AnAhitA Nazeri... You didn't say it. The owner of the house did.

"genie

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to give us your genuinely helpful suggestions. The paneling is the sheets of fake walnut. It is apparently original to the house (1977)."

Definitely NOT tongue in groove.

I would paint it in a heartbeat. If you walk into the room now, it screams paneling. But if you paint it a great color, it will become a backdrop, (some may barely notice it's not sheetrock) and will then let the fireplace shine. Here is a site with some before and after shots of painted paneling. Stunning difference. Before and after painted paneling

If you know they good drywaller taking cover all the grooves and put a nice knock down on it it looks actually pretty nice it is fairly cheap

I have the same paneling in my 50's house. The last owner put the paneling up to hide cracks in the wall! A friend and I painted one bedroom. A few years ago, I had the paneling in the living room and dining room lightly pickled. They used a pale gray. It really lightened the space, but kept the warmth.

You have established that the paneling was installed as sheets and there is no drywall behind it. You paint it. It looks better. You accept an offer and the home inspector tells the buyer that it is cheap paneling (and it was cheap, often between $4.00 and $12.00 for a 4x8) not solid tongue and grove and there is no drywall behind it. Depending on how much they want the house for the rest of its charm, will determine the outcome. It's one thing to camouflage something when you are staying in a house. I just wouldn't waste the time or the money trying to mask it. I would spend the money to remove it and sheet rock the walls if the comps can support the cost.

I found this is in an article "Average cost of a new drywall to get installed will vary from $41.5 to $60.0 per 4'x8'x5/8" sheet including labor and materials or from $1.30 to $1.88 per square foot."

Take it from an expert. If you want the room to look great, paint it. Sand, stainkill, caulk as necessary, and the job will look great. We just finished an office remodel and painted the paneling. It looks like a million bucks!! Ya, if you want to nickel and dime the work, you can look closely and see the seams, but it looks great and was inexpensive.

Leave it as is.. Take down drapes and paint ceiling only a dove grey or tan color to soften the contrast between the dark paneling and white ceiling. Leave beams dark

I don't know how many yeays or how many nays. I still say get an estimate for the drywalling, remove the drapes & the fireplace screen, clean the windows. Place a couple of end tables in there with bright lamps on them. Offer the buyer a break on the price if they say they don't want paneling. Be sure to put a good floor in there though as you said you were going to replace it. You do not want them to bring up cheap flooring. You will sell.

could we hear from the homeowner. lots of discussion and not a peep for a long time

Whatever you do, and I hope you paint it, if it doesn't look like a million dollars you can't get a million dollars for it.

Paint it! Beams, too. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how attractive the walls will become. And will help you get a better price for your home.

I would ask both realtors what price they would list the house for with the paneling as is versus sheetrock and light paint ( I would not do paint on fake paneling). Then get an estimate about how much it would cost you. If the listing price makes up for the expense, I would do it, as the house will sell faster.

STOP. I have this house. I've addressed this problem. DO NOT paint the beams. It will look horrific. My neighbor did it and it will never look right. She regrets it. Take down the paneling and keep the beams. paint the walls and ceiling between the beams all the same color. Do this and see what it looks like. It is like salt, if you add to much, you will ruin the soup.

The room without the paneling and painted all one color.

If I was looking at a house and I saw painted paneling all I would think is what else have the jury rigged. Do it right or leave it alone. It will add zero to the value. Is this the only room in the house needing update? If so redo if not leave alone and price accordingly.

that's why you are a wanna bath instead of a gotta bath.

Nothing wrong with painted paneling. What's it going to hide or jury rig? mold? so can drywall.

whoa.... not sure how you became a "star" but certainly not by communicating appropriately on forums. Everyone has an opinion and is free to express it respectfully but remarks should not be personal and you just crossed that line.

The very first day we owned our new to us house we ripped the paneling off the walls. It is ugly and screams 1970's. Get rid of it. Don't paint it- that makes it look cheap. Get rid of it. Re-texture the walls and paint a light color to emphasize the beams. Also throw away those curtains and leave the windows without coverings. Use the natural sunlight. The room looks like a cave right now.

As a professional painter I will never paint paneling. But I will cover it with drywall mud. If taped and floated correctly you will hardly notice that there is paneling back there. Until someone presses on it and you can see that it is flimzier than drywall. But that is better than just painting because you will always be able to tell that it is painted paneling.

