Painting - Painting Paneling?

Hey folks!

My name’s Matt and I’m %100 new to any kind of home improvement so please be gentle!

I’m moving out of my parent’s house and into a basement suite and the landlord has basically given us permission to do whatever we want (within reason of course).

There is some really gross dark wood paneling in our basement and we want to brighten things up because it’s dark enough down there without the paneling.

There is also wallpaper under some fake brick paneling that we were thinking about taking down and painting.

So I have two questions.

1) Will it look fine if we simply sand down the wood paneling and then paint it?
2) What happens when you paint over wallpaper?

Any and all advice on this matter is much appreciated thanks!

Matt

For the paneling you need to prime it first. You can lightly sand it first if you wish however. I use a primer like Sherwin Williams ProBlock then paint. Some say you should use a deglosser on the paneling before you prime but ive never seen the need when I've use the proBlock. Many people in the forum like the Bullseye 123 waterbourne in the blue can also. As for the wallpaper : nothing good happens when you paint over it as you are setting yourself up for an early failure. In otherwords it won't last/

For the paneling, I would scrub it down to remove dirt/grease/etc to help promote adhesion. Use a product like Dirtex made by Savogran. Then lightly scuff sand it, dust it off completely, and apply the primer. I prefer an oil-based primer, but that's just my preference. A good latex bonding primer (like 123) will work too. Make sure to let it fully dry before top-coating. Finish it with 1-2 coats of any latex paint you like.

For the wallpaper, remove it, don't paint over it.