GREAT color suggestion, very calming and the photo is a great visual help. I 2nd the motion from Maureen. :)

I just painted my Breezeway, which was real wood paneling, ceiling included. Can't tell if yours is real wood, but if it is, I had to chalk extensively to achieve a uniform color. The room looks so much larger, good luck and I think it you will well rewarded with your results.

Has your husband said he doesn't like the paneling and want to paint it? If not, I would be hesitant to "surprise" him. Once you paint wood, you are pretty much stuck and you may find he actually liked it.

If you are not 100% sure he wants it painted, you could put sheetrock up in front of it and paint that - more work and expense, but it's reversible.

Haha:D Yes! He HATES that old paneling! I'm thinking of giving it a "camo" feel by painting 2 different shades of green and tan?

Julie,

with paneling, it can be tricky. the prep work is essential. two ideas I have, 1: you can prep it to paint it, and also you can fill in the gaps of the paneling with the same stuff that you use to fill in nail holes before you paint, you can also use drywall "mud". of course this is time consuming because it involves sanding and dust, etc(messy). 2: you can sand the walls first(read time consuming and messy) and use watered down paint to color the walls but allow the grain of the wood to show through. all in all, if you just want to paint the walls, prep( wash with tri sodium phosphate, prime with good paint primer) and for the ultimate masculine color to brighten the room "navaho white", it is white with a greenish undertone. many paint manufacturers make a paint color called navaho white and they all have a slightly different tint. I've found that even just a good paint job is a lot of work(the prep) sorry for all the parenthesis. hope he loves it

Something in the creamy white family by Sherwin Williams. I have painted paneling before. It turned out nice. Also this color scheme will give you room for many wondow treatment choices.

I just finished my family room. Please do yourself a favor and use oil based primer. I started out with regular primer sealer and the tannins I the wood kept bleeding threw after four coats of paint,I then went back over with oil primer and solved the problem.oil based is hard clean up so I used a brush and roller I planed on throwing away. You can use latex paint over oil primer. I painted a light green and the room seems bigger and brighter,was well worth the work. Oh, I did not fill the grooves and love the look. Good luck with your project!

Painting cabinets and walls made from paneling was time consuming,but well worth the prep work. The savings was also a bonus.
We moved to a mobile home that was monochromatic throughout with beige paneling. I used Kelly Moore primer on the cabinets and Benjamin Moore Spanish White. I used Behr combination paint- primer on the walls. The color I selected is a pale green called Sweet Caroline.