Painting - Fixing bad paint on paneling..

Our landlady painted the lovely 70's paneling in our living room a wretched shade of peach. She did not do any prep work, simply slapped on the paint. We have permission to paint ourselves, and we want it to look nice. Is there any extra steps we have to take now that she's already put paint on the walls? I know that when you're painting paneling, you want to sand it first. Is it dangerous to sand paint off the walls, will it make my cats sick? I am sure we will wear masks. Also, will paint in the grooves prevent the filler from sticking? I have read lots of stuff online about painting paneling, but none about painting paneling that was already painted! Thanks in advance.

I hate when someone opens a can of worms :rolleyes: Hopefully sanding the walls will remove any paint that hasn't bonded to the paneling and what is left will continue to stick. The paint in the grooves will not affect the spackling. Be advised that the grooves look better than a poor job of filling them. It will take several coats of mud, sanding and primer to make them disappear. After sanding and patching use a good bonding type primer and top coat in the paint of your choice. I doubt the dust will make your cats sick but you will probably want to keep them out of the way anyhow.

Yeah, she's done a bit of decorating damage to this otherwise lovely house. :|

Thanks for the reply. Trust me, we plan on taking our time with the filling of the grooves. I think a job well done is worth any time it may take.