Ahh, popcorn ceilings. Why were they ever a thing? They are generally considered ugly and out of style. So, I have rounded up five ways to cover popcorn ceilings that we have tried in our home!
Our entire house had popcorn ceilings when we moved in. They were NOT asbestos and were put up in the mid 1990s. If your house is older, be sure to test to see if your popcorn has asbestos for your own safety.
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We have done everything that you can imagine to our popcorn ceilings - scraped, hired them out, drywalled, and covered with a statement ceiling. Each has it's pros and cons!
Ways to cover popcorn ceilings
Popcorn ceilings can instantly make a space look dark, dingy, and dated. There are several options for removing popcorn from your ceiling. Here are a bunch of ways that we have tried and written tutorials for!
The default idea for covering popcorn ceilings is to actually remove them. Scraping popcorn ceilings off is definitely the most budget-friendly option.
However, it is very labor-intensive and very very messy. If you plan to scrape your popcorn ceilings, please read this post for tips and tricks.
The best way to get the most perfect finish for your ceilings is by hanging new drywall over your existing popcorn ceilings.
We don't have experience drywalling or mudding, so we hired this project out.
Drywall definitely gave us the best smooth ceiling results, but it was very expensive.
Check out this post to read more about the process of drywalling over popcorn ceilings!
If you want to cover popcorn ceilings yourself without messing with drywall, you might want to consider covering them with beadboard.
Beadboard is relatively inexpensive and available at hardware stores.
We did purchase a nail gun for this project, but we have gone on to use it for a ton of other projects, too!
If you want to cover your ceilings with beadboard, check out this blog post!
My favorite way that we have covered popcorn ceilings is by hanging a coffered ceiling.
This included a grid shape made from beadboard and molding.
It's a really do-able DIY and turned the ceiling from an eyesore to a statement piece!
You can also use tongue and groove planking to easily cover a popcorn ceiling. Here's how we added a cedar plank ceiling!
Have you covered or removed popcorn ceilings in your home? How did you do it?
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Hello, I'm Morgan, half of the creative force behind CharlestonCrafted.com! With a passion for DIY that dates back to 2012, I've transformed three homes and now I'm dedicated to helping others craft their dream spaces. Let's turn your house into a home together!
Carol Pendergrass says
We hired a guy to scrape our popcorn ceiling in the kitchen. When he got there, he gave us another solution... he actually applied “mud” over the popcorn ceiling to smooth it out. He had to come back to do a second coat several days later. It looks great! We didn’t know this process was possible!
Morgan says
That is so interesting, I have never heard of that option! I bet it is less expensive than new drywall, too!