Painting on Panelling

So we decided, or rather, I decided the other day that I was going to paint the panelled wall in the living room. I'm thinking about painting all the basement panelling, but that would require that I get my butt in gear and get working on organizing all of the rest of the junk that was deposited in the basement when we moved in. To be fair, I've done a lot, but I've hit that point where I've just plain old lost interest. I'm hoping to regain it in January.


ANYWAY.


I figured what the heck, lets experiment with the wall in the living room. So I put up tape and put down some blankets and primed it. Okay. Not bad, but you can totally still tell there's panelling under there. I thought the lines might be interesting, but no. Just looked like painted panelling. I even used a tiny artist's paintbrush to put primer in all the cracks and lines. It took me 3 hours! For a teeny, tiny wall.



So then we decided. Why not use spackling and fill in the lines? So why did I paint the lines again? I don't know. Because I was bored, I guess. I convinced the man to go find me some spackling and put it on. He was thrilled. He did, however, comply and started putting up the spackling. After I criticized his job and messed up one part he was working on (it was a really wonky gap between sheets of panelling), I decided to butt out and leave him alone. Except he had to go to work. And I can't handle looking at the mess and not doing anything about it. So I finished it. I know. He was torn up about missing out.



Oh, and I should add that putting on the spackling makes a bit of a mess. Bits and pieces seem to fall on the floor a lot and then, if you have a little tiny dog running around who thinks he's a vacuum cleaner, you'll probably spend a lot of time, saying No! Don't eat that! and picking it up off the floor and prying open his little jaws to take it from him. That just adds to the fun. Put said dog elsewhere if you have brains. I don't.


Then I sanded down the whole wall with a sanding sponge - not as much as it sounds - just rough spots really. Then he filled in any low spots with another layer of spackling. Okay, so that worked alright. But the paint? Ugh. I put 4 coats of primer and 3 1/2 coats of paint on this darn wall. I'd say it turned out alright. Except that now there's a really obvious gap in the corner where the panelling ends and the plaster begins. I'm not sure what to do with that. Put trim in one corner of the room? I do like it better, though. I think it lightens up the room. Not that my all-white room needed too much more lightening, but you know.


Before picture here. After picture here. I know. Its hard to tell how well it worked, but it worked well enough.