Wood panel sunroom makeover

This renter-friendly redo has a great solution for brightening up a retro wood-paneled space.

Christine’s husband thought she was insane for falling in love with this 113-year old house — it was a mess of ’70s faux wood paneling, awkward trim colors and in desperate need of some TLC — but she knew they could reveal its charm with a little elbow grease. In the sunroom, she painted the paneling a soft gray and gave the buttery-yellow trim a coat of crisp white. What a difference! From Christine: I was also thrilled with how easily I was able to paint the paneling.

We have had a lot of drastic makeovers in our house since we bought it and oh man, I love a good ‘before and after’ post to show how far we’ve come. A few years ago we did a major overhaul on our master bedroom (like major-major: there used to be a kitchenette in our bedroom!) [...]

Growing up, the walls of my parents’ living room den were narrow, dark wood panels. No matter the time of day, the place felt like a cave. But though I finally persuaded them to paint them to match the rest of the house a few years ago (and it really did brighten the place up), after seeing these stylish spaces, I’m starting to rethink the wood paneling look. It’s definitely distinctive. It adds texture to a space and it certainly ups the warmth factor.

75 Sunroom Ideas You'll Love - March, 2024 | Houzz

This room has come a long way since we moved in! As much as I like the color red, I am not a fan of it being on my interior walls. Nor am I a fan of carpet, so we chose to rip it out and lay tile down. These two decisions made such a ... Read More about Sunroom Refresh

My fingers haven't been so excited to type out a title for a long time. It's one thing to be done painting the paneling but it's a whole 'nother feat to get up a tutorial about it - only took me a couple of months...HA! It's a hefty one with a lot of carefully ordered steps to help you along if you've been thinking about laying a fresh coat on the wood paneling you've inherited. We are certainly happy we took on the task. The end result has us heck-yeahing and has our living room looking a…

Click here now to see the Sunroom Before and After Project featured by top Michigan lifestyle blog, House of Navy to get ideas for your own!!

Updated 1.31.14 to add a few more options from the comments. Happy Wednesday! I’ve been thinking a lot about how we’ll treat the wood in our new house (before tour here and here) .. I’m torn because I always thought if we got a house with wood, it would be the tacky wood wall paneling …