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If your home has wood paneling, you’ve probably pondered some major wood paneling makeover projects. But the reality is that ripping out all that groovy floor-to-ceiling wood can be a pricey pain.
There must be an easier way to remove your home’s “Brady Bunch” style, right? Thankfully, there are plenty of quick fixes that don’t require special screwdrivers or building materials you’ve never heard of.
And once you’ve refashioned your room’s look, you might consider installing other high-quality, real wood decorative wall options, such as shiplap, wainscoting, barnwood, or beadboard.
Check out these seven ways to revamp wood panels, so your rooms have a whole new look.
1. Paint the wood paneling
Photo by Tad Davis Photography
One of the easiest, quickest fixes for wood paneling? “A fresh coat of white paint,” says Bee Heinemann, an interior design expert and marketing director of Vänt Wall Panels.
Start with a good primer to cover all that panel and wood grain, then add a few coats of a vivid white paint. “It brightens a room and gives it a rustic, cottagelike decor,” Heinemann says.
2. Whitewash the wood panels
There’s no shame if you secretly dig the wood grain texture of your walls and want to keep this weathered focal point. A technique called “whitewashing” (not to be confused with old-fashioned whitewashing with lime) allows you to keep that in your room, while losing the ski lodge-fallen-on-hard-times motif.
“Start by watering down your paint, then brush on the wood, immediately wipe, and repeat until you get your desired color that works with your decor and furniture,” Heinemann says.
3. Turn the wood panels into regular walls
Photo by Cary Bernstein Architect
Grab some drywall compound at your local home improvement store, then use it to fill in the distinctive cracks and lines of the wood paneling. Afterward, sand, prime, and paint the wood whatever color you like.
“Your final product should look just like typical painted walls,” Heinemann says.
Paneling? What paneling?
4. Add stripes on the panels
Maybe you’ve been looking at those wood grooves all wrong.
For a totally different take, “create stripes or lines in the panel walls by painting the paneling grooves a different color than the paneling slats,” Heinemann suggests.
Certain designs might even mimic the look of pine, oak, or other types of wall paneling.
5. Hide the wood paneling under art
Just as a good magician pretends to saw his assistant in half, so she can make a secret getaway through a trap door, you, too, can draw attention away from your paneling.
“A gallery wall, with art hung salon-style or the addition of large mirrors and sculptures, can all distract from a paneled wall of planks,” says Felicia Feaster, managing editor of Scripps Lifestyle Studios & HGTV.
6. Hide the wood paneling with shelves or curtains
Photo by W I N B E R G Interior + Architectural design
No one will pay attention if there’s something constructed in front of your panel wall, right?
“Install built-in bookshelves over the paneling, to disguise it,” Feaster suggests. “Curtains hung ceiling to floor can also mask a wall of paneling and soften up the room in the process.”
7. Embrace the wood in a new color
Instead of trying to pretend your wood panels don’t exist and never have, why not embrace them? Paint them a different color that’s hard to ignore.
You can even try alternating colors—like white and tan, or tan and black—to lend interest to the panels and create a designer look, says Feaster. You heard that right. Designer. Wood. Panels.
The post 7 Wood Paneling Makeover Ideas: Groovy in a Whole New Way appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.
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