Priming The Wood Paneling

And now, for the dang paneling update. Hold on to your hats ladies and gents. This post = wild ride.

As you likely know, we are no strangers to priming and painting paneling. Sure we could remove the paneling, but it would mean removing and rehanging all the cabinets since they are hung in front of it – and revealing goodness knows how many scary issues behind it (they are old plaster walls so that simply felt like a big ol’ can o’ worms). And we could attempt to drywall over it (but it would mean drywalling around the existing cabinets and a lot more expense/trouble than simply painting it). So we chose early on that we’d once again say yes to painted paneling – simply like we did in our former den (which ended up being our go-to room in the house) when it (slowly over the course of 4.5 years) went from this…

… to this:

We never regretted the whole painted paneling choice – I guess it is simply like painted brick to us (we do not mind the grooves that remain after it is painted since they simply add charming and subtle texture). But folks have caulked or puttied those grooves to hide ’em, so you can consistently do that (or rip it the heck out) if it is not your thing.

But this time there was a slight variation to the painted paneling process since the last time we tackled it. That variation: the time that it took to get ‘er done. Last time it took us an afternoon (more on that here). So we went into this whole priming and painting thing with high hopes that it would be a swift little project. Yessiree, an afternoon spent completing the paneling would have been excellent (as would seeing a unicorn on our front lawn or finding out that Burger laid golden eggs). Spoiler alert: that did not happen.

The time difference was all because we chose to attempt to prime and paint our paneling the no slash low VOC way this time. Simply because we like the idea of avoiding as many harmful fumes as we can since we work so regularly with paint and caulk and primer (especially now that we have a baby around). We knew this choice was not a short cut. Heck, it would crack our margin for error right open (since oil-based stainblocking primer is the only professionally recommended way to guard against nasty yellow-orange wood-bleed, which can ooze through as you prime and paint). But we thought it was a risk worth taking in the name of family health. And it was in the end… it simply took a while to get there. So here is how it all went down.

First, here is what our kitchen looked like before we embarked on our little priming adventure:

And here is an old shot of the kitchen from the other direction simply for reference (it was in fact taken a while back, before we took out the wood stove and painted the fireplace):

Step 1: We wiped down the paneling, beams, and trim with a moist cloth. Some people use TSP for their wipe-down, but we did not (did not use it last time we painted the den paneling either – but it is not a bad idea, especially if your paneling feels especially greasy). We also did not sand at all (did not last time either) but you can if your paneling is especially tough, splintery, or especially glossy & shellacked.

Step 2: We took out the vent covers and outlet covers since we chose that we’d be replacing them all (they were bisque and we hoped fresh white).

Step 3: We spent about three hours applying a coat of primer to the trim, beams, and paneled walls with Olympic No-VOC primer.

After our first coat it looked like this (about fifteen minutes in we knew we were in trouble):

Primer never needs to be especially consistent and ideal looking (it frequently looks uneven and rough but still totally does the job) but we experienced nearly immediate bleed-through in a number of spots (when the orangey-brown stain of the wood seeps through the primer and threatens to ruin your paint job). Not good.

Step 4: We waited for that to dry a bit and tried a second coat of the same primer in certain obviously-bleeding spots, hoping it would block more nasty orange seepage. Nope. It did not.

Step 5: We noticed that we had a can of Behr Primer + Paint (in white semi-gloss) in the basement from a previous project (which is low-VOC and pleasant and thick) so everything got a coat of that (yup, the trim, beams, and paneling got another full coat).

We still had bleed through. Not much, but in certain places it was certainly still there. And it was maddening.

Step 6: We went to Home Depot and found Kilz Clean Start No-VOC primer. It said “stainblocker” right on the label so we gave it a shot on everything (yup, another full coat of a third type of primer went up on the trim, beams, and walls).

It worked. Angels sang and two white-haired The house team rejoiced in the privacy of their freshly primed (at last) kitchen.

Step 7: We painted simply the trim and beams with our Behr Primer + Paint (in white semi-gloss) since leaving things primed but not painted for the long term can lead to a nasty and grungy hard-to-wipe-down mess (it is a dust and dirt magnet since primer is intentionally sticky for paint adhesion). Happily the Behr stuff had strong coverage over that last coat of Kilz and looked glossy and remarkable. A sight for sore eyes (and arms).

Step 8: We took out all the painter’s tape while the last coat of paint was still fresh for the cleanest lines possible (waiting for everything to dry can cause the paint to peel when you remove the tape). In cases when it was stuck to the primer/paint, we used an exacto knife to carefully slice it along the line of the tape so the primer/paint would not get pulled off with it.

We are typically glad to avoid painters tape when we can (I rely a lot on this little miracle short handled brush instead) but since I am short and I am the resident cutter-inner/edger, I do not have as much control up on a stool. So taping around the ceiling trim (and in this case tossing down a swift frame of tape around the baseboards) helped me go faster while I was glad to freehand around the door frames and fireplace.

About 48 hours after the beginning of our priming adventure, it at last looked like this. The trim looks whiter because it is topped with that semi-gloss Behr paint and not simply a flat finish white primer (which was more creamy and less snow-white-ish in color). Now we simply have to paint those walls.

We are not sure if the Kilz No-VOC primer worked because it was the best choice for the job or because it was layered with the other methods beneath it (perhaps on its own you’d need two or even three coats of it to get full bleed-blockage) but we certainly would recommend 2-3 coats of Kilz Clean Start No-VOC primer followed by two thin and even coats of latex paint if you are planning to paint your paneling without messing with fumey VOCs. Fingers crossed that’ll work for ya. Otherwise one coat of oil-based stainblocking primer followed by two thin and even coats of latex paint should do the trick (find more step by step instructions on that method here).

It likely will not take you an afternoon if you go low/no VOC (it took us two days with some babysitting assist from John’s parents simply to complete the priming stage). And we are not gonna lie. It was not lively. But it was worth it as soon as we got through to the other side. You know, when we at last crossed that rainbow bridge from bleed-ville to clean-white-walls… hallelujah. It should be mentioned that in quite rare cases bleed can come through weeks or even months later (which would make us want to stick paintbrushes in our eyes). Thankfully we painted the wood trim in the living room using the same no-VOC method (four coats of Olympic Premium Paint instead of with an oil-based stainblocking primer) five months ago and nothing has since seeped through. And because the baseboard and trim in the kitchen is the same exact wood, all signs point to: this should work. Of course we will tell you if something supremely annoying happens though.

So if somebody would be so kind as to do a nap-time dance for Clara, we’d truly appreciate it. So far swinging her stuffed giraffe back and forth and saying “you are getting sleeeepy” is not quite doing the trick. Well it is making us sleepy, but we are not the target. Has anyone else tried to paint paneling without VOCs? Or been forced to apply four coats of paint or primer for any reason at all? Sucks right? Let us commiserate.

Psst- Read more about the whole Phase 1 kitchen plan here.