Wood Paneling - how to decorate?

holidaytiltomorrow

We bought a house that needs a lot of updating - something we are going to do ourselves, but it's gonna take a few years to get through it. 

Currently the to-do list has our living room as the last stop - as all the other rooms are more terrible than that one... Problem. The living room is 1970s Wood Paneling. Doesn't bother me too much, as our general theme is the 70s (the plaid couch and a 70s green glass lamp are in the room), but I don't want to live in the woods for the next 5 years. Is there an easy way to decorate it so people don't think we do drugs? My friend feels like she should be doing pot when she's in there.

(Side note: that right red cloth is not on the table anymore - we hadn't put a layer of clear coat on it yet, but needed to use it when we had guest over.)

musictchr25

You could always paint the wood paneling, or just take it out and replace it with drywall. Also, get some proper window treatments - a tapestry under vinyl blinds really doesn't help your "we don't do drugs" feel. Add some batting to your couch cushions too - they look really flat and date the couch even more.

Lastly, and I'm trying really hard to not sound mean here, but there's a way to do a 70s design without it looking so dated and bad. This kind of looks like a sitcom set from the 70s - old, used, and gross. Your friend may have a point. 

holidaytiltomorrow

We are going to do drywall, but we won't get to this room for a few years. 

This room, honestly - and I'm sure it's hard to believe - is the best looking room in the house. The other rooms in the house have big dings in the walls and have unpainted drywall (which looks terrible!). Our house was build in 1880 and is all lath and plaster for the walls and ceilings - which means a lot of work and a lot of mess. 

Honestly, I love the old furniture; it's not something most people like, but we do. We've beefed up the couch cushions since the photo was taken.

What color goes over wood paneling easily? 

musictchr25

You'll want to use a really good primer - I use Zinnser 1-2-3, and it covers really really well.  If you choose a good quality primer, you could go with any color. If you want the room to be brighter, choose a lighter color, and if you want it to be darker, choose something darker. If the room doesn't get a lot of light, you may want to stick with a lighter color to make it a little brighter. If you're going to keep the furniture that you have, you may want to pull a cream-ish color from the couch since it's a neutral and will likely go with other furniture pieces if you choose to replace or add more. 

ab6704a

We had really icky dark wood paneling in the basement of our last house and it was accompanied by pretty awful orange/red/yellow/brown berber carpeting too.  We painted that paneling a light tan and replaced the carpeting with a nice but relatively inexpensive carpet (cost about $1200 for 500 square feet) and I liked the way it came together in the end.

I agree with PP's about sanding the paneling.  Lightly sand it, and then use a good quality primer to set the base for your paint. 

CountryCityWife

If it just a small wall I would just gut it. It's honestly not that expensive. You could hang the drywall yourself and then have someone come in to tape, mud, and sand.