We just bought a new home, built in '64. It has wood paneling througout. The paneling in the bedrooms had been painted over SEVERAL times by the previous owners and looked just awful! So, we ripped out the trim and put 1/2 drywall over the paneling, spackled and primed it, and put wallpaper and wainscoting over the top. It looks great! I'm tired of moving drywall around, measuring and cutting, etc. I found [url=http://www.ehow.com/how_2109717_paint-over-paneling.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art]these instructions[/url] for painting over paneling... rough it up with a sander (60 grit sandpaper), wipe with a damp cloth, fill in the grooves with spackling (optional- I don't like the paneled look so I'll probably do that), prime it, and paint over it. Apparently it's supposed to look like a "normal" wall after that. Has anyone done that before? Did it work out well? One wall of the formal den, and the entire hallway have been painted. The living room and the rest of the formal den has the original-look paneling. Can I use this method over previously-painted paneling? I also ask because we have a divider wall in the den that I don't really want to take out, and it's going to be a beast to drywall around (it has decorative spindle-type things on it, one of which is cut in half lengthwise and is flush against the wall). I think painting over the paneling might make it a little easier to work around...

I recently bought a house, and would like to add a bit of character to the home. I really like the look of knock down texture. I have absolutely no experience in home repair as this is my first home of my own. Everything I have seen since starting to research how to do this, shows or talks about doing this with an unfinished wall. My questions is are there any other steps or things to consider other then the obvious covering the carpet and getting furniture out of the room when wanting to do a large project in a finished House. All the walls are just painted and for the most point my walls are in great shape but have found a few places where looks like where two pieces come together there is a gap, can that be fixed by sanding, taping, then mud and sanding. like how it would be done when being installed? And one last thing my bathroom does have a light texture to the walls looks like it may be sand texture, any thing there need done to prep that wall to knock down? I know there is a lot there but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!