Ive been looking at Apartments and one has some real potential except for the fact that the living room has wood paneling on 3 of the walls. So one question is do you think I can put wall curtains on those three walls? Ive seen it done on one wall but never three. Is there any other option I can use to cover the wood paneling like wall paper or something? If not what can I possibly do to make this wood paneling presentable? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
I would paint over the paneling. The fabric will cost you way too much if the whole house is paneled. What you need to do is sand down all the paneling, then put a good indoor primer. Let that dry well, and then paint the walls in a satin or semi-gloss finish. Don't use flat, as it doesn't look good over paneling. It will look beautiful I assure you.
Are you renting or buying? I would think this makes a difference to what option you choose. Personally, I don't think curtains on 3 walls would look nice. If you did decide on this option you would have to use curtain rails and make sure the fixings go in to the wall 'behind' the panelling. Or with the weight of the curtains, they would just fall off, leaving holes behind. If you are renting, you would have to check that your Landlord was ok with you doing this. A better option would be to paint over all the panels. You can use any colour you like and apply with a roller. Preperation would be the key to a good finish. You would either have to give all the walls a light sand, or use liquid sand. Which is easy. You wipe on, wipe off, allow to dry and then paint over. If the panelling is completely flat, you could wallpaper over it. Using the correct adhesive. If you have 'grooves' in the panelling, then wallpaper won't work. You would have to cover the panelling in either plasterboard or sheets of plywood first. But again, any fixings would have to go into the wall behind. Is it an option to remove the panelling? Often, panelling has been put up to cover damaged walls. To hide a, 'multitude of sins'. So, you don't know what you might find underneath!!! And it depends how the panelling has been put up. Usually wooden battens are put on the wall first, to fix the panelling too. If it was me, I'd just paint over the whole lot! And maybe have a feature wallpaper on the 4th. wall.
