wilkes

we just had ours painted this summer. It looks wonderful.

I still prefer wallpaper.

I agree with Doorman, and to not fill the grooves. My ex MIL painted the whole inside of her house a French Vanilla and it looked great. It has a more country feel with the grooves and brightened up the whole house. Use good quality primer, paint and brushes. They painted the groves first, then rolled on the paint, not sure if it was two or three coats.

According to some of the HGTV/DIY shows that I have watched, wallpaper is making a comeback.

Wallpaper?? People still use wallpaper?

I would make sure to use a bonding primer, not just a primer. You'll get better results.

Thank you everyone for your opinions and suggestions.

We had an accent wall of paneling & instead of tearing it out we painted it the same as the rest of the room. It took a couple of coats of primer & about 3 coats of paint. We didn't try to hide the ridges or anything, we just made sure they were painted good. The wall looks fantastic & you really don't even see that it is paneling.

U can paint it, but you need to prep it first. It is best if you use something to strip the shine off before you paint.
If you just paint and not strip off the shine on the paneling, it will just flake off sooner or later.
Believe it or not, they do make wallpaper that is made just for paneling. I have put it up before & it takes some time, but looks good once done.

The back side is rough. You can't sand it smooth

Instead of filling the grooves if you want smooth and do not want to replace it with sheet rock as well as save from all the mess, remove the paneling and flip it over reinstall so the smooth back is out. Then primer and paint.

I meant fill the groves 3 times not the seams.

I have done it and it turned out great. I used drywall joint compound in the groves, taped the seams just like drywall seams and textured it. You can't tell that it is not drywall. You will have to fill the seams 3 times because of shrinkage and make sure the nails are set so they don't stick out so you can cover them with compound.

It always looks like cheap paneling that's been painted. Looks even worse than expensive T&G that's been painted.

I have seen it painted white and it turned out nicely. Since the surface is smooth, you may need to either rough it up first or prime it. If you really want the drywall look then do it right; tear it down and replace it with sheet rock. It shouldn't be that expensive unless you're doing a large area. You can probably do it yourself if you have a large square, pencil, and a box cutter.

I have seen it painted and the seams was not filled in but it really did turn out nice. They had told me they were planning to do it and i thought OH NO !!!! I was really shocked when i seen it!

I've never seen it look good after it's painted

I have done it. If you want it to look like Sheetrock you can putty up the seems, but this is is time consuming and messy as you will have to sand it smooth and putty again to fill in any holes and sand again. The outcome is very nice if you want to deal with the mess. Now if you are okay with the seams you will need to lightly sand the wall surface to give the primer something to hold to or it will peel. Once you have lightly sanded the surfaces you should prime and paint.

Have fun and good luck!

Don't caulk the seams. They shouldn't be large enough to accommodate caulk. IF you use anything, a thin application of dry wall putty, sanded smooth. You can also fill the grooves in the paneling with putty, then sand. Most of the fake paneling has a really smooth finish, not "grainy", the primer will give it a better bed for holding the paint.

You will also have to caulk the seams. They will stick out like a sore thumb if you don't. Done right and it will look very good.