Exactly.

This is what I did with my tongue and groove late 70s paneled room. The masking tape was to mark the tv size while I waited for the piece in the 2nd photo. The floor is natural maple.

How did you accomplish the diagonals? This is lovely.

Thanks! I can take no credit for the paneling! It was installed that way. I just tried to lighten up the feel of the room.

First, work with your realtor and get estimates and make a budget. Be sure you are not going to get the cost of the updates back in the house price.

2) If the LR is dark, remove the curtains.

3) Keep high quality panelling, ditch the cheapo stuff (within budget).

Ceiling fans are great. That one is so high up that it won't get in the way.

Stagers use inflatable furniture covered with slipcovers.

It appears that the paneling is inexpensive 4x8 sheets. Get an estimate on sheetrock. you might be surprised that it is not as expensive as you think especially if you can hang it yourself and hire someone to finish. leave the beams. when painting this room use a light warm soft color. Using the right colors will help the home sell more easily.

Hi wow there are so many differing opinions, here is another to add to the mix, I think the same as an earlier one stating that if its the only room left to do I would definitely fix it up- or if the rest of the house is in a similar style I would just spend a bit of money on staging. However what I would do is to give the paneling and the beams on the ceiling a pale grey wash or white wash, also anything else thats brown paint out in a solid gloss white, meaning all of the arcs and skirts (window frames, skirting boards etc). I would lose the curtains add a large mirror over the fireplace and make it the focal point of the room. if there is a good view from the windows leave them bare or add custom-made sheer curtains that go all the way to the top that you can pull back from the centre out, again it draws the eye up to show the high ceilings. if its not a great view I would put some built in shelving all the way up. I would wait to paint the brick until last to see if it needed to be done. finally just staging, Ive drawn up a mock one, however the program Im using either doesnt have the ability to slant the ceiling or I just cant find it in the program. Please use your imagination. all the best, lynne

We had almost identical situation. We painted with Killz then did Venetian plaster. Worked great and 14 years later still looks good.

While it's true that most people want move-in ready, they don't always have the money to remodel. If it were me, I'd find a good painter (as suggested by someone above) who is willing to patch holes and minor imperfections and do a good job painting, then use a neutral like Bridgehampton Beige to paint the paneling. Paint all trim white including the beams and stairway. Leave the fireplace brick alone, just make sure it's not dirty. Remove the drapes or replace them with white ones. What you're going for is a non-descript space that looks clean and airy and doesn't cause potential buyers to have any opinion about the space at all, except that it is roomy and would nicely hold their own furniture and artwork. This solution offers a clean, basic space that anyone could live with until they can decide what they want to do with it. Good luck!

Get rid of paneling! It will completely update the home.

Of course removing the paneling would update the home, but these people are trying to sell the house, not make it into something they want to live with forever. The least expensive solution is to paint it, make it look presentable and sell it. The new owners will have a clean space and time to decide what they want to do in the room. If cost is no issue then yes - removing the paneling is the best way to update the house, but I think the owners were trying to find a reasonably inexpensive solution to make it look better without having to spend so much removing the paneling. Good luck! -Hi Mimi

It is sad when people can't see potential; but it is an unfortunate reality which needs to be addressed when selling a property. Your room is great, but, it may take a special buyer to see the potential. This is not a house which is going to appeal to the masses; it is going to be sold to somebody with vision and flair. There is no point in spending dollars to make it mass market/ the size, shape, volume of the rooms are not cookie cutter. Drywall, painting Cloud White or Greige is wasting your money, those solutions only work with houses which have out of date decor, but, otherwise have a large pool of potential buyers. I would market the house to designers and contractors who can see the potential and make this property their own. Just a suggestion.... Have no idea if this is feasible, might be worth hiring a designer to do a couple of potential design layouts and associated $$$$ to put into a look book ( make sure they do the same layout in a couple of colour combos) . This might help some potential buyers be able to visualize their dreams in your house. Might up the potential pool of buyers. Worth checking out and chatting with your realtor. Good Luck!!

other option is fiberglas wall paper that can be painted.

I've certainly stirred up a lot of strong feelings, one way or another. "Paint it" and "don't paint it" seem about evenly matched - which is where my husband and I were, and thus our dilemma. We are leaning toward drywall, but we are waiting to have the bid spelled out a bit more (the original one lumped a variety of stuff together and didn't let us know what we were paying for anything - but we were expected to pay a lot). We truly appreciate all the advice, including some ideas we had not thought of, including paintable wallpaper.

