Part of the kitchen makeover was to get rid of the 80's wallpaper and wood paneling. People have mixed feelings about painting wood paneling. I personally think it looks fine.
It brightened the kitchen and made it look more modern. That was what we were going for. David spent several days ripping down wallpaper. There were several different layers. The wallpaper was put in when the house was built so it went directly on the drywall. No texture. So we had to buy texture.
David went to Home Depot and bought a can of texture. He paid $20 bucks for one can. He needed about 5-6 cans. On one of my many trips to Habitat For Humanity's Restore, I saw they were selling wall texture. Same brand, for a fraction of the cost. So we took the cans back to Home Depot and bought a case at Habitat. The day we went, they actually had them on sale. Buy one get one free. Months later, after we had finished the kitchen, they had them on sale for $1.97 per can. I bought another case... JUST in case (and YES, I ended up needing some).
**TIP** Knockdown texture is the exact same thing as Orange Peel texture. The only difference is.. after you let the Kockdown dry a little, you use a knife to smooth it down.
It brightened the kitchen and made it look more modern. That was what we were going for. David spent several days ripping down wallpaper. There were several different layers. The wallpaper was put in when the house was built so it went directly on the drywall. No texture. So we had to buy texture.
David went to Home Depot and bought a can of texture. He paid $20 bucks for one can. He needed about 5-6 cans. On one of my many trips to Habitat For Humanity's Restore, I saw they were selling wall texture. Same brand, for a fraction of the cost. So we took the cans back to Home Depot and bought a case at Habitat. The day we went, they actually had them on sale. Buy one get one free. Months later, after we had finished the kitchen, they had them on sale for $1.97 per can. I bought another case... JUST in case (and YES, I ended up needing some).
**TIP** Knockdown texture is the exact same thing as Orange Peel texture. The only difference is.. after you let the Kockdown dry a little, you use a knife to smooth it down.
After David did the texturing on the walls, we painted. I think we had to use several coats. But I think it turned out nice. When we were at HomeDepot, we asked the guy about painting the dark wood paneling white. He suggested to us that we use a primer, tinted with black. I don't know WHAT he was thinking cause David had to put multiple coats on to cover the primer. He went back and bought regular white Kilz and it covered it fine. Afterwards, he could see gaps between the wall and the top of the paneling. So he caulked it and then touched up the paint. I think it looks great!
This picture shows the paneling before (I don't have a pic of the wallpaper! But after the wallpaper came off, you can see what the wall looked like with just bare drywall (under the cabinets)
This is the finished product. Walls painted, paneling painted.