.

I pulled almost all the trim off the walls to paint it by hand. I was going to spray outside but the logistics are just too much.


Sprayed in place pre cat lacquer





Painted off the wall by brush





Safety first

Reminds me of the days of projects gone by ! I know spraying isn't always an option. When it was ,I had helpers do the prep work. Plenty of blue tape and those 400 ft. rolls of painters plastic ! Regardless of what method is used in the application process , as you effectively pointed out ,it is the results that bring on the smiles !


Back in the 1940's for some reason it became fashionable to paint over all the stained wood in the older homes, the victorian style. Sad sight to see,but word has they got tired of seeing all the stained wood . Those old time painters had their ways of mixing up the stuff ! These days we call the stuff zinsser bin or kills or some such product !

It was checked and peeling and had several layer of bad paint jobs. It was oak with a bunch of pine scabbed in here and there. I debated trying to refinish it but went with new.

At the time, I thought painting wood was sacrilege. Now here I am 18 years later doing just that,

Go figure...

You have a lot of area to cover and you got to do what you got to do to bring the project to finish. Things change,we roll along with the changes ! My guess is when you rehang the trim ,baseboard so fourth,you will really like what you see ! I think that's because you have a trained eye for detail.

TSP and rinse is also HIGHLY recomended

We prepped it for selling. We did a major refresh and I mean major. We have sold 2 houses this year and both sold in 3 days. My realtor said to me we really know how to prep a house. One of our good friends stages them. We all work as a team.

We blew out 2 walls. and put hardwoods in the kitchen. It used to have vinyl. We sanded and restained the floors throughout the house
We put in all new bathrooms and we took the kitchen cabinets to the ceiling. .We then put in all new appliances and pit in quartz countertops. We added an island.

We framed in the laundry room(was in the garage) to be part of the living space. We painted the cabinets white. We even put in new ceilings as it had spackle ceilings. This project took 3 months.
It sold in 3 days and we got list price.
My original residence which we sold in April(height of the season) got 99% of asking price.

Both house were "hot houses" on redfin and it was noted they would not last. They didn't. We didn't even make it to the first weekend. I believe they could have gone to a bidding war. I took the money and ran.

We spent 35k to make 70K

5 houses were listed in the neighborhood. Our's was the last one listed and the first one that sold.

I say take out the paneling and if possible blow out walls. Open spaces sell fast. Ours looks very modern inside.

PM and I will send you the listing. It closes in 10 days.

When I was a kid my Dad paneled the entire house except the kitchen and bathroom. When I see it I think of him. I tried to talk DH into paneling at least one room in our house (built in 1998) but it only goes with the 50s - 60s style homes.

My uncle added on a 3 season room, right off of the den, so the sliding glass doors offer no respite from the dark. And there is just one small window. Once the dark paneling is painted, the brown and orange shag carpeting is gone, and the beautiful wood floors are refinished, the den will be a much more brighter room.

I am determined to drag this house out of the brown and orange, 1960's decor theme and into the 21st century. When I first moved in, there was an avocado colored stove so I'm not kidding when I say they never upgraded anything - except for the refrigerator.

Although it does make me miss Dad.
When my parents sold their house in the late 90s it was not only paneled to death but had bright orange shag rugs downstairs. Other than decor issues the house was spotlessly clean and all the mechanicals (roof, plumbing, etc) were in great shape. They sold at their asking price to a contractor who presumably ripped out the walls and floors pronto.

So paneling does make me think of him. And, fortunately, I do like the look of painted paneling. I think it gives some interesting character to a room.

I have no plans to sell, any time soon. My financial planner said I'm be crazy to do so, right now. The house is paid for and the amount I'd get out of it wouldn't be sufficient to buy anything even close to what I have, now. And I've had a massive number of life changing events, in the past couple of years, so I need some peace and stability, right now. That is why I am desperate to brighten up the whole house. I'll just putter around and fix it up, and wait to see what the future holds.

It just is old hat at this point. What everyone wants is an open floor plan.