How I Brightened up My Dark Entryway

Do you walk through your front door and feel like you’re walking into a dark cavern?  Entryways seem to be one of those rooms in the house where designers forget to put windows.  Our split-level house was built in 1970 and has a large entryway complete with 1970’s wood paneling.  This large, windowless, wood-paneled room felt like walking into a dark cave regardless of if the lights were on or not. 

Entryway with dark paneling walls
Entryway with dark paneling walls
Entryway with dark paneling walls

After having recent success painting the paneling in our living room, I decided to tackle the entryway.  It couldn’t get much darker in there, right?!

Taping and Priming

The first day was spent taping around the trim of 6 doorways – So. Much. Tape.  I used the same technique as before for priming the paneling, covering the walls with two coats of primer (Zinsser 123 primer). 

Around this time in my painting career, I decided it was the appropriate time to get a little cocky and only paint one coat on one of the walls to see if I could get away with it.  Note to future self: Make sure to put two coats of primer on the wall!!!

Primed stripes on paneled wall
Paneling with one coat of primer

Faux Wainscoting

I decided to do faux wainscoting by installing a piece of wide trim as a chair rail and painting the bottom portion of the wall a dark teal blue color (Moscow Midnight by Sherwin Williams).  I measured about 35 inches from the floor to the bottom of the chair rail trim and nailed it on using an air nailer.  Painting the chair rail the same color as the bottom portion of the wall helped make it appear more like wainscoting. 

Wall with wainscoting trim

Final Coat of Paint

For the upper portion of the wall, I wanted a white that didn’t have pink or green undertones because of the lack of windows. However, I also didn’t want a blueish white that made it feel like a sterile hospital room either.  Pure White by Sherwin Williams fit the bill for a white without the undertones but had enough of a tint that it felt like it had some life.  Both colors needed two coats just like the primer – using a brush for the grooves and a 4” foam roller for the flat surfaces. 

For this project I also used an eggshell finish because I’ve found satin tends to highlight the “stripes” of the paneling and that’s something I was trying to downplay.

Painted Paneling
LVP flooring

Some Final Words of Advice

The wall that I had decided to only prime once, ended up needing three coats of paint and still needed some touchup afterwards.  There is an oil or glue of some kind in wood paneling that will bleed through your primer if you don’t cover it well enough.  Lesson learned: don’t skimp on the priming or you’ll pay for it down the road!  Nothing is more discouraging that putting that last coat of paint on late at night and coming down in the morning to admire your work and there’s brown oil marks bleeding through your beautiful paint job.

To finish the entryway update, we ripped out the white carpet (who puts white carpet in entryways?!) and installed Luxury Vinyl Plank waterproof flooring.

The finished room looks so much better than the 1970’s wood paneling.  Now when I walk through my front door, I see a fresh, clean, and inspiring room instead of feeling like I’m stepping back in time through a dark, paneled cave.

Show me your projects that brightened up a dark space in the comments!

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