It's a tough call whether or not to paint real wood paneling. I've seen beautiful paint transformations but painting will cover the wood grain. You may be able to whitewash it, in order to preserve the grain, but I've only seen that on vertical board paneling not 1980's large panels. I can't tell you how the outcome would look.

Here's a blog post where they completely painted their paneling:

https://www.junquecottage.com/2016/11/05/paint-natural-wood-paneling-using-behr-paint/

Here's a quick photoshop edit to give you an idea of what painting will look like:

(Sorry, I misread your post and left all the moulding natural!)

Here is a photo of an oak door that was painted white (5 coats). The texture/grain of the wood is still visible. Some woods have more texture than others, yours does look like oak to me. If your bookcase is the same wood, start with it to see if you like the results.

here is the pic

I would not paint the wood. I would get a nice area rug. Get rid of the wooden TV entertainment center and get a lower credenza that is at least 25% wider than the TV. Get rid of all of the baskets and stuff on the floor. Organize the book case. Change the switch plates to wood so they blend in.

Remove it, don’t paint. There is nothing special, at least on my device, about the walls. IMO wood is not sacrosanct. Sell the panels if it makes you feel better.

When you paint wood, it still looks like wood which is nice. I would definitely paint. We painted seven rooms that had Douglas fir on floor, walls, and ceilings. We did first coat with Kilz and then it only took one more coat to cover, that was ten years ago and still looks great.

Address the poor lighting first. That’s really what is bringing the space down. It’s so poorly lit.

The lighting is very poor, even into the kitchen. Everything in there has a yellow cast. Buy some daylight type bulbs and replace the bulbs, and see if things look a lot better. I love the wood, but, I do think, maybe it is too much wood, and might paint parts of it (not trim nor the doors), however, it really is impossible to tell without proper lighting.