Matching old pine paneling

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JimD

Jim
Senior User
Our great room, where I am right now, is paneled in pine tongue and groove paneling. I am putting a new doorway from this room to the dining room and got a little heavy handed taking the paneling down. It's turned into a huge job because the previous owner just left up the exterior wall (obviously non-load bearing, didn't even touch the ceiling framing) and the brick veneer from what used to be the outside of the house. LOML didn't want a 14 inch thick doorway, and the brick was not helping the heating bills, so the old exterior wall and brick are now gone. Two little walls fill in the ends, a new subfloor spans the gap (quite an ordeal due to different subfloor thickness in the two rooms) and the gap in the drywall at the ceiling is filled and one coat of mud applied. So I'm ready to start applying the pieces I took down and will see how it goes. If I run out, I am confident I can make pieces the same size with the same chamfer detail at the tongue but I am not confident I can get them the same yellow/amber color as the rest of the room.

One solution might be to put a whitewash stain on this wall. The window wall next to it (four large almost floor to ceiling windows) has this stain. We neither love nor dislike it. Even if I have enough paneling, my next job will be to put up a shelving unit with a large center opening for a TV mount. That will be new wood, probably pine. So maybe I should just "pickle" - use a minwax whitewash stain - on the wall too.

Thoughts?
 

gritz

New User
Robert
Take out more paneling where the shelving unit will be and use that. Then either sheetrock the wall behind the shelves or use a panel backing.
You can get those white pine T&G boards easily at many big box stores. Experiment with amber shellac to match the finish.
 
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Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
Most likely your pine paneling was finished with several coats of orange shellac. This was a very commonly used finishing method in the 1930's through 60's for the 3/4" thick true knotty pine board paneling. My family room and kitchen are finished with it. It's very easy to repair, but if using new white pine, it may not match the old boards. I single coat of Minwax Ipswitch pine on the new white wood before applying the orange shellac, will make a huge difference in bringing the colors of the new wood closer to matching the old wood. I've added kitchen cabinet drawers, moved the oven, and raised the fridge opening in my kitchen, and all areas match the old original paneling quite well.

Photo 1 is the new location for the oven. A freezer had once been located here.

Photo 2 is where he oven had been located. The drawers are all new.

Picture 3 shows the raised opening over the refrigerator. It was raised 5 1/2"

Charley
 

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JimD

Jim
Senior User
Thanks Robert and Charley. Charley's pictures look a lot like my room. We also have areas where the former owners hung pictures that are lighter than the surrounding wall. Those are not as noticeable but still a concern. Maybe either tinted shellac or a light coat of stain will help with those too. Thanks again.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
You may just have a dirt film on the wall that's making these spots show. You should first try to clean the walls. Shellac and water don't like each other, but a quick wipe with a cleaner like Fantastic, 409, etc. will remove the dirt without affecting the shellac. DON'T USE ammonia based cleaners. Ammonia will strip the shellac off of the boards.

For the picture areas I would try applying a coat of orange shellac. Then blend the old areas together around the spot and new shellac on the spot using a French Polishing technique.

To do this, wait several days for the new shellac to harden well, then make a buffing pad from soft, lint free jersey fabric. Use a single piece around the outside so the rubbing surface is smooth and rounded about the size of a tennis ball. Hold onto it by the back pieces so the ball part is sticking out of the palm of your hand with your fingers gripping the folded rear part. Wet the pad with DNA and begin lightly rubbing the old shellac areas around the new shellac lightly in small circular and spiral movements and gradually work onto the new shellac. You will need to do this very lightly, adding small amounts of DNA to the pad as it begins to get sticky. The DNA will be dissolving the old shellac on the wall and blending it with the new, so it will be slightly lightening this old area. A careful application of the DNA to the pad and some practice should allow you to blend the two areas together. I practiced on the back side of two knotty pine cabinet doors that had orange shellac on them. The DNA evaporates quickly so you have to work in small overlapping areas, avoiding a dry edge as you work. Don't change the pad. Just keep it wet with DNA until you finish. It will pick up a lot of the shellac as you work, but will be re-distributing it to other areas.

You may need to do the full length of these affected boards to bring the whole board to the same tone, if you can't blend the spot well. A board to board variation is less noticeable than a big picture frame size spot. It takes practice. Do it on a less conspicuous area first like I did with the cabinet doors. If the old shellac on the walls has dulled over the years you may find that the newly treated boards are shinier than the old areas. I managed to blend my dark areas with light using this process, but then I had to let it dry. Then I applied a final coat of orange shellac to the entire wall to give it all the same sheen.

Charley
 

walnutjerry

Jerry
Senior User
I did a china cabinet for a client once that had pine paneling that had developed a patina. I used a maple stain on the new pine and turned out soooooo close you could hardly tell the difference. Play with some stains on the new pine samples and see what works.

Jerry
 
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