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Paint Design Dilemma living room

Wood paneled living room - paint or keep as is?

newhomeowner_28

last year

Hi All,

My husband and I recently purchased our first home and we are having trouble deciding what to do with the living room paneled walls. We're unsure if it's possible to incorporate the walls with our style - a mix of traditional and modern (e.g., Studio McGee), without painting them. We are not planning to change the flooring anytime soon, which doesn't seem to match the wood tone.

Any ideas or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

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Comments (8)

raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
last year
last modified: last year
I'm no design maven.

I do think that the walls, as they are, will fit into a traditional/modern mix, since they are relatively simple (and very lovely- not your run of the mill paneling).

However, the floor is definitely a problem. Is it LVP or gray stained hardwood (it looks like LVP)? If it is wood, it could be re-stained to a more complimentary shade for probably not much difference than a good prep and paint of the paneling.

The fireplace brick looks pinkish - yellowish on my computer, and as much as I like to preserve original brick, changing that color, perhaps to a grayish brown, might help to pull the paneling and floor together, along with a good rug or two to cover most of the floor.

If those things don't seem feasible, or you particularly like the floor with your other furnishings (so you definitely will not be changing it later) then you could consider painting. Just remember that furnishings wear out and get replaced, so consider carefully about making a permanent change in the paneling based on current furnishings.

All that said, there is nothing wrong with painting the paneling if that is what will make you delighted with the space. I myself waited too many years to paint my old knotty pine!
Lyn Nielson
last year
I'd keep the paneling as is and introduce a beautiful LIGHT area rug with a dynamic color pattern

... I'd choose a white background with blues in a border medallion pattern.
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I love wood paneling in many cases but it does give off a definite vibe of casual and homey and it might be smart to follow that lead. It appears you're attracted to pretty formal fabrics and patterns such as the silks, velvets and damasks....but that probably isn't going to work well with the paneling since it is a very casual look and it puts out a lot of shine all by itself! I think a cotton/linen-like nubby or woven fabric in a white/cream/tan plaid or check would really play off the paneling well and give a nice warm and cozy look to the space. It would be neutral enough (but not boring) to then do whatever you'd like with pillows "etc". Here's one I spotted at JCP...the beige/white would be classy and in keeping with the room's mood. And checks/plaids are here to stay! Featured in a lot of designer rooms nowadays. Just stay with the linen/cottons I'd say. Here is a link that might be useful: drapes
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You know when I was growing up we had a dining room with one door on one side of a wall. It was enough. I love having a dining room but I also love to entertain and I like to eat in the dining room and then "retire" to the sitting room, lol! Call me crazy! Traffic flow isn't much of a problem if the rooms are next to each other. I once had a house with a hallway between the kitchen and the living/dining room area. That was a traffic problem because the kitchen was tiny and if I had to go in there, I disappeared from sight and sound of my guests and had to leave them hanging. Got better when SO moved in and could stay with them while I got stuff from the kitchen. I would be more concerned about the flow between where the food gets cooked and the dining room than between a sitting/movie room and a dining room. On the flip side, if you want to open it up, get someone good and have them save and re-use the wood that gets taken out in some creative way for the new doors. Can be done. Pocket doors rock. I love wood, and such fine stuff as you have is becoming rare. That's why the trend is to paint, so no one knows the difference between fine stuff and cheap stuff. Painted, it all looks the same.
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Congratulations! Beautiful home. You absolutely can mix them, it can be a wonderful look. When I was a kid, that type of traditional paneling was very popular (late 70’s) ... and lots of people had MCM and modern with it. We had it in our living room. It’s always been a thing in old European homes, too. Just wanted to show a few pictures of mixing Mod with ultra-traditional — I’d just look around at other examples, and start hunting for the pieces you want to add in there. And you can certainly mix the furniture and accessories styles, too. For me, it’s helpful to put things I like together on a mood board (online) and get a feel for how things play together.
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PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
Is that flooring vinyl plank ? IMO the floor and the walls do not work at all. So if you insist on keeping the floors then paint the walls
HU-187528210
last year
Agreed. The walls are beautiful. And in an ideal situation I’d redo the Floors.
( I also don’t think the floors are the style you’re after …)
If that’s not an option I’d either paint the walls or get a large rug.
What do the other rooms look like?
Lorraine Leroux
last year
Walls are gorgeous and can be easily worked into your design however the floors look plastic and fake-what are they?
newhomeowner_28
Original Author
last year
Thank you everyone for the advice. The flooring is a ceramic tile that is made to look like hardwood (Interceramic - the previous owners left the extra flooring behind for us) so staining it is not an option. We may change the flooring down the road, but it's not in our immediate budget since it is all throughout the house and it works for our large dog.

The back den shown in the photo is the only other room in the house with the wood paneling and trim. All of the other rooms have normal drywall and trim, both painted white.
Fori
last year
Keep the paneleing--it works well with modern and traditional and it's very nice. Put the biggest rug you can on the floor. :)
yelloguy
last year
Tone it down with wall art. Once you bring in the furniture it will have a muting effect too. Plus a large rug should go a long way. Flooring is a bigger problem to my eye.

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