Old houses, man. Always fun. Always exciting! Always full of crap you're trying to do away with. Hence the covering popcorn ceilings with planks.
Popcorn ceilings – who, who, WHO thought you'd be a good idea? I don't appreciate your or your chunky nature. I don't appreciate the goo and dust that gets stuck on you and is impossible to clean up. I don't appreciate the 40 years of build up you've enjoyed on your surface thus far. And I certainly don't enjoy the flakes of goodness you leave on my floors every time something touches you. This is a house that people actually live in. Things get touched, yo.
And so it is with great excitement and no remorse that I proceed forth in covering up your filth. I shan't be scraping you off – because you most likely have asbestos amongst your awesomeness. And frankly that's too messy for me. Rather, I shall be covering you with pine planks.
No muss. No fuss. No more popcorn. Unless it's real, organic popcorn drizzled in butter and sea salt. I love that kind.
Covering Popcorn Ceilings
We knew this would be a fairly early project in our home renovation list of priorities and when the floor refinisher advised us to take care of it before he showed up to refinish the floors, well, that pushed it even higher up the priority list. It made sense – he didn't want heavy ladders, sawdust, and bits of ceiling flaking off onto his beautifully, redone wood floors. I get it. We went round and round with what to do. Scrape? No. Tin tiles? No. 1×6″ boards? No. All had perks and all had major deterrents – cost being one of the biggest. Eventually, we landed on super lightweight pine planking that is available (and inexpensive!) from our local hardware store. Lowes. Home Depot. Most any store like that. Right off the shelf – Hallelujah!
It was important to me, as these things are, that the ceiling fit the feel of the house that we're creating. French Farm Cottage. Is that a thing? It is now. And the planked look of the ceiling is both clean, fresh, and yet beautifully rustic and old feeling. I'm in love. Thankfully, only the dining room and the office had said popcorn ceilings, so it was only 2 rooms we needed to address. The rest of them are beautiful plaster work and I'm happy to let them stay as-is. At least for now – I'll be the first to admit, the texture and feel of this ceiling work has captured my heart! Layer on the luscious, baby.
Equipment:
– EverTrue Edge V-Grove Pine Planking:
These planks comes in pack of 6, 8 foot pieces – enough to cover 14 square feet. The price is around $11 per package. We found that most of the wood was actually fairly straight and cut well, but we did have a few ‘cull' boards. Purchase a few more packages than necessary to save yourself from running to the store again! Also, the wood planking is very, very thin and lightweight. Great for putting up! But also a bit difficult to deal with because it's inexpensive (read: cheap) and flimsy. Patience is a virtue, they tell me… prepare yourself!
– Liquid Nails:
Not ‘necessary' but also, sorta necessary. Because we're covering up up an uneven surface, the liquid nails helps to adhere the board to that funky bit of surface that it does actually come in contact with.
– Finish Nails
– Brad Nailer
– Air Compressor
– Ladders/Scaffolding
– Chop Saw
The Process:
I'll venture out and say that covering popcorn ceilings with planks is a fairly straightforward and easy process – as much as any home renovation project can be, I suppose. That being said, I'm still super glad that Stuart took the reigns and was able to get it all started. Because locating studs and joists is not my forte. I've got strengths. Anything like this is not one of them.
Locate the ceiling joists. You'll want to know which way and where they run so that you can intentionally nail into them. Ya know – if the planks staying up on the ceiling is important to you.
Pull out that first plank, baby! And give it a wee bit of Liquid Nails encouragement on the backside.
Utilizing a ladder or scaffolding, have one person hold the board up on the ceiling while the second nails it into place. This central board should run across multiple ceiling joists. Nail at easy joist. The wood has grooves – so the tongue of one board fits into the groove of the next. Once that central board is up, all you've gotta do is keep clicking the boards into place, cutting as necessary to fit your space. Stuart worked a pattern in the ceiling so it would look ‘normal', meaning all the seams didn't line up in a straight line like they would have if I did it. We worked a 2-row pattern over and over to create a nice, “professional” look. Truthfully, I just did what the man told me to do – measuring and cutting as he instructed.
I can follow instructions. Sometimes.
The pattern was simply repeated until the ceiling was filled! It took awhile. Certainly not a ‘quick' project, but once we got the hang of it and found our own groove we cruised through it pretty quickly. Which was good. Because the floor guy was supposed to show up at 8:00 am the next morning. And this was all done the night before.
