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K. me again - hit a bit of a snag. My husband does not want me to remove the paneling in the living, dining or hall areas. The bathrooms, bedroom etc are all mine to do with what I want so paneling is removed ceiling, walls will be Sheetrock.

For a while there I had him talked into it until a couple contractors came out praising how it is real OAK hardwood paneling and not the cheap stuff and how beautiful it is and what a shame it would be to cover it up - blah blah blah.

So now he does not to remove it.
With that being said - I have to find a compromise able solution. SO what I was thinking is, to use a paint-able wall paper on the top portion of the paneled walls (we have 8 ft. walls) so wallpaper down about 5 ft. then do a wainscot Trim and the last 3ft on bottom leave the paneling show. The paneling is not a dark color it is like natural oak color with just a sealer over it so it is natural I sanded down a part of it and you could not see much difference between what was sanded and what was not, as soon as I got the sanded part wet it looked just like the part that was not sanded. So I assume just a sealer is on the paneling it is light not dark paneling.

Do you think this idea will look alright? The paintable wallpaper one with leaving the bottom 3ft with the paneling?

Do you think I should sheetrock the ceilings in the paneled rooms? Or will that be a mistake in the future if I can talk him into letting me remove the paneling and actually sheetrock the walls? Or can we just sheetrock over paneling should he allow me to sheetrock later on? Paneling is 1/4" thick.

I guess I'm not sure what to do with the ceiling in the paneled areas.

Just leave it? (I hate the lines running across the ceiling in the panels)
Can I wallpaper the ceiling with paintable wallpaper also?
Should I just go ahead and sheetrock the ceiling?

I guess looking for suggestions!!! Any ideas anyone else has done or just ones you think would look alright.

We will be replacing all windows, doors in the whole house, and the flooring we will have laminate wood and kitchen and bath areas will be tile flooring.

Thank you all!
Laurie

Since this is more of a design/decorating question, I am going to move it to the Decorating, Landscaping and Gardening forum. You will probably get a lot better response to your questions there.

JD

Hi Laurie,

I am not much of a decorating guy, but I think your wainscot idea will look nice. If the paneling has embedded grooves in it, you will want to fill and sand those so they don't telegraph through the wall paper. The same goes for the paneling joints. As with all solid finishes in mobile homes, like textured walls and sheetrock ceilings, you stand a much higher chance of developing cracks than you would in a stick-built house.

As for the ceiling, I probably think along the same lines as your husband. If it is just the lines in the ceiling that bother you, and there is no physical water damage that can't be hidden with paint, I would leave the ceilings as they are. Sheetrock has always been available to mobile home manufacturers, but they chose to go with these types of panels for a reason. As the home shifts and settles, these panels won't show cracks. They are also considerably lighter than sheetrock, so they help the live load weight issue of the trusses, especially in the older homes. I also don't think wall paper on the ceilings are a good idea for the same reason as well as adhesive problems.

Just the opinion of a decorating challenged person.
JD

Laurie, can we see a picture of the paneling? It sounds better than most, just by being "real" and a light color. It may not be a bad thing. (Otherwise, we have vays uf dealing with husbands like deese

Your idea sounds like a good one. Does he care if you fill seams in order to paper? That will alter the paneling. How does hubby feel about painting paneling? If you put a thin sheetrock on top of the paneling, it will still "be there." Does that count?

can you do a test area? tack up two strips of the wall paper with clear thumb tacks, attach the molding strip lightly with nails, maybe consider a small crown molding at the ceiling?

then stand back, hold your hand up in front of you eye to block out the rest of the room, and see how you like the mock-up area...

just a thought...

good luck with your decorating...

Brenda (OH)

I know this is a simple, rather blase answer, but tell him the old adage... "happy wife, happy life" it's your home too and you need to feel comfortable and happy when you look around, and if removing the paneling will make the inside of the home you share easier on your eyes, compromises should be considered, if all else fails, you can tape and mud like so many others have with great look results, I'm doing that now