How to paint wood paneling

 I remember when I was about 8 years old, my mom painted the wood paneling in her bedroom. She painted it white and filled in the grooves with sage green and pink. I'm not sure why she did the grooves that color, but it was the early 90s, so I'll cut her some slack :) I loved her room, even with with pink and green. Every time I see wood paneling, I just think about how cute it could become with a coat of paint. I truthfully wouldn't mind buying a house full of paneling, just so I can paint it and gain instant character. Instead, I'm stuck replicating it throughout my house :)

I've been asked a lot about how I painted the wood paneling in this bedroom. I had no idea it would be such a hot topic :) And trust me, it's not as hard as it looks. So, here's the tutorial on how to do it! Sorry in advance for not many how-to pictures :)

As you can see, the paneling in this room covered all the walls, even wood trim for the baseboards and on the ceiling. And just to top off this look, I'm pretty sure this carpet was orange shag before my mom replaced it :)

 The first step was to prepare the wall. Since it's wood, when nails or screws are pulled out, it leaves a little bump. I sanded those bumps first.

Next was to take off all the wood trim on the floor. I left the trim on the top because of some issues I found that would make it a pain to install new molding.

Now it was time to paint. I used Linen White by Glidden in satin, paint and primer in one. For the roll, I used smooth/semi-smooth.

The first step in painting was to paint the grooves with a brush, then cut in along the ceiling and corners about 4 inches. Feathering the paint into the wood.

Then I applied the paint with the roller to cover the rest of the wood, leaving a few inches along the bottom for the baseboards. Didn't see the point in painting what was going to be covered :)

 This took 3 coats of paint in most spots. Since it was wood, it was absorbing a ton. In other spots, I did about 4 to 5 coats.

 After all the paint was dried, I put up the baseboards and then it was time to decorate!

You can barely see the grooves in the pictures, but in real life, this room looks like a little cottage retreat :) It's amazing how paint can transform a space!

Here's another before and after. If you have any more questions on something I didn't cover, let me know in the comments.