Tips for Painting Light Colors onto Dark Wood Paneling

Wood paneling is something that was once very common in homes. Houses that were built all the way into the 1980s will often have dark wood paneling. You will find that while many people enjoy the look of the wood and do not want to do anything to it. However, there are a lot of people that wish to have a more modern look to their home. If you want to remove the wood paneling, then this can be a lot of work and very expensive. Wallpaper is another solution, but many people do not want wallpaper up in a large section of their house not to mention it is very expensive as well. Painting dark paneling is something that can be done with the right amount of time and knowhow.

Color

Painting a room a dark color is something that is going to make it seem very small. Many people prefer a lighter color for a room because it opens it up and gives it a more inviting feel. The problem with this is the fact that dark paneling is very difficult to paint a lighter color. The first thing that you are going to have to do with this type of job is pick out the color that you want and be ready to purchase it a little differently than you normally would for a regular job of painting sheetrock. 

Base

Basically, whenever you have made the decision on the color that you wish to paint your wood paneling, you are going to need to start a few shades darker than you want. While painting over wood is something that is very difficult, especially a lighter color, painting over a lighter color paint is actually very common. Get the color that you wish and then get a few shades darker for the base. Make sure that you get it in a flat finish. You will need to paint the base and then give it time to dry before you move on to the following coats.

Coats

Each coat that you paint following the base is going to need to be about 2 shades lighter than before. You will then need to make sure that you use a pearl finish for these layers. Whenever you use a different finish will allow for a very subtle looking stripe. You will find that whenever you go back to stripe the paint, there will suddenly be dimensions to your paint. The flat finish will not attract the light like the pearl will; the flat will not be noticed after all of the coats have been applied. 

Primer and Base

You are going to need to make sure that you apply a primer to the paneling before the base. Once the primer is in place, you will need to apply a couple of base coats. You will need to use a 2 inch roller so that you can apply 2 coats of your lighter shade to every other panel of the wood. You will not need to tape off the wood.