Well, since we finished the roof, I finally decided to start on the living room.  I've wanted to get rid of the wood colored paneling since we bought the house, but once we installed all the flooring and painted every other room in the house, the paneling didn't look quite as bad as I thought.  =)  But now it does again!

Rather than take the paneling out completely, we decided to cut it of at chair rail height, then paint it white and paint the top part of the walls another color (to be determined).  But first, I had to remove all of the trim wood around the doors, windows, bookcase, and built in gun cabinet.  How can one small room have so much trim?!? 

Here are some pics of it in these first three stages of the process.  Next, I have to finish the taping and bedding, then texture the wall, put a coat or two of Kilz on everything, and start painting.  I keep reminding myself that it HAS to look worse before it can look better!  I should be done sometime around Christmas!  =D

After taking off all of the trim...

After Jim cut the paneling to chair rail height...

First coat of joint compound....

More to follow as the project progresses.

Ok, just for fun, here is a short video of Buster feeling sorry for the little puppy (Lady) on "Lady and the Tramp"... what a softee!  LOL!

Sort of like a big brawny guy crying his eyes out watching a chick flick~

We may have to limit his time in front of the tube for his own good!