Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Refinishing wood panelling

I recently moved into my grandparents house and decided to lighten the wood panelling in the living room. The room is 15x21, and even with one wall all windows, it's amazingly dark. It's tongue and groove paneling, probably Douglas Fir (at least that's what I've been told) - There is a mix of light reddish wood and a very blond wood, in the same boards.

I started sanding, and ended up using 60 sandpaper on an orbital sander to get down to the lighter wood. It's not perfect, but I've got the mostly done now.

However, I have some questions:

1) Any suggestions for sanding the v-shaped grooves between each board? I am daunted by the amount of work it will take to sand them all. I am even tempted not to do them, and wonder what kind of problems that will be borrowing.

2) Now that the wood has been sanded with 60 sand paper, I assume that I will need to go back and smooth the wood with a finer grit.
What size grit?
Do I need to do this in several steps?
Or can I just do one pass with the finer grit paper?

3) Once I'm done sanding, any recommendations on the type of sealer / finish? I'd like the wood to have a satin type shine, and don't see the need for it to take alot of abuse. I want keep the wood as light as possible. Also, if there is something that would reduce the tendency to darken naturally, I would to hear about it.

4) Is there any issues I should be worrying about?

Of course, any other advice would be welcome. I'm a complete beginner at this.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forums

#1 They won't be fun/easy to sand. You might take and wrap the sand paper around a thin piece of wood and force the edge into the groove to sand it. Hard to say without looking at it if it would look ok as is.

#2 Use 120 grit for the next sanding. Depending on how fussy you are you might want to final sand with 180-220 grit. All hand sanding must be done with the direction of the grain - no cross sanding.

#3 If you wish to change the color any you need to stain and then use varnish/poly. Water base polys go on and stay clear, they will neither darken the wood or darken with age. The wood will basically look just like it does prior to application [except for sheen]

#4 Getting wore out from all the work :D

Thanks marksr,

Yea, I noticed the problem with #4 :-) Not sure I would have gotten into the project if I'd known, but it *does* look so much better!

I just found sanding spounges at HD. They're flexible and might just work in those grooves. Pretty sure I bought 120 grit, there were several choices.
Are they strong enough to hold up against all that #4 work?

Good luck!

Sanding sponges are great for light sanding. They conform well to the contours of the wood and are a little easier on your fingers - sand all day and you'll know what I mean. They wear quickly with hard sanding so I doubt they would be a good choice for sanding the grooves.

My personal savior for the project (sanding the grooves in the wall) ended up being a little hand / finish sander, with a V shaped attachment (mine was the Mouse from B&D, but I'm sure there are other options). Saved me lots and lots of hours!