ceiling

DYI Knock Down Popcorn Ceiling

 Did you know that with a some Planning, Perseverance, Patience and Plaster (no…really joint compound) a couple of People can replace a Popcorn ceiling with a  knock-down texture!

Now… I love popcorn as much as the next person…….

 BUT….NOT

on the ceiling!

and sadly most of the rooms at Sweetwater still have popcorn textured ceilings.

A couple of years ago….Mr. S and I did a knock-down ceiling in one of the guest bedrooms.

After a few Laurel and Hardy Moments…
You know the quote…. “Here’s another NICE mess you’ve gotten me into.”

 The project turned out to be a success!
The Master Bedroom ceiling had a pretty big crack in the corner….we think the roofers had a dance party up on the roof when they reshingled the house a couple of  years ago!
We knew we should tackle doing the knock down in this room…

Well…for the last week we have been scraping and painting and spraying and troweling and now it is DONE!
If you are looking for a instructions for redoing your popcorn ceiling….this is NOT that…
There are lots and lots and lots of websites to do that…(how do you think we learned what to do?)  At the end of this post I will  link to some of the sites that have great directions for doing the removal of the popcorn and the process for the knock down.  
This post is to show you that if Mr. S and I can successfully remove and replace the popcorn ceiling in a room…YOU CAN DO IT too!

Basically, there are 4 steps to the process!
 Sounds simple….sounds like a quick job….how hard can it be?
Well….it is a little harder and a lot more time consuming than you might think!

Look at the mess from scraping the ceiling!

 WHAT WE LEARNED!

  1. Totally empty the room you are working in…..there is NO way you can work around furniture….this is a messy, messy project!

2.  Take your time….each step is messy….we did one step each day.
3.  Clean up as you go… the time spent getting rid of the mess from each step made it seem less over-whelming.  
A roll of brown paper protects the wall from the overspray!
4.  Take time with room prep for each step….masking tape, sheets and paper are your friends! And don’t forget a wet sponge and Goof Off for little mistakes!
This is me….up to my elbows adding water to the texture!

5. Follow the directions in the tutorial you choose….we thought that the recipe for the spray used too much water…we used less…it wouldn’t spray…so we needed to add more water to the mix after the fact…a messy time suck!

Aren’t I just a fashion queen?!!

 The ceiling looks great….the room has a fresh coat of paint….the carpet is shampooed!
Now we just need to move the furniture back and we are done…done…done!

Was it worth it?
Absolutely!
We probably saved more than 2/3 the cost of hiring this done…
We had more than a few laughs….
The ugly cracked ceiling is repaired…
The windows and woodwork got washed!
I suppose we could have spent the same number of hours
and dollars going out on the town….
but hey…I am a cheap date!!!

Mr. S kept track of our expenses and here is a break-down:

Sprayer Rental…$51.00
Sheet rock mud…$12.00 plus another $5 for supplies to repair ceiling
Room Paint………$74.63                                  
Ceiling Paint……… $44.54  
Roller pads, tape, masking paper, sanding pads etc…. $69.49
Now a little disclaimer….at Sweetwater we do have an abundance of tools from lots of other DYI projects…so we didn’t have to buy them for this one!

Now….if YOU really want to try this…here is the tutorial we used as a reference!
This guy knows his stuff….

The How to has it all….tips, tools, materials, supplies!
Oh…and another thing I learned in this process….when the dust was falling…
and I didn’t have a scarf or hat on….I saw what my hair would look like if I went totally grey!  Not happening soon!!!
Have a Great Day…and I would love to hear from anyone who has had this done professionally….just curious if we really saved money with out DYI!