How To Brighten Wood Paneling Walls

This jessica helgerson designed space is pretty much peak mid century but thanks to the varied shades of wood it stays away from the clichés.

How to brighten wood paneling walls.

If you re bleaching pine wood cabinets remove the doors and all hardware. Hgtv star chip wade shows you how to modernize old school wood paneling with paint for more follow the hashtag rachaelrayshow. How to lighten a wood paneled room. I will be the first to say that my initial instinct when i saw this space was to rip all the paneling out.

I need tips on how to lighten it or re finish it and not have it look like a bad paint job over good paneling. It breaks up the natural material and brings some light in too. Wood walls add coziness to any room partly because wood is a natural material and partly because it s dark. When you re ready to start painting make sure that your paneling is made of solid wood.

And whether you have real wood paneling like this or sheet paneling the process to brighten it up is pretty much the same. I have a family room w very dark solid wood paneling which is in very good shape. In the jungle room or the den if you want to be so boring as to call it that we kept the original wood paneling. However budget and seeing a friend s updated 70 s paneled walls in action helped to change my mind and give it a whirl.

Some paneling actually consists of a vinyl print that simulates the look of wood. Dismantle as much of the woodwork as you can to make this job easier. To check sand a small area on the wall. Even though a room surrounded by wood paneling tends to evoke a lackluster dreary atmosphere you can lighten the mood with a dose of decorating cheer.

You need to start out with 100 grit sandpaper and just sand all of the gloss off the wood surface wipe it down follow that with a good quality primer. Wood paneling can make a room feel a little chaotic not to mention dark musty and reminiscent of the 70s but it can also be seriously stylish when done right. If you re mimicking this in your own living room keep one wall a clean white. If you have too much wood.

You can only bleach unfinished wood so if you want to lighten your wood knotty pine paneling or cabinets you probably have an extensive stripping and sanding session in store.