Drywall seam repair/coverup

[earthdragon]

I have an old house & the entire upstairs level has horrible seaming at every joint in the drywall-including the ceilings! Nail heads are very prominent. I had purchased some "paint on-roll over" texture, but realized I would be unable to do the entire thing myself, so I returned it.
ANY suggestions as to how to correct/cover the mess would be greatly appreciated! I have to do this all myself, & money is tight too. I'm only 5'4, and being a woman, not as strong as would be helpful for this task! But I am very handy & have done a lot of my renovations myself. I'm not against paneling, but wouldn't panel the ceiling. In one room, the ceiling is only about 4'x17', whereas the other room has much more flat area. Lots of angles up there!
Help anyone! Thanks!

[HayZee518]

nail head need to be driven below the surface, then filled in with compound. if they're screws, the same, turn them slightly below the surface then mud over them. for the joints, if the panels were put up right, the joints are tapered joints. tape should be embedded in the joint and the compound feathered out from the joint a good foot. corners, use paper tape creased into a ninety degree angle and embedded in compound, excess scraped out let dry then re-apply compound and feather out. do this repeatedly in thin real thin layers.

[earthdragon]

Drywall joints

Thanks for the help HayZee. Unfortunately I don't think anything concerning the drywall was done right! I have accepted the fact that I have to remove the old tape, which won't be hard as a lot of it is falling off, and re-tape. I love this website and the helpful people here!