Wallpaper and Wallcoverings - Paintable wallpaper

I want to hang a chair rail and paper the upper part of my paneling. It is dark walnut colored and I want to do this to brighten up the room. I have been told conflicting ways to do this, such as, prime the paneling, don't prime. Fill in the cracks, don't fill in, the paper will hide them. Use pre-pasted paper, it shouldn't matter if it pre-pasted or not. Put vinyl sizing on the paneling first, use dull and bond or sand first. I am more confused now than ever. Does anyone have any experience with this. Thanks. T

tanky, Well, aren't we completly confused now! I always start with a coat of oil primer. Three reasons, to prevent bleeding of whatever may be there like Pledge, Panel Nu or any other thing someone may have put on it, to seal it down so whatever comes after(patching, floating, painting or paperhanging) the sealer cannot get to the paneling and cause bubbles or lifting and to privide a bonding surface for all you are about to do. Nothing worse than diving into a project only to find yourself right back here because a step was missed. If you don't fill the grooves you can look for the all but the heaviest of paper to show them. Paper doesn't ride over things like it used to, it draws into. Some options to not filling would be very heavy commercial vinyl, liner or textured paper. If you fill, count on 3 coats of patch possibly 4 to get the grooves flush. Use a flashlight shining down the wall to make sure you are finished filling. If you fill, after sanding size the patched lines with BITE PRIMER or some similar clear primer to make sure paper bonds to the patched areas...Mike

Thank You for your help. I want to make sure I made it clear that I plan to use a paintable wallpaper and paint it afterwards. Would this change any of your recomendations?
Tanky

tanky, You may be able to skip the filling if your lucky. All you can do is try a sheet to see if it pulls into the grooves. Do let it dry several hours...Mike