What are your thoughts on wood paneling?

just paint it unless it has great value and you could sell it to pay for all the cost of Sheetrock (and cleaning your entire house because of how dusty the job is).

Easier than you imagine, the million dollar question always is - what is beind them? Are you prepared to install drywall, paint, add baseboards and crown molding or whatever embellishments you desire? Fix anything behind the paneling that may require repair? And have the time, patience and budget? Are you planning on moving soon? All things to consider before making the change.

Me, personally, I like the old paneling as it has character - but purely a personal choice. Make the choice on what you want to do and like, not necessarily what may be trendy and outdated in the short term. Your home is your castle, make it yours!

If its real shiplap, its probably 1800s to pre-1950. if its real knotty pine, its probably 1950s - early 1960s.

If its wood paneling 4' x 8' sheets, its probably 1950s-1960s and not real wood. Not very popular today as it can tend to make the room look dark. Removing it is also difficult as its usually glued to walls, and leaves a lot of repair work.

Good news, you can wash it down and paint it and it looks good and really brightens the room. Some even use joint compound to fill the faux wood panel grooves for a smooth surface.

I've painted a few rooms of it, even though I would usually prime, to make it easy, I made my own gallons of chalk paint using plaster of paris, cut into the grooves with a brush, and roll on using a foam roller, 2 coats.

You can fill in the grooves or seams and wall paper over them with textured white wallpaper, then paint it. My MIL did this to her kitchen and it looks amazing. She went with painting the den, which also had paneling and was very dark especially with a brick fireplace. She painted it a very pale green, looks beautiful and bright.

I agree with Naomie. If it was cheap plywood paneling on plaster walls it might be worth taking down, but yours sounds like very nice wood panelling in which case I would choose to paint it and enjoy the special thing it is.

On This Old House TV show, and in the magazine, they recently renovated a home that was built in 1909 or so, and it had dark paneling in one room, about 6 ft. high. Originally, the homeowner planned to paint it to brighten up the room, but they changed their plan and had the paneling cleaned and polished. It was much lighter and brighter when the job was done.

IN one of my bed room, I have two exterior walls. Being that the room was always cold, we pulled off the paneling to put insulation behind. One wall had a chimmey behind the paneling. Insulating the outer walls really made the room warmer. If you do paint, wash down the walls first to prime.

If it's knotty pine I'd leave it and paint the walls. It's not hard to remove.

Wood paneling is quite dated. You don't need to remove it. You can cover it with wallpaper liner and then wallpaper it. You might also want to attach panels like these: https://amzn.to/3r7IZIl