wood panel wall renovation

[Lilly-Pilly]

Hey, just wondering if anyone has renovated a room or house that has old wood panel walls.
I've seen a few different ways, but still not convinced that even painting them looks like anything other than old wood panels painted!
I'm sure there are ways to work with them, but at the moment they look dark and dated.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

[Artechim]

Can you sand them back and coat them with a light stain or varnish?

[Tinks]

I have the same problem, my house is all wood panel and I'm too scared to paint it in case it looks worse.

I saw a reno on a tv show once with painted wood panelling and it looked awesome. It might have been renovation rescue.

[HotI]

we had fake wood panelling, and we renovated them by taking them off and sending them to the tip. one plaster wall got damaged and so we replaced that, but the others were just able to be sanded and bogged and painted.

is yours real wood? pine or hard wood?

can you post a pic?

[Ginger]

we just sheeted over the top of them.

[beachsidegoddess]

We did 2 things. Firstly tried to fill the gaps with spakfilla and then paint over the top. Didn't look too bad. Another section we didn't worry and just painted over the top, which I think looks better because it's 'cleaner' I.e
doesn't look like we've tried to hide the panelling. If you go with the spakfilla option, do small area at a time and finish off well. And sand back.

[Beach Mama]

Depends on your house, I think when prepared well and painted can look nice - very beachy actually which suits houses here where we are but depends where you are! IN our old house we took them off and had to replace plaster on one wall. Is it just one room or lots of it??

[black_rose]

We painted ours white tight before we moved, wish we had done it much earlier as it brightened up the room.