apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

sheet rock over it for a cleaner, more contemporary look.

Is there a way to remove it and keep it intact? I have absolutely no idea, but from what I've seen, people who like it, _REALLY_ like it, and might be happy to snap some up secondhand for a cheaper reno.

paint it.

Paint it.

Knotty pine paneling is not some rare artisional art form. It's relatively cheap and easy to get.

Paint it. It will look great.

Paint! Knotty pine is terrible, white (or another good color) tongue and groove can be really nice.

There are people out there who love knotty pine?

The bottom line is that it's your house so you should do what makes you happy. Paint it, cover it, whatever.

Use a good primer and tint it if you can. Make sure the primer seals tannins? or stain. Painted wood panels can look quite nice. Sort of like bead board. This is much easier and cheaper than dry wall. My brother did this way back in the 70s in our family home and it still looks nice today. Naturally a few more coats of paint and color changes have been added over the years.

Do you like the pine? If so, I'd do something like ikea's hanging panels in front of it...or some sort of curtains. If you are meh about it, I'd paint it.

I used to live in a house with a Knotty Pine bedroom--on both the walls and ceilings (with hardwood floors). After a few years dreading the thought I went ahead and painted the walls white. I must say, it brightened the room tremendously and I preferred it (as did everyone who saw it). That said, you must prep the room appropriately. I was renting, so I just put primer and paint on. It took multiple coats of primer and paint--and when a guest left a humidifier on overnight the walls "bled" orange. I recommend sanding if you don't want to wake up one morning thinking you're in a horror film.

good luck!

One word: YES

Paint it.

Wow! So little debate!

i also have knotty pine paneling in my basement. it goes from floor to ceiling and while i think the color of it brings some "warmth" to the space, i really don't like the way it looks.

i was planning on eventually ripping it out and replacing it with gwb board, but since i don't have the money for that right now, painting sounds like a great solution. thanks!!

Wow!
I guess we're painting!

I painted a pretty big room in my house that was paneled in knotty pine. It took a lot of paint (I didn't prime), but it looks terrific now (it is off-white). I can't overstate how much cleaner and brighter the room became. Even the so-so flooring in there looked cleaner and more modern. The most labor intensive part was the groove parts (the roller doesn't get in there, so I had to go in with a brush, then roll over the main flat parts). It took about three coats, but once the first one is on (which, in hindsight, should have been primer), the others go on much easier.

Paint it. Then send before and after pictures!

I would wallpaper it using removable adhesive. So that way the original pine remains for resale value.

I'm just not convinced the pine is all that valuable - unless it's part of a particularly important style of old house or something. As other people have said, that kind of paneling is widely available, and the cheapest real wood option for that kind of thing. If it's anything like some rooms I've seen, it isn't original to the house, and was badly done by incompentent DIYers in the 70's or 80's!

Blackbird,

We just went through this with our home. We actually went both routes. We had knotty pine in our bedroom, our kitchen and the hallway. I think you need to decide what look is more appropriate for your home. As far as the actual work, it's a bigger pain in the butt than you even think you know, but well worth it in the end.

In the kitchen we went through with caulk and evened out many weird groves. Next we went through with 2 coats of primer (use good stuff, lesson learned), caulked again and then 3!!! coats of semi-gloss white paint. Why so many danged coats of primer and paint? Because that nasty finish on the pine will bleed through your layers.

So why not just sheetrock? Well, we did that in the hallway, but forgot that it would make the walls uneven (walls with sheetrock on top gain 1/4") with the rest of the house, which means you have to be real real clever when it comes to reattaching baseboard, moulding, door trims and then lining up your corners nicely.

I love our white-panels in the kitchen. They ended up really charming in our placesee for yourself. Check out the July archives for more kitchen details...I couldn't find a great before photo to link to...

Oh, and cakekick, in the bedroom we ripped off the panels with a crowbar and we're saving them to recycle them as flooring for a small art studio in our backyard. Totally easy to pull off, but lots and lots of work.


Good luck!

Shayna
AT:SF

My aunt & uncle have a house in the mountains that has a big open living room/dining room/kitchen space for most of the top floor, surrounded by windows and a deck and views of outdoors -- it's in knotty pine and it looks great. I also often stay in a 1950s motel in Pennsylvania on my way between two particular places, and it's all about knotty pine & period fittings, and I love it. An old boyfriend in a small town in Louisiana also went for a very country/knotty pine look in his house, and it was right for the setting (by a stream, surrounded by pickup trucks). For a house in the city or suburbs, not so much -- life's too short to hate your room every time you look at it.

I do think it would be a good idea to see if the resale value of the panelling is high enough for it to be worth considering masking it with drywall or something rather than painting.

PAINT IT. Do it now. Life is too short for knotty pine.

I love knotty pine. I grew up in a room and a house full of it.
If you stare deep into the knots you can see faces and make up stories. Keep it! It's comforting and nice. Design around it.

Paint. And you need a SERIOUS primer, as the knots themselves can sometimes bleed through a painted finish.

I agree--paint!

PAINT that!! Paint it all!

A nice semi-gloss white would look great...

Paint it! As a Realtor, it will improve your re-sale value. I had a client who did not paint the dining room with knotty pine paneling and the home did not sell until it was painted.

Another client did paint a lower level which had been paneled and now they are thinking of taking the house off the market because with the new look they are really using the room.

