Home Advice: OK to Paint Paneling
May 17 -- Each week, Good Morning America's home-improvement guru Ron Hazelton answers your questions about maintaining and upgrading your home. Click here to submit your own question.
Q: Dear Ron,
I have what I've been told is a "Florida room" in my home. I have been battling whether or not to paint what I consider to be hideously dark, but very expensive real wood paneling.
I've been told that you should never paint real wood paneling. However, I hate dark wood, and even though windows surround the room it still seems as though you are walking into a cave. Help!
— G. LockmullerBethesda, Md.
A:
You certainly can paint the paneling if that's what you want. Clean the surface first with TSP (trisodium phosphate). When it has dried, apply a couple coats of light-colored latex paint. To get the smoothest possible finish I'd suggest a very short (1 ¼-inch) nap or foam roller. Paint the corners, edges and grooves first, then roll out the flat surfaces.
Now, you can stop here and you'll have a strikingly brighter room. Or, you can go a bit further. Oftentimes paneling like yours offers a great opportunity to incorporate vertical stripes in the wall paint scheme. I'm not talking about vivid, circus-tent-like colors, but subtle variations in shades. The existing joints will automatically define the stripes.
Also consider the possibility of adding a chair rail and creating a wainscoting effect. For example, you might keep the vertical joints in the paneling visible below the chair rail and conceal them above. One way to do this is to apply a heavy "concealer" type wallpaper that will span the joints, giving you an uninterrupted and uniform surface. Or, the joints can be filled by skimming them with two or more coats of wallboard joint compound.
The upper section of the wall can be wallpapered or painted a second color.
Have fun, experiment and enjoy the results.
— R.H.
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