Goodbye Popcorn Ceiling

As I've mentioned numerous times, our home was built in 1970. When we moved in, I vowed I would be changing all of the ceilings that had the popcorn acoustic texture on them. We have lived here for almost 33 years and I just finished knocking off the last one. 

Because I want you to share my agony in doing it and my joy in having it done, I am going to share my experience with you.

Here is what I started with. I really don't know where the term popcorn came from. It actually looks like "large curd cottage cheese" to me. It is awful.....whatever it is. It is impossible to keep clean. Cobwebs get stuck in it. If you ever let a pecan pie boil over in your oven and the house gets smokey.....it goes to your ceiling to live.

Here is the last one in our home. It is located in what we call the den--where the desk and computer reside. This room is right off of our front door and entry hall. What an awful way to greet guests.......

First, the oak trim came down with hubby's help. Notice the old hunter green wall paint that is going away too.

Then I got to work...First I filled an old squirt bottle with water and squirted my work area, (while on a ladder, of course).
 

Then I used a putty knife to scrape the texture off. There is a knack to this. You don't want to scrape so deep that you go all the way to the sheet rock. If you do that, your ceiling will require first a skim coat and then a coat of new texture. I wanted to leave some of the texture there, just not the heavy "cottage cheese."

Here is a lovely shot of me doing the job.  Glasses or goggles keep the stuff from falling in your eyes and a mask is in order.  If you are like me and still have hot flashes, your glasses will continue to fog up.  And, did I mention how bad your neck and shoulders will hurt from continually working over your head.  I am sooooo glad I do not do this for a living.

That is what I looked like and this is what the floor looked like. I was getting new carpet so I just let it fall on the old carpet. In previous rooms, I've held a trash can to catch the stuff, but not this time!

Here is what progress looked like......

I had to mist and scrape, vacuum down, then damp mop, yes mop the ceiling. The dust just kept coming. After all of that, I primed the entire ceiling with Zinsser Primer. This stops the dust from falling and gives the new texture or spackle something to stick to.


Then I began putting a spray texture on in a random pattern. I had been assured that the can of spray texture that I bought was new and improved, but low and behold when I was 3/4 done, it clogged and refused to spit forth any more texture. I was left to my own devises with a can of spackle. I did my best to give the ceiling a random, what I call, a "knocked down," unexpected look. After that, I again took my putty knife and scraped all over lightly. I did not want to have any little "hangy down balls"....


When I was as happy as I could be with my texture job. I again vacuumed the ceiling and then painted the ceiling with two coats of flat white paint. The flat paint hides a lot of imperfections. Then I painted the hunter green walls with two coats of Sherwin Williams Tavern Taupe, which I love. Here is a picture of the progress. 

The new carpet arrives this week so I will finish giving this room a fresh new look and let you get a peek later.


Oh, and while I was working in this room, I left hubby unattended and he started tearing out the floor in the utility room and downstairs bathroom..........Oh My!!!

Kandy