How to Decorate an Apartment With Paneling

Determine whether your paneling is real wood or glorified pressboard. You can often tell this just by touch. Tongue-and-groove paneling is usually the real deal. It is interlocking boards milled from a softwood such as pine or fir that are about 3/4 inch thick, 3 1/2 to 8 inches wide and six to 12 feet long. Sheet or hardboard paneling is either thin plywood embossed with a hardwood grain, or composition board covered with an even thinner real-wood veneer or a photorealistic image of wood grain. This type is sold in 4-by-8-foot sheets. Check the seams or top or bottom edge to see if there are any layers in the material to get the best idea of what you're dealing with.

Dust paneling thoroughly and clean real wood paneling and wood veneer with a commercial wood cleaner, like an oil soap, using a wrung-out sponge. Reconditioning clean wood paneling with a furniture oil or wax could give old, dried-out paneling a luster that could make the paneling a feature, rather than an eyesore. Apply a test spot of any cleaner, oil or wax in an inconspicuous area first and check for any color change in the wood after the spot dries before you proceed. Work from the top down when dusting, cleaning and polishing.

Cover the paneling with fabric stretched over wooden frames or hung from drapery poles installed along the top of the paneling.

Hang an arrangement of mirrors and artwork and position furniture to deemphasize the paneling. Famed French designer Coco Chanel used large mirrors on multiple walls to cover paneling and add light in her Paris apartment way back in the 1920s, so you're in good company. Large framed posters and pieces of furniture such as bookcases or wardrobes also break up and cover expanses of paneling. Make good use of a studfinder and secure large pieces only to studs where they will be well supported; some paneling is mounted directly to studs with no drywall behind it, so, unlike drywall, it can't hold a heavy object that is not attached to the studs, even with wall anchors. Secure tall pieces of furniture to studs as well to prevent tipping in case of natural disasters such as earthquakes -- or children.

Adapt your design style to work with the paneling. Light-colored, sleek modern furnishings, a large area rug and punches of bright color and pattern in accessories provide a contrast to balance the rustic effect of the wood without covering it up; or play up the wood with plaid pillows, leather furnishings, antler accessories and Navajo-style rugs for a cozy modern lodge look. Adding a period piece or two -- a bright 1970s batik bedspread and mushroom lamp in a sheet-paneled room or bright retro pottery in a 1950s knotty pine kitchen -- gives a nod to the paneling without making your room look like a time capsule.