I think out of all of the projects we have done, installing new ceilings was hands down the most stressful thing. Ever. As in, we never want to do that again.
We did 2 major things when we moved into this house – replaced the tile flooring with hardwood floors throughout the entire first floor, and gutted the kitchen and put in a brand new one. The old layout of the kitchen was closed off and didn’t make much sense, so we took down a few walls, changed the layout, and added an island. Once we took the walls down, we thought it would be simple enough to patch up the ceilings….but we were very, very wrong. Seeing as the house was built in 1957, it came with the wonderful feature of popcorn ceilings, so trendy! So, we purchased a popcorn ceiling patch kit, which was a fail. Then we got some popcorn ceiling spray, which was an even bigger fail. And then for a few years we said “well let’s just not look up.”
About 9 months ago the ceiling in the hall downstairs randomly cracked and fell apart, leaving a nice odd plaster hole. And then about 3 months after that a water spot began to develop in the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom, which was caused by a plumbing issue on the second floor.
To summarize…..beautiful brand new kitchen, crappy patch jobs in ceiling around the kitchen. Hallway ceiling cracking and falling, and discolored ceilings in main floor bathroom from water damage. Nice.
On top of all of this, my sister got engaged (FINALLY!) and said she wanted the bridal shower to be hosted at my house, which I am really looking forward to putting together. Brett and I decided that with all of this happening, we would splurge and our big project of 2019 would be doing the ceilings. It sounds like a great idea when you say it out loud, like “oooh think about how nice it will be to have clean fresh ceilings and recessed lights!” In reality, the whole project was 3+ weeks of dust and filth and mess and painting and mopping and sweeping and mopping again and wondering if the floors would ever be clean, and many empty threats of moving into a hotel with the girls and the cats.
Note: I did not move into a hotel, and it took about 3 weeks after the ceilings were finished for the floors to truly be clean again.
I am proud to say that most of the work we have done in our house, we have done ourselves. We have only used a contractor very few times, to install the new kitchen, move a gas line and update some electrical work. Everything else we have done ourselves or with the help of our parents and friends. With that said, there was NO WAY I was signing myself up to put in ceilings, so we hired someone. We received a few quotes from contractors, and decided on a local guy in town who recommended that instead of taking the ceilings down, we just go over them with 1/8″ blue board. Less of a mess, and we wouldn’t have to worry about might be up in the ceilings (mice, asbestos, those types of things). To save on cost, my father-in-law and his brother came and cut the holes and ran the electrical for the recessed lights we were installing in the kitchen, hallway, and living room.
We had to totally pack up the entire first floor of the house – move all of the furniture, clear the walls, pack up my 6000 decorative objects, remove the curtain rods and the blinds, and take down every light fixture. It was a lot of fun….
It took the contractors about 2 1/2 days to get the job done. They were great, and I’d 100% recommend them to anyone looking for that type of work. They would work 7am-3pm, and when they’d leave I’d walk around the house crying inside, wondering if this was even worth it. (Not their fault at all, I just wasn’t mentally prepared for how messy this would all be). When they were done they cleaned the floors and sanded down the walls, but the house was a disaster. We knew we would be painting the ceilings ourselves, but did not realize we’d also have to repaint every single room downstairs – I’m talking the kitchen, dining room, front and back hallways, bathroom, office, living room, and stairwell – and we’d have to scrape plaster splatters off the new baseboards and doors and windows. Essentially, it felt like we were moving in all over again, starting from scratch.
I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I got the painting done in about a week. I had to wait 3 days for the ceilings to dry and settle, but after that it was “blackout and paint.” My parents are the best people on this planet, and they took afternoons off to come help me paint after work – we somehow got the ceilings done in one day. I would get home from the gym in the morning and paint for a few hours before work, finishing one section at a time. When I basically cried at the idea of having to paint the living room, the last room to be done, my mom took the day and came to help me finish. Seriously, they are the best.
My husbands’ friend did the rest of the electrical work for us, and he recommended we use these Torchstar lights. Super clean looking and easy to install, we really love them! I also used this opportunity to swap out our kitchen pendants for something that would match a little nicer with the chandelier in the dining room, and secretly waited until they arrived before mentioning them to my husband, oops! Happy wife = happy life, right?
The new lights totally changed the look of the entire kitchen/dining area, and seeing as this is where most people gather when they are in our home, I’m really happy with how they turned out.
Once the ceilings were painted, the lights installed, and the walls were done, I tackled the finishing work: caulking the crown molding in the kitchen, caulking around the new recessed lights, touching up the walls where they meet the ceiling, and my dad installed a few new baseboards on the walls that were redone. Those still need to be sanded and painted and caulked, but that is for another day.
RIP useless boob light Our kitchen today Covered this light in the new ceilings Living room today
It has been about a month since the ceilings were done, and I think I finally have the floors back to their original sheen. I loved our house before we did this, but the ceilings have really made it feel like we have a brand new home, and now when I walk in I love it a little bit more.
