The DIY coffered ceiling we just put up in our new nursery seriously makes this look like the nicest room in the house. We did another DIY coffered ceiling in our stairwell and hallway last year, but this one did even better, thanks to experience and better products from Woodgrain.
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Thank you to Woodgrain for sponsoring this post. All opinions are our own.
DIY Coffered Ceiling
We partnered with Woodgrain using their Finished Elegance line for this project just like we did with the DIY wainscoting we shared a couple of weeks ago.
This DIY coffered ceiling design was actually fairly easy in the grand scheme of things and way easier than in the stairwell since we didn’t have to balance ladders on the stairs.
love this project? check out all of our nursery projects here!
Here’s how we made our nursery’s DIY coffered ceiling:
The Bead Board
We started by sketching out our ceiling with exact measurements, then cutting 10 squares of bead board to fit. Nine identical squares for our square room and one different for the entry nook.
We attached the squares using construction adhesive and our nail gun. This made it very easy to install.
We had to cut holes for the fan hookup and the air vent, but otherwise, this was an easy process.
It definitely looks worse before it looks better!
Crown Molding
We used Woodgrain’s 5 1/4 inch crown molding all the way around the room. Their molding is flexible and light so it’s easy to handle when you’re trying to nail it in place.
We recommend you start with a long whole piece and work from there. This is easy to just nail into place.
Beams
Woodgrain has this awesome flat molding in various widths (we went with six inches wide) that we used to create faux beams for the coffered ceiling. These butted right up against the crown molding nicely with their flat edge.
We started by doing long beams in one direction, then cutting the appropriately sized short beams to run across the other direction. This created our 10 squares in a ceiling grid pattern.
Finishing
We spent a good amount of time caulking and sanding all the corners, nail holes, and edges to make sure everything looked as seamless as possible.
Woodgrain makes their own color-matched caulk that works great with their pieces of molding. It blends into the color of the crown molding especially well.
Since the bead board was an off white though, we used our HomeRight paint sprayer to give the entire ceiling one coat of an off-the-shelf white.
The Final Product
Look how amazing this ceiling turned out y’all!
This DIY coffered ceiling really wasn’t that hard at all. It took a couple of phases, but we had all the bead board, crown molding and beams up in one day.
It helped that I had cut the bead board pieces the night before. Then we just caulked and sanded during the week and painted when we painted the wainscoting.
Before:
After:
Obviously you’re getting a little sneak peek in these final photos of the fan and wallpaper as well, but we wanted to give you the full effect. I love how much architectural detail this project added to this basic space!
Click here to pin this project to your Pinterest board!
For now, thanks again to our partners at Woodgrain for the amazing products they have that we were able to use for our nursery DIY coffered ceiling. Their Finished Elegance line is great for the DIY home renovation crowd.
The products are really nice, we love that they come finished and how easy they are to cut and work with. We highly recommend Finished Elegance by Woodgrain for your next molding project!
Be sure to click over and check out our Jungle Theme Nursery Reveal!
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Jennifer says
I just saw your video on YouTube. Did you mark out where the joists were in the room and nailed the sheets up attaching at the joist or did you just nail into the sheet rock. I definitely want to give this a try so any additional tips would be great! Also, looking back would there have been something you would have done differently? Is it holding up?
Again thanks so much for providing the content!
Sean says
Hey Jennifer! Thanks for reaching out! We didn’t nail to the joists. We used construction adhesive and the nail gun, shooting nails at opposing angles in each spot, spaced thoroughly across the beam. They are holding up great (I’m sitting underneath them looking at them now!) and look amazing. Definitely one of our favorite projects we’ve ever done! I would say the key thing is making sure your caulking is done well at the intersections of beams. That would be the main thing I would have done. I would have done another, smoother layer if we had had another day before painting, but we were running short on time thanks to the bun in the oven!
LaVonne Paul says
Great job! (you sure made it look easy). Where did you find light weight beadboard panels? My husband has neck issues, so light weight is good….lol. I went to Woodgrain’s site, but only found millwork. Thanks for any info you can share.
LaVonne
Sean says
Hey LaVonne! Glad you like the project. The beadboard wasn’t from Woodgrain. You can get it at Lowe’s or Home Depot. The beams and molding were from Woodgrain. If your husband has a bad back, cutting the beadboard into smaller sections will help!
Suzi says
Do you know how dangerous that popcorn ceiling is? Popcorn is a friable material — meaning it is very easy to damage. Friable asbestos materials release toxic dust at the slightest disturbance. Inhaling asbestos dust is what can lead to serious diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. It should have been removed first because every nail/staple you used caused the dust to filter into your nursery which anyone entering the room will be breathing in. In addition, the ceiling fan and heat/air conditioning will circulate this dust throughout your home. I hope you are able to remove the asbestos in your home before too much damage has occurred.
Sean says
Thanks for the detailed info Suzi from asbestos.com. Our house was built in 1993 and therefore not asbestos (you should test anything built prior to 1980). Thanks for your concern.
Lori says
Hi I love your project. I want to do the same ceiling. Do you have a total as to how much it cost to do the coffered ceiling?
Thank you
Morgan says
Hi Lori! The cost would depend on the size of your ceiling and the tools if you needed to purchase them. This was about $150-200 in supplies. I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Judith says
Hi, I am totally loving your project. How did you cutout the fan and vent areas on your bead boards?
Sean says
We made the bead board piece that would be in that area, then measured over from the wall where those holes would need to be, then just used a jigsaw to cut them out!