How to Make Vinyl Wallboard Look Like Drywall

Place drop cloths on the ground to protect the floor from paint drips.

Pop the seam strip covers off the walls with the flat edge of a screwdriver.

Sand the surface of the walls with a medium-grit sandpaper to rough up the surface. Use a power sander to make the job a bit easier.

Wipe the dust off the wall with a damp rag.

Brush a thin layer of high-bonding primer on both sides of the wall seams and let it dry for at least four hours. You need to fill the seams in with spackle, and it will stick better to the primer than to the vinyl.

Press spackle into the seams with a small 4-inch trowel. Fill the seams, and then thin it out on either side. Let the material dry for two to four hours.

Sand the spackle smooth with a 220-grit fine sandpaper.

Paint the entire wall with the primer, covering the panels and the spackled seams. Use a paint roller on the large part of the walls, painting up and down in long even strokes. Use a paintbrush along the top and bottom of the walls, so that you can control the paint and keep it from getting on the base boards or ceiling. Let the primer dry for a full day. If the wall has a pattern that is showing through, paint another layer of primer to cover it. When the primer is dry, paint the walls in the same manner as you did with the primer.