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judymckib

Painting of paneled walls and trim

Judy McKibben
16 years ago

I posted this once before, but cannot find it. Is there a trick? I'm new to this. Anyhow, when you have paneled walls, do they have to be painted the same color as the trim? Or, could the walls be painted cream, for example, and the trim white? Is there a rule about this? Thanks very much.

Comments (24)

  • theroselvr
    16 years ago

    We were going to do this a few years ago and were told that we needed a bottle of stuff that got the paneling ready for paint. We never did paint it, ended up sheet rocking last year.. not sure what happened to the stuff we bought. IIRC, it took the sheen off of the paneling and if we didn't use it, the paint might not stick as well.

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    okay I have paneling all through my house and I just could not take it. so we caulked the seams where they had expanded carefully smoothing it out and filled all the holes with wood putty, sanded it smooth when dry then put one coat of latex primer on. We used satin finish latex paint.
    Hope this helps:
    all the walls looked dark like this before:
    {{!gwi}}

    you do have to paint in the grooves first:
    {{!gwi}}

    this wall was already painted a flat yellow in the KITCHEN
    {{!gwi}}

    this is after in the kitchen
    (no primer used on this one since the paint was already flat) oh and excuse the mess I just took the picture and I am on a break from washing up the dishes. (looks like that was the case in the before shot too LOL) also you see there is no trim on the ceiling line yet. we are replacing the trim with white crown

    {{!gwi}}
    more "during" shots
    {{!gwi}}

    we have not painted the trim around the door yet or in the "closet: (its an old house) but it will be the same color as the trim in the previous shot

    {{!gwi}}

    I would not put drywall on my walls for anything. I think the painted wood has so much more character!!
    These are the only rooms I have photos of and nothing is finsihed yet (my job is getting in the way LOL) but if you would like updates let me know. also in the back part of the house we used the same color trim throughout. the floors are painted too so we used the same color on the baseboards as the floors. (1 coat primer, 2 coats of paint, 2 coats clear poly drying 24 hours between coats and letting final coat cure 3 days for maximum hardness) There is some debate on whether I should have painted the floors but we did it for 2 reasons to seal the floor, and becuase I like it. LOL well we all know decorating is a matter of taste.
    {{!gwi}}
    {{!gwi}}
    I sure hope this helps!

  • oceanna
    16 years ago

    MsJay, that looks great! I am crazy about the look of painted panelling. I agree with you, it gives far more character to a home than those awful bumpy textured walls. I see painted panelling in the snazzy magazine pictures all the time. That blue in your kitchen is a real wow and looks fabulous with the white trim. I love your windows with their big fat mouldings and the little panes, too.

  • ladyamity
    16 years ago

    MsJay2u,

    When I first registered here at Decorating, one of my very first questions was about painted paneling.
    I wondered if paneling could be painted any other color than the whites I had saved from countless decor magazines.

    I got some nice responses but could not find real-life pictures (as opposed to magazine photos) of color on paneling.
    Thus, I didn't do anything but paint the paneling Navajo White with whiter trim.

    Now seeing your photos
    I am going to do it -- paint my paneling something other than Navajo White!

    Question:
    What color do you have on the walls in the last picture of your paneling? I love the way the panel color is coming through on my monitor.

    Great job with all your rooms!

  • HomeMaker
    16 years ago

    All we did before painting our paneling was to prime it with a high adhesion primer (we used Fresh Start).

    2 coats of latex paint and we were done!

    BEFORE (previous owners decorating style, not mine):

    AFTER (Pardon the boxes in the sun room in back, change of season. The air conditioner is moving out and the plants are moving in):

  • polly929
    16 years ago

    Hi-
    We had a house FULL of dark knotty pine paneling. We removed a lot of it, but in the rooms where it stayed we did something similar to msjay- First we sealed the knots with bins primer (by hand), then primed with kilz with a paint spray gun, and finally did the final coat a color Malted Milk from valspar. Trim is all bright white- looks pretty good- and what a huge difference from the dark orangey pine! Job went really fast with the paint sprayer and got in all the crevices better than a brush.

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    Thanks for the compliments. I like the lemony walls homemaker did too. Here are my colors:
    livingroom walls Valspar Lyndhurst Timber (2007-9c)
    trim = Valspar Winter Delta(2007-98)
    floors= Valspar Courtyard Tan ((7002-19)
    kitchen is Colorplace (walmart)Sea Galleon (94413)
    Valspar came from Lowes I believe
    My boldest move is going to be in my office where I am going to paint the walls Loganberry which is a dark rose color that I am in love with
    My feeling is this, forget you have paneling and pick colors as you would for a normal wall. They will come out fine. We did not spray the walls but we did use the roller naps for rough walls which helps the paint to get in the grooves. Just like the primer we put the paint in the grooves and under the trim first then rolled the walls twice. Use a good brush. DF uses a Wooster 3.5" sash brush but that is too big for me and I am more comfortable with a 2 or 2.5".
    I don't think it is a good idea to use a sprayer if you have furniture in the house. The overspray carries pretty far, I tried it before and you would be suprised how far away I found overspray and it is so fine it is hard to spot until it dries and depending on where it lands hard to clean up. Just my personal experience.
    Soooo glad I could help you! I suppose thats a yes to posting other photos. Right now we are working on the kitchen and the mancave which is a Redskins room
    Good luck and keep us posted. If you need immediate help feel free to email me.

