We just moved into a 27-year-old saltbox-style home. The living room, dining room, and loft area (two bedrooms and a bathroom)are all paneled with no drywall or other medium underneath. Some of it is painted and some is wallpapered. I would love to replace it all with drywall and paint it, but I'm afraid that will be expensive, time-consuming, and messy.

We're expecting a baby in September and I would at least like to tear down the dark paneling in the baby's bedroom. Any suggestions for a replacement for the paneling? I'm very concerned about the excessive dust in the baby's room from installing drywall. I'd rather not just cover it with wallpaper, because the paneling doesn't provide any insulation from noise in the bathroom. However, I have heard of a thin covering you can put over paneling and then cover with wallpaper. If this is the best solution, I would consider it.

Any suggestions?

I haven't priced drywall in quite sometime, however I wouldn't think drywalling one bedroom would be very expensive or time consuming. As for the dust, heck you've got until September to clean up the mess which you'll want cleaned up prior to painting anyway.

Another option you might consider is pulling up the paneling and placing insulation of some kind (fiberglass, foam, etc.) between the studs then re-install the paneling, this would afford you some amount of sound proofing.

What ever you do, better get busy before baby arrives, you won't have any spare time after September! Good luck.