I would not paint it. I think you could bring in mid century modern decor with the grey & white. Maybe bring in mustard accent somehow pillow? Rug)it could actually look fabulous. Very on trend. Wish I could switch my plain plaster wall for this !

Thanks for the suggestions.

My home is pretty small (900 square feet, five rooms) so I'm hoping to keep the aesthetic fairly consistent throughout the house. I definitely prefer timeless to trendy - mid-century modern style is just not my thing.

Last year, I finished remodeling the bathroom and guest bedroom, and plan to work on the remaining rooms this summer. This is what the finished rooms look like. The wood paneling is in the master bedroom.

We had a paneled wall painted a soft white in our previous home. It was the family room, and I loved how it looked once painted. I would definitely try that first. One thing...we hired painters to do the job and were glad we did. I still miss that room.

It's MCM , think Mad Men. A great selling point for your house.

I recommend hanging a really large painting / photo or abstract art on the wood wall. Preferably something with a light feel to it - nothing too dark and heavy. Even a large blown up black and white would be great. If it's a canvas wrap or similar it won't be super heavy so you should be able to hang fairly easy.

Then I'd update the fan.... create a new focal.

I agree with painting it. It will really open up the room. Our previous house had a family room with one wood paneled wall, and it made a huge difference to paint it! Looked great...I never regretted it.

I would paint it and the rest of the room a nice creamy white.....and never look back.

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Mcm+panelled+walls&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#hl=en&q=Mcm+wood+panelled+walls

HI -- Just re-move it and put up dry wall after you check the electrical . It's old and done it's time and not worth painting . It is not even attractive .

get a good primer and do 2 coats of whatever you paint the rest of the room. in a small house a light neutral throughout opens the space.

I like it! Does your bed fit on the wall opposite the closet?

I have a feeling since that is the only paneling in the room it was put there to hide an issue with the wall. Some damage or repair that was easier covered with paneling than fixed. So unless you are ready for the surprise you might as well go with what you can see. My whole house was a case of paneling used to cover hurricane damaged drywall. Which I found when I took down the paneling because I just knew there was "good"drywall under there. wrong.

In my first house I had 1 paneled wall in the living room. I went to pull it down & instead of drywall under the paneling there were studs! I ended up painting the paneling & it looked great. It almost looked like bead board.

Let me reiterate - I'm definitely NOT keeping the wood paneling as is. It's either getting covered (with paint or something else) or going away. I don't like it and I don't care that it's "mid-century modern" - it's not my style and as the homeowner, I'm not going to keep something I actively dislike when changing it wouldn't be too time consuming or expensive. Plus, I don't live in a trendy metro area where MCM would be likely be appreciated or embraced by a future homeowner. It also doesn't match the rest of the house, so keeping it is as is is not an option for me.

As best I can tell, the stuff is cheap and there is some splintering of the stained surface around the outlet cover that was drilled into the wall, so even if I did like the look of wood paneling, this certainly isn't adding to the room's value. It goes!

I appreciate all of the comments and those of you sharing experience with similar walls. I removed the outlet cover to see if I can discern whether or not any drywall is behind the paneling, but the electrical box hides what the wall subsurface is. Painting the paneling is probably the cheapest, quickest fix, but if I do remove it I'll at least mentally (and financially) prepare for the fact that there could be nothing there and we might have to install fresh drywall.

Our family room has painted paneling (it was already painted when we moved in 18 yrs ago, all we have done is change the color) and it looks good. Guests who don't look close probably don't recognize that it's paneling, and if you do look close, it just adds interest that it has some lines/depth to it. We had ours painted so I don't know what is involved in proper prep and painting, but if done right, it is probably the easiest and most economical solution.

i'm wondering if they had their bed against it at some point, that would make more sense as to why it was there... think feature wall. when the house was built people mostly had double beds which are pretty small.

i'd rip the sucker out and put up wall board. then no future owner can ever say gee why did they 'ruin' this wood with paint cuz they'd never know it was ever there.

We had paneling in our first house. Most we took down (only studs behind it) and added drywall. In a couple rooms, we kept the paneling on the lower half, added a chair rail, and drywalled the top. It had a board & batten look to it.

Tear it down and deal with what is under it. You will be happier and spend less in the long run.