  • Judy McKibben
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thank you, everyone, especially msjay2u! Great photos, and very helpful. So, now I think I'll go for it and use some contrasting wall/trim colors.
    Any tips on how to use this site? I'm new at this, and it's no doubt my lack of expertise, but do I have to roll through every question to find the one I posted? Is there a quicker way? And, what does LOL stand for? URL? I know, I'm really stupid--but how do you learn except by asking? Thank you!

  • skypathway
    16 years ago

    No rule of thumb - just do it and you'll be thrilled. Many moons ago we owned a very elegant art deco mansion that had be designed by a famous architect which had seen better years when we bought it. The breakfast room was lined in heavy pine panelling and covered with horrible oranged aged shellac and it seemed out of place with the elegance of the rest of the house. I didn't want to damage the wood so I left the shellac in place to make it easier if someone wanted to strip back to wood. I used a quality primer and then latex in a white semi gloss on the wood. After I was finished I loved that room - it felt like we were having a picnic in the backyard surrounded by a white picket fence. The painted wood added so much character to the room and allowed the mahagony wood floor to shine.

    I also painted that ugly cheapo 70's family room panelling too - only this I think I painted a sunny cream with white woodwork - again what a transformation from a dark, dated room to a bright family room.

    I love painted woodwork unless the woodwork is stunning and of high quality and appropriate to the house such as the heavy wood trim in a craftsman house or chinked logs in a log cabin. Yes go ahead, prepare, prime and paint and choose beautiful colors appropriate for the room. The paint will adhere beautifully and it will only enhance your home just like the above gorgeous pictures display.

    sky

  • teeda_2006
    16 years ago

    First, MsJay, I love your home and what you are doing with it! The painted panel walls look so great. Much more interesting that plain old drywall I think! Please be sure to keep posting your pics as you continue to remodel/redecorate!

    Judy06, I painted panelled walls twice. I didn't fill in the gaps, just primed with BIN or Kilz and painted. Both results were great. Once I even wallpapered over panelling in a small hallway--I used a heavy duty liner. That looked great as well.

    I think you'll be glad once you've painted!

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    Thanks for the compliments! I am still working on the house so I will send photos as they develop. I forgot to mention that I used Bullseye primer. I was in Lowes and a painter recommended it to me for painting over wood and the "help" in the store agreed. I would like to also mention dark or true colors (especially red) need grey primer, all the rest will do better with white primer and forget about tinted primer to match your paint. waste of money.

    Last hint is if you have to caulk please remember to smooth out your lines or it will look horrible!

    I am interested in seeing other examples of painted wood. I have seen white over and over so other colors will be nice to see. I am a Property Appraiser so I go in a lot of houses especially rehab jobs [flips] and that is where I got the idea to paint the paneling. I have only ever seen it in white and I decided to take a leap of faith with the colors. I am sooo glad I did.

    Judy please keep us updated!

    LOL- laugh out loud
    URL is the web page address
    I also do a search for my user name msjay2u in the forum (like the discussion area of home decorating) in order to find the posts I have contributed to. You have to go to all the different subject areas like home decorating kitchens etc) I found this forum to be harder to navigate than others but as I learn how it operates I get better with it. I have not figured out how to find the photo galleries I have heard mentioned over and over.
    Good Luck!

  • breenthumb
    16 years ago

    Judy, welcome to Garden Web forums. And to answer your questions: LOL means laugh(ing) out loud. You'll probably see ROFL too--roll on floor laughing.

    Lots of ways to find your last post. At the top and bottom of each page of threads you'll see SEARCH. You can search by the name of your thread, or the subject OR I just found your last one by typing in judy06.

    Search also gives the option of checking just this forum or the whole site. If you were to search the whole site for painted paneling, for example, you'd get to read things posted on other sites as well as this one. I'm sure it would come up in the painting forum as well as others. Just play around with the search. You'll see how easy it is.

    Another way is to save it to your Favorites. Hope this helps. Sandy

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    i just tried it because I answered another post which I am trying to find so I can ammend. To find all the forums you responded to go to the "search the forums" link at the bottom of the page and put in your user name in the search box (I would use msjay2u). I tried it with the search box at the top of the page and I only got 2 results back but the link at the bottom of the page returned 44. WEIRD!!!

    ALSO IF YOU INITIATE A THREAD remember to check the box to be notified of responses. I forget to check the box once in a while and it gets lost in the list somewhere.

