70s style wood veneered walls- stain, paint over or tear down?

[Allie]

I have a certain affinity for the Eames era and I think wood paneled walls do not necessarily have to look outdated if done just right. With the correct lighting and flooring, a contemporary look may be achieved. Wooden walls do not have to look gauche. Ex: http://turquoisechic.blogspot.com/2008/03/...a-boutique.html

I imagine that it would be more cost effective to sand and stain than to rip out the veneers and redo the drywall? The rooms that I am referencing are the basement bedrooms.

What have REIN members been doing with their wooden walls?

 

[Dan_Eisenhauer]

A friend of mine put a skim coat of drywall mud over her wood panelled walls. It is "acceptable", but not up to my standard. I think another thicker coat may be enough to thoroughly hide the grooves, but I don`t know.

Just a thought.

 

[Sherilynn]

In our basement we just primed and painted. This only works if the panelling is in good condition. Also, in our case it helps that we replaced the ceiling panels, flooring, and baseboards. If all we had done was paint the walls, it likely would have looked substandard.

Sherilynn

 

[Aurora]

I have a basement suite with the same. I think the paint looks great - super bright and light and the texture makes it a bit interesting. I`m into re-using when possible. We have hardwood floors which improve the overall look - still working on getting rid of the ceiling tiles..............we drywalled the bedroom kitchen ceiling this summer and I was impressed how much it improved the rooms........

 

[billf]

Hi,

We have recovered the walls with a quality wallpaper. The patterns actually hide any warps in the panelling and cover the grooves as well. When a new tenant came in we primed and painted right over the paper which turned out pretty well. Nice floors and baseboard also hide the flaws of the wall.



Bill