Saturday, June 20, 2015

Painting Popcorn Ceilings

Two summers ago, we installed some window air conditioners. Yay for cool, dry air!

Did you know that when you install a window unit, it needs to be angled, ever-so-slightly so that it drains to the outside? Small, tiny detail. Super, duper important.

Ok, so water drained onto the wooden floor. It then dripped onto the ceiling in our dining room and then the ceiling looked like this.



And a closer look (with some of the ugly wallpaper still attached to the wall):



It just looks so fantastic, I'm sure the next owners of the house want this fantastically decorated ceiling, don't you think so?

Our realtor said the popcorn ceilings are fine. We agree. So, the next step was to paint. We decided on using Kilz, and the results are AMAZING! Here are some pictures of applying the first coat. The trick to painting popcorn ceiling in four easy steps:

  1. Use a paint roller meant for use on heavy texture
  2. Only roll in one direction (I'd suggest starting along the edge and then working inward)
  3. You get two passes, maybe three, until the popcorn starts falling on your head
  4. Let it dry for at least 6 hours (ideally overnight) before trying to apply another coat




Here is that beautiful stain after the first coat of paint:


Here's a panorama of the whole ceiling after the first coat:



Here's the water stain after the second coat of paint:


 Since there were still signs of the water damage, I put a third coat over the areas that were stained:


Your obligatory before and after shots:


We also painted the popcorn ceiling in our foyer/entrance way. It wasn't nearly as dramatic, so there are no photos. However, the newly painted ceilings make a huge difference, it makes everything so much brighter!

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