I also had a house with the knotty pine all over the second floor, including ceilings and only painted it to sell. It sold quickly and I am certain had I not painted it, it would not have sold so quickly. I am only sorry that I did not get to enjoy the paint job!

Please step back and think about what you really like!

I've never heard a louder cry for paint.

PAINT. Semi-gloss or gloss. Lots of primer. Do not paint with flat or eggshell.

Paint it.
This reminds me of how I always see ads for rental homes with knotty pine paneling that try to list it as a big "bonus" feature. I translate "beautiful knotty pine paneling!" as "hasn't been remodeled since 1975!"

This will put me in the minority but knotty pine that is well oiled and cared for not only adds warmth to a room but can add light from it's beautiful glow. I grew up in a beach house who's living room was paneled in knotty pine and in the morning it was like sitting in sunshine.

Yeah new knotty pine is cheap to buy but it takes years for the pine to develop that deap gold color. With all the crappy mid century repeats it is a shame to lose something that has so much real potential.

Can't you just rip it off, give the wall behind it a good sand and paint that?

I know you said you dislike a pickled finish, but have you tried it? My grandparent's 1930's house (which I inherited and used to use as a weekend house) had white pickled woodwork everywhere, I loved it! Lightness of white, but the interestingness of wood.

Also a BIG plus in terms of cleaning and maintainance--paint will always get dirty and need re-doing, but pickled wood needs no care and always looks nice and clean.

Thanks everyone - a few points:

Our intention is to lighten the room as it's quite dark, the paneling is damaged in areas of each wall, and there is no sheetrock behind it - if we tore it down we'd be at studs.
And since that's a huge mess, I think we'll prime well and use semi-gloss paint.

Word, bacchus!

Knotty pine reminds me of where we stayed on the Cape when I was a kid, and that's why I like it when used with restraint.

People without such ties to it or to any material/decor/finish/etc. won't feel that way.

We stay on the Cape EVERY YEAR!

I'm still painting...

Is the paneling floor to ceiling or is it just wainscoting?

If it's just wainscoting, I wouldn't paint the wood - I'd paint paint the walls above the wood. With a medium-tone Sage Green or Greyish-Blue above, the pine would look smart!

If, however, the wood does go to the ceiling, I agree with the others that painting is the way to go - Make sure to use a good primer and a semi-gloss paint, and have it tinted in a pale green - then paint all trim and doors a high-gloss pale grey or cream.

i would have a remodel party and have everyone I knowover to tear it out... Majeral

My son has this knotty pine in his 8 x 10 room, but since we are in a rental, we were unable to paint it. Instead we applied fabric over the walls with liquid starch. His room is now blue as he wanted it and the fabric can be removed when we move.

I once painted a pine-paneled room to lighten it. Brilliantly, I painted it white without putting on a primer coat. The room became a slow motion work in progress, as the knots bled and bled through the paint. This was at our summer house, and often, after the long drive and nighttime arrival, we'd sit in this room, unwinding with a drink and observing the knot stain progress. One rainy day, we painted lots more random knot stains all over the walls, and it looks great to this day. In our opinions.

Don't know if you've started this project yet, but I'm just finishing a similar room. About 75% of my whole house is knotty pine and a small bedroom was like a cave with small, north and west windows. I covered with three coats of Kilz primer, using a 3" brush, and then two coats of Benjamin Moore Elmira White paint (light tan) in an eggshell finish. The trim is done in bright white and the room looks great. I've wanted to paint this room for the past 10 year; finally quit listening to friends and family and did it. Even though is was very labor-intensive, I'm happy - wish I'd done it years ago.

My sister had gorgeous dark paneling (NOT knotty pine), and her compromise was to put a chair rail on it and paint above the chair rail, and leave the paneling below.

That's one idea if you DO like it. If you don't, paint it. It could look very sort of Martha Stewart-ish painted.

Well I love it! I bought a house with knotty pine in the kitchen, den, and living room. A room with knotty pine was a main requirement. As said above, well cared for knotty pine glows bright and gives warmth. It is much brighter than my game room, which is paneled in walnut. I would love to replace the walnut with the knotty pine, but at $25 a board it's not feasible. I also would like to know where you can find it so cheap, available, and in the same t & g pattern? I would never paint any of my knotty pine or walnut paneled rooms. It's real wood with a richness that you won't be able to get back once painted. If you don't like it, rip it out and dry wall. Dry wall over it, but don't destroy it by paint.

Paint, paint, paint! A light colored high gloss will open up the room like nothing else. So paint, but do it right.

If the pine is varnished, wipe the walls down with turpentine. Sand any rough spots. Vaccuum for dust and sawdust, then wipe with tack cloth.

Apply Zinsser BIN to the pine knots (or a few months later the sap will bleed through and look like rusty stains).

After the Zinsser is dry, apply two coats of a good latex primer, then paint.

When you paint, it's okay to use a roller to apply the paint, but immediately brush it down with a brush. (I work a small area at a time, rollering then brushing). Rollers leave a stippling effect that is actually desired on wallboard but -- wood should always be brushed. Use a good $10 brush. If you don't like washing brushes between use, freeze them in ziplock bags and thaw at next use.

Honestly I'm not sure if the priming and painting wouldnt' be more work than taking it down and sheet rocking.

I'm betting you could find someone who wants it all badly enough to come and take it down and take it away for you. You then could put some insulation in your walls, sheetrock and paint.

Just for the record this type of "paneling" is not from the 70's.