My house is wood paneling from the '70's . How do I change the look ?

Eli Feltmate
by Eli Feltmate
  9 answers
  • Johnavallance82 Johnavallance82 on Jan 27, 2018

    Paint the top half with Chalk paint..............

  • Ebbjdl Ebbjdl on Jan 27, 2018

    Paint over it, put floor tiles on it or remove it completely.

  • Judi1 Judi1 on Jan 27, 2018

    They make a nice wallpaper. Install a chair rail and add wallpaper at the top.

  • Col28898078 Col28898078 on Jan 27, 2018

    if it's in good enough condition and you don't want to remove it....you can just paint it....my sister did that and it was really nice...it's painted walls with texture!!!


  • GBK GBK on Jan 28, 2018

    Depending on how much trouble you want to go to, you can mix up small buckets of plaster of paris and fill in the vertical grooves with it. (Plaster of paris comes in small buckets or bags, and it's dry powder that mixes with water to the consistency of peanut butter if done right.) The working time is about 5 minutes, you smooth it on with a putty knife. The other material you can use is painter's latex caulking in a tube. Smooth it out inside the grooves with a putty knife. Whatever you do, never use sheetrock mud on a wood product, because it doesn't bond well to wood....it will eventually pop out and all that work will be for nothing! After it's all dry, use a good primer like Bin 1-2-3, Stix, or Gripper. I like Bin the best, it will prime anything, even glass. Then you can paint with any latex paint for a topcoat. Good Luck!

    • Brandy Rodman Vega Brandy Rodman Vega on Jan 28, 2018

      I have never had much luck filling in the line, and ended up heavy texturing the entire wall. Make sure you strip the paneling if you give it a go.

  • Brandy Rodman Vega Brandy Rodman Vega on Jan 28, 2018

    My mother is retired and very patient, but her paneling looks great! She taped and painted each vertical strip. She used thre or four shades of similar colors, hers are cream, tan, light brown, etc. She did A different color each strip and just alternates them randomly around the room. She then stenciled leaves randomly on different strips. These were done in one of the contrasting colors of the already painted. Tough to describe, but looks amazing.

  • Annie Annie on Jan 28, 2018

    This is what we did, it sure brightened up the house!

    https://www.hometalk.com/diy/paint/walls/how-to-paint-that-old-grooved-wood-paneling-34490174


  • Terry Zier Terry Zier on Jan 29, 2018

    Don't forget the Kilz paint before you paint it with your color paint. If you forget the Kilz paint and just paint the color on it, the wood paneling might just absorb the paint or not stick. (Just a word to the wise-this is what happened to me and my paneling is from the 70s.)

  • Setsukograb Setsukograb on Jun 23, 2021

    Yes, I also painted it with paint when I did my repairs because everything looked just awful before I did it. The fact is that many children lived in this house before, and they rotted the appearance of the railing. So I decided to completely change the design and image of my home to make it look pleasant. It's good that there is a company https://fowlerhomes.com.au which will quickly help me with this. I hope that I will be able to do everything I need myself in the future, but at the moment, I think investing in it was the right decision.