    Hope this helps

  • ladyamity
    16 years ago

    MsJay2u,
    Thank you so very much for the paint information.
    I'm really loving your Lyndhurst Timber and hope to find something as close to as possible for my Family room.

    What you said:

    "My feeling is this, forget you have paneling and pick colors as you would for a normal wall."

    All of a sudden, the lightbulb went off in my head. What you said makes perfect sense!


    HomeMaker,
    Doesn't even look like the same room.
    Now it looks crisp yet soothing.
    What a beautiful color/room!

    Judy06,
    Welcome to the Decorating Forum and Thank you for starting this topic!

    This whole post, all of you who have painted your paneling with color, you've inspired me.
    I am now on a new mission---finding the perfect colors for the paneling and trim in the Family room.

  • vdinli
    16 years ago

    msjay2u and homemaker,
    Have a question for u and others who has painted paneling. We are in the midst of painting paneling too and as you had suggested primed the grooves with the brush and then rolled it over. However, we can still see the brushed areas around the grooves. Is there any trick to making the brushed and rolled areas blend into one another. Here's a pic


    Hope somebody can help! we were hoping to finish the painting this weekend but don't want to rush into painting as we are worried the brushed areas will show through.

    Thanks a lot
    Vinaya

  • skypathway
    16 years ago

    You may need two or more coats to paint. It appears as if you have loaded more paint into the grooves using the paint brush that you did on the flat part with a roller. A second rolling of paint will probably even it out. BTW, that's not unusual to have a heavier load with a paint brush especially if you push the paint too thin with the roller.

    Sky

  • vdinli
    16 years ago

    Thanks Sky for the quick response. Hopefully the second coat of primer will do the trick.

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    the rule of thumb is if (whether you primed or not) is to cut in with the paint once (the grooves and around the ceiling line and baseboards)with a heavy coat or if you can't do it heavy use 2 coats then roll the walls twice. You should be using a 1/2" nap preferably lambskin. Also make sure your paint is mixed well. no need to have more than one coat of primer.
    Love your color :-D
    I have to work tomorrow but I will check on your progress

    Hope this helps

  • breenthumb
    16 years ago

    This may just be the inspiration I need to finally paint the paneling in our FR. Hard to paint over Walnut, but its so dark in our narrow room--luckily only on 2 walls. Now to convince DH. That'll take some doing. Sandy

  • vdinli
    16 years ago

    Thanks for the tips msjay2u. We ended up putting on a coat of paint and it covers beautifully! Can't see the primer coat differences at all. Unfortunately, we have a few drips that are very noticeable esp with the satin paint. hopefully they will sand out and then we will have to be more careful on the second coat. So far so good. I am so happy to get rid of the dark paneling and actually see some color on the walls. breenthumb, go for it! It feels much better already and we are nowhere near finished!
    msjay2u and homemaker, thanks for the inspiration pics. just love the colors and the difference it makes in the room!

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    I hope your project makes you feel better about your home. I am soooo excited for you. Out with the old dark dang walls and in with a burst of color and feel good feelings when you walk in the room. Personally I can't stand all white rooms nor all dark wood walls although in some houses they look fine [just not in my house].

    DON'T WORRY.... BE HAPPY

    When you put primer on the wall you think unless the primer looks perfect like paint the succeding coats will not look right but that is not the case. The purpose of primer is to make paint stick better, to get even color, and to seal the surface you are painting.

    Here are some more tips for using primer:

    After filling and sanding holes spot prime first. The roll over that with a coat of primer.
    One coat of primer is fine if there are no heavy stains (heavy stains require 2 coats)
    Dry time is 1 hour for most primers.
    I prefer Bullseye primer but Kilz works good too.
    You should paint no more than 4 hours after priming. If you wait longer than that you might have to prime again because the paint might not stick!

    As for your runs sand them down with fine grit sandpaper.

    Also for anyone who is starting this project I forgot to also mention to wash the walls down before priming. You are not washing them to get all the stains off because primer will cover that but you are doing it to get oils and such off the surface. Sometimes I assume people know to do this but it is not the case. I use a solution of TSP.

    Judy please post pics of your before and after pictures of your project! I am sure you are going to be happy with your results and LOVE your walls.

    Sandy tell your hubby to read this thread. Maybe it will give him some courage to dive in the project and make his wifey happy :-)

    Happy New Year ALL!!

  • msjay2u
    16 years ago

    I searched hi and lo for this forum to see how your walls turned out. I finally found it and wht do you know. NO PHOTOS. I am disappointed. How did they come out? have you painted more rooms?

  • lou45
    15 years ago

    I have knotty pine in my basement that has a shellac finish. Do I need to do a light sanding before priming. If so what grit sandpaper will I need to use or can do I use stealwool? I also need to remove some liquid nails from some of the boards, should I first scrap them sand those areas?
    Thanks,
    Lou