Painting Knotty Pine Paneling & Cabinets

Remove hardware, such as as knobs, pulls and hinges, from cabinets. Remove nails, picture hangers and anything else from the knotty pine paneling that might interfere with a smooth application of paint.

Clean the cabinet and paneling surfaces with a general-purpose cleaner, scrubbing with a sponge if necessary. Rinse the surfaces with clean water.

Fill dings, gouges and nail holes with spackling compound using a putty knife or your finger. Also use the spackling compound to fill holes left by pulls, hinges and knobs that you don't intend to reuse. Allow the spackling compound to dry.

Sand the paneling and cabinets lightly with 120-grit sandpaper to scratch their surface and provide a suitably rough surface to which new paint can stick. A drywall pole sander makes quick work of sanding large areas of paneling. Clean dust with a clean, damp cloth. Fold one-quarter sheet of sandpaper to sand details in the paneling.

Prime the wood surfaces with white-tinted shellac primer. This alcohol primer blocks tannins in the knots from traveling through the paint and staining the top finish. Use a 9-inch paint roller with a fine nap on the paneling and a 3-inch synthetic bristle paintbrush on the paneling grooves and on the cabinets. Allow the primer to dry for at least one hour. Clean up primer spills with denatured alcohol.

Sand surfaces with 150-grit sandpaper to remove painted-on dust and dried bubbles. Wipe the surfaces clean with a damp cloth.

Fill gaps in the paneling with a bead of white latex caulk using a caulk gun. The gaps will not become apparent until after you applied the shellac primer. Smooth the bead of caulk with a wet finger right after application. Allow the caulk to cure overnight. If you will paint the paneling a dark color, you can skip this step because the gaps won't be as visible.

Apply a top coat of acrylic latex semi-gloss or high-gloss paint. Paint the beads of caulk and grooves in the paneling first using a paintbrush, and then use a paint roller to paint the flat sections of paneling. Use the paintbrush to paint the cabinets. Paint the paneling and cabinets in the same direction as their wood grain using long strokes. Allow the paint to dry four to six hours before reinstalling hardware.