FWIW, at my parent’s house where we painted over the paneling, we didn’t fill in the grooves. It’s a bit of a PITA since you need to brush the paint into them and use a roller for the rest, but even with them infilled it really does look just fine. Yes, it’s clearly not drywall and yes, you can tell it is (was) paneling, but it’s a very different look than what you’d expect from wood paneling.
They first painted it white, and now it’a a color very similar to this.
So, yeah, it’s paneling, but without that 70’s wood grain, it looks much better.
Hey, that’s not bad. You folks suggesting spackle and sanding before painting may be onto something. It’s probably at least worth a try as a stopgap until it can be replaced with drywall. I will keep the advice in mind if I end up in a paneled palace.
If it is “real” paneling, removing it is REALLY difficult and annoying even if it is not glued.
My house was built in 1960 and there is a ton of paneling in it. We painted over it, which took many many coats of primer and paint. It looks good to me, but I don’t want to ever repaint it.
