If the room is going to be a cream white, I say paint it a soft (or vibrant!) accent colour that will go with the rest of your decor.

depending on your furnishings and decor, you could paint it an accent color and make it more of a "feature wall" instead of blending it in. i think that would be rad, but would depend upon your tastes in terms of how prominent you'd want it to be.

congrats to you two on your new digs!

I don't think the wall o' wood would be so oppressive if it was just in a lighter stain. Unfortunately, bleaching is a pain in the arse and rarely comes out looking terrific.

Not sure what your furniture looks like, but perhaps you could wallpaper the square recessed panels and paint the surrounding trim a complementary color. Then paint the rest of that wall yet another color that complements the wallpaper and the trim. In any case, it looks like your color choices are going to be limited by what appears to be white metal baseboard heating units...

Don't overthink or over-highlight it: paint it same color as your walls.

Leave it for awhile, live with it, then rethink it. And when you do, I'd aim for the blending in rather than sticking out, since that is what you are looking to do in the first place.

I agree with patrick (the other one). I would paint it the same color as the walls.

By painting it the same color as the walls it will not draw attention to itself as painted panelling, and it will open up the room (especially if you go with cream).

if you just plain don't want to paint- hang two drapery panels that go from just above the window to the floor, width from the outer walls to the window edge-preferably in a cream maybe just a shade darker then your walls-this will cover the blank spots on either side of the window- use d wood rod to hang from-this will give the wall a unified look,and pick up the dark wood tone in other pieces of furniture in the room
Th wood gives the room character and warmth,so I would try to work with it, not against it!!It won't 'stick ou .ike a soar thumb' so much if you incorporate it's color into the decorating theme.

I agree with PTOO & thebird: Paint it the same color. One wall of my living room has this flocked wallpaper, and it's painted the same color as the other walls. It gives the room an interesting variety of textures.

I agree that *normally* wood can give a room warmth and character, but this just looks like the remnants of a remodel hack job. Make it disappear until you can really deal with it.

I don't think I would paint it the EXACT color of the surrounding walls, but rather one shade darker or lighter to give it some dimension. This would give the wall some subtle architectural interest without feeling cumbersome.

If hellbent on keeping it, at least use a chair rail and some molding around the remainder of the room to at least make it look intentional... then paint everything below the chair rail a gloss version of the wall color.

I have the same problem with my apartment. But because I am renting it I can't really do much but "love it". The only thing I can tell you is that those dark window/door frames WILL make your rooms feel much smaller and if you have few pieces of dark, wood furniture (like me) the whole room will feel heavy.
I wish I could just paint those window & door frames the same color as walls so the blend & dissapear...
Good luck with your new place!

all the time spent on painting, etc to make do, I really would remove and re-drywall if necessary...

I like a combination of previous ideas: One shade darker and glossier than the rest of the wall. I'm imagining this in rich cocoa or cappuccino shades; something not too far off from natural colors of wood.

i'm number 4 or 5 or 6 for the vote of just painting it the same color as the rest of the wall on that panel. by sheer nature of the fact that it's wood, as well as sticking out from the rest of the wall, that will add dimension and texture on its own. no need to highlight it by painting it any different shades or finishes. also, it's just a lot easier on yourself if you ever have to do touchups. i had a huge old a/c in my living room which i painted the same color as the walls and it blends in very nicely and is now very unobtrusive...

When I removed wood paneling recently I found the walls in decent shape: the only thing I had to do was prime and paint it. Maybe you should try to remove the wood.

Paint. Now.

What about taking out the doors and installing frosted glass or glass to showcase some of your collectables?

Paint it ... it is such a small area under the windows that it will become invisible once the room is furnished. I actually like the look of painted wood paneling. I had an entire room full of "knotty pine" paneling that I painted a creamy ivory and it looks great now (it sucks up a lot of paint, though, so prime first).

assuming the rest of the walls are white, paint it the same color, maybe gloss.

Either go with the light colors and paint the wood, or keep the wood and do the rest of the room in a darker, sympathetic palette.

If you paint the wood (which is what I would do in your situation), I strenuously suggest using an OIL based paint on the wood, preferably with a very glossy finish.

Oil based paints give a smoothness and quality of finish that simply cannot be achieved with even the highest quality latex paints.

Painting the woodwork will brighen and enlarge that room considerably, and will make that baseboard heating all but disappear.

...Also, it would be wise to paint the woodwork a subtly different shade than the walls.

If you examine rooms put together by professionals, you'll observe that "all white" rooms, for example, are never entirely one hue, but actually a very subtle blend of many hues and values.

Under no circumstances should you use the exact same paint on the wood as you do on the walls. You'll make that room look like the worst sort of cheap old rental apartment, and you'll practically ruin the possibility of doing a really good paint job on the wood in the future.

I don't think, for a temporary fix, the hassle of oil-based paint is warranted.

And you *can* do the same color, but step up the sheen on any woodwork you are painting.

It looks odd, not deliberate. Paint it the same color as the rest of the walls.

I wouldn't bother using oil or enamel, either. It's not something I'd want to highlight. Clean it, sand it, dust it, prime it, paint it.

Paint it! I had 2 rooms full of paneling when I bought this place. Just clean it well, sand any rough spots, PRIME really, really well and paint. You will not regret it. I waited 6 mos. before painting my living room (to try to learn to "love it")and I DO regret waiting.
Because of the location of this paneling, I also would go with painting it the wall color. I don't get trying to highlight something under a window that will be covered with window coverings and furniture anyway.

Definitely paint it the same colour as the reast of the walls *nods*

Another vote for painting it the same color as the walls, but in whatever sheen you're using for other wood trim because it is wood trim. This will give you dimensionality without the trouble of trying to find another compatible paint color, and the wood will blend right in.

First off, I totally agree with painting it. I love it when rooms with multiple dimensions are "flattened" by the use of a single color.

I would also agree with:

"What about taking out the doors and installing frosted glass or glass to showcase some of your collectables?"

I think this is a great idea.

If I was feeling really change crazy I would consider employing the unforgivable sin of painting the floor whitewashed as well. Then I would add soft lights in the cabinets behind the frosted glass and get some fun but smartly hued furniture/art.

Another left field idea is to see if you could retrofit the cabinet door space in the middle to hold a modern in wall gas fireplace. then make either side storage or TV space ...

Then you could paint it zebra-striped and on the middle cabinet door paint a portrait of Lisa Turtle from Saved by the Bell. I shouldn't have smoked pot before writing this last paragraph.

Whitespike, I don't think those are cabinets, but wall panelling.

But you have something there with that last idea....