My husband and I bought house built in the early 70s a couple years ago. The previous owner painted all the wood paneling and vinyl wallpaper panels too. She did this from the advice of her relator after the house sat for a longtime with no interested parties. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, she choose AWFUL paint colors that clashed with the other 70s staples left in the house, deep red stone fireplace wall mixed with a yellow green color wall that clashed majorly and also clashed with the appletini colored countertops in the kitchen which also clashed with the painted creamy colored cabinets. Not only were the colors horrific that she chose, she also didn't take the time to properly clean the surfuces or prime. You could literally touch the wall or cabints or doors and scrap paint off with out even trying.

So my advice, either leave as is or take the time to pick the right color that will enhance the room and make sure you to do it right. Nothing worse than having to repaint everything that wasn't done right. I personally don't mind the painted paneling, but would have preferred the previous homeowner to have left it as is because I have repainted everything. Her horrible paint job did allow us to get one hell of a deal on the house.

LOL....I was wondering why you bought it and then I got to the part about the deal. I totally agree with everything you said and as a buyer, that's fabulous!. As a seller...not so much.

Painting the paneling will certainly update the look and the feel of that 70's room. It's quite a task to properly sand, prime and paint (possibly two coats), but potential buyers are going to shop online first before considering viewing your home. The paneling will send them on to the next listing without even seeing your home in person. We filled in the grooves and wallpapered this 70's paneling in the 80's and then painted it five years ago with Sherwin Williams Sanderling. We sold our house over the holidays within 35 days.

Something else to consider when changing things. when a window or door framing is painted the eye stops at the frame, but if it is natural wood tones, stained, the eye tends to go through the window and into the landscape outside. if you have great views I would go for natural wood tones.

Please, please. before painting or not the paneling, DE-BEIGE the room: ceiling and hopefully carpet and curtains. Seriously the main problem of the room is the dated beige-ness of it all. There are very few exceptions to carpet feeling dated in a living room. in an apartment it somehow feels ok. in an upstairs den, fine. in the living room? not so much

Get rid of the carpet and drapes, that's all. I like the slate flooring idea. It's not the paneling that dates the room, it's the carpet and fp.

Paint. Now. Neutral. And remove the curtains.

Paint it a nice grey. Grey seems to gp with everyhing lately. Its cheap and fast and will make a difference.

Is this the only room with "dated" issues? What does the rest of the house look like? If all else is updated, then I'd leave this as is, because new owners will bring it and the rest of the house up to par. Just painting paneling can look like a hack job, plus to do it is a heck of a lot of work.

If the rest of the house is just as dated, then I'd certainly not just paint, I'd do a full remodel, with new drywall, paint, updated fireplace (doesn't matter if you like it as it is, you won't be living there!) get rid of the 1950s draperies, etc. in other words, make this room stand out!

And yes! DO hire a stager! You will get your money back. (Your agent should be offering to pay for the stager BTW, or at least part of it)

Please leave it, only option with out spending the bucks is to paint. I personally would rather have it left original instead of painting --- 1. I love the look ---2. Most people don't prep paneling correctly when they paint it and it looks like crap, proper prep takes a lot of time -- so not worth it for you.

I had mine in the LR/DR pickled - pale grey wash. It's still cheap paneling, but it lightened the rooms up a lot. Painted the bedrooms.

Leave it-my old sisters-in-law just 'remodeled' the cabin to look just like this!

Hi I am curious to see what you decided to do.. My house looks similar and one of our first projects was removing the paneling lighten up the living room. Here is a before and after picture. We are still looking to change the fan, floors and windows.. but all in time :) I would suggest either leave the paneling as is or remove it and add drywall. If you paint it, it will look like you took the cheap route which could make a buyer wonder if the cheap route was taken on anything else in the home.

Not sure why the before picture didn't post, but here is it.

Thanks to everyone for your constructive comments. We took down the paneling and put up drywall. We got a very good offer the second day it was on the market, and had the final contract within the week. Love the after of your house, too, barronlm

You did a wonderful job lightening up the room! This home is strangely similar to ours which was originally very dark and stuck in it's time...

This is an OLD POST.

Sometimes there is newer and better technology for the home after even just 2 years.