Whoops.
Better, no? Yes. Of course it's better. What kind of ridiculous question is that!
After the ceiling was planked, and we were at the depths of exhaustion, we still needed to paint it. Because the thought of paint dripping on my newly refinished wood floors made me want to cry – even if it was the beautiful Revere Pewter that I'm still slathering over every single surface in the house. I wanted to keep a clean, continuity between the walls and the ceilings so we painted the planked ceiling the same color. I love the result. Staining the wood would have completely clashed with the fir flooring. That was a no-go. Plus, I wanted it to feel cottagesque. Not cabineesque. If you get my drift.
The Cost:
Wood: 26 packages of planked boards @ $11.23 each = $291.98
Glue: 10 tubes of Liquid Nails @ $7.25 each = $72.50
Nails: $0, already had
Brad Nailer: $0, borrowed from my Dad (Hey Dad!)
Air Compressor: $0, borrowed from my Mom (Just kidding, it was from my Dad).
Paint: $40
Total Cost for both rooms: $404.48
The Finished Product:
WOWZA! Isn't it beautiful in all it's French Country Cottage Farm-esque appeal? The answer is yes. Yes, it is beautiful!
I can't show you the entire room yet. Because it's not finished. And by not finished, I mean currently, it's completely empty because we had to move all of the furniture to have the floors refinished. But as of today, the goods can be put back in place, so there's a final post coming! For now, you'll have to be appeased by this gorgeous ceiling in all it's non-popcorn glory.
Covering popcorn ceilings with planks, yo. It may be my new favorite transformational project.
Viva la cottage!
And Amen.
Eloise
Lovely! Every wall in my house was horrifyingly textured with plaster to cover up what I imagine was an even more horrifying wallpaper from the 70’s…think of the frosting swirl on a cupcake and that’s what ALL of my walls look & feel like. Do you think this product would work well for walls?
Shaye Elliott
Yes!
Lisa @ Farmhouse on Boone
I absolutely love it! But what does one do about crown molding?
Melissa
Looks so good!!! Great job y’all!!!
Megan
I love seeing and reading about the renovation of your home. My heart practically skips a beat when I see a new post! Great choice to add visual interest with painted ceiling planking.
Nancy L
I love how it turned out! Looks like a lot of work…good thing you guys are young!! 😉 I’ve never understood popcorn ceilings either. This looks like a wonderful way to fix them!
lyn moon
I’m with you. Who in the world thought popcorn ceilings were a good idea. I think it was a lazy way of covering up the ceilings back then. When we built our house in the 80’s of course that’s what went on the ceilings. Years later we painted the ceiling in the kitchen. The next morning we awoke to large sheets of popcorn ceiling on the floor. That was fun. We scraped and painted. Even more fun. And messy. Through the years we’ve covered up the popcorn. We used sheets of beadboard. And no scraping involved. They look fantastic now. Speaking of fantastic, your plank ceiling looks wonderful. I know you love it.
Heidi
It looks great, Shaye! 🙂 Excited to see the finished product!
Catherine
Thanks for the photos. This is my favourite type of ceiling finish. It just makes the room more cosy and definitely french. I have considered the wall and ceiling in the same colour as well, but not many people do it, so I will look forward to the next post. Im just waiting to sell my house then Im doing what your doing! I’ll also purchase your cookbooks to go with the farm. You are a big inspiration.
Lori
Ooh this will be fun to watch! I live in…. a French farmhouse, in France, yes! You are brave, undertaking all of this while pregnant. But just know that we are all enjoying the process with you!
Janet
We’ve scraped those popcorn ceilings before—in our daughter’s house, 1200sf. It gets everywhere, an awful mess.
Your planked ceiling looks great.
Are you going to chalk paint cabinets again??? I’ve wondered how they held up, because I’ve got to do something.jh
Peacock Orchard
I do love the planked ceiling. I’ve thought about doing it myself. I did lay our hardwood floors so it’d be a breeze. I don’t have popcorn ceilings though. So no rush! Until the day I plank my ceilings I’ll just enjoy looking at yours!
Jennifer
Can’t wait to see a picture of the finished room! We are currently contemplating what to do with the popcorn ceilings in our vaulted and angled living room (ug!). This option may be it!
Susanne
One question……do your other rooms have popcorn ceiling? I am so overwhelmed because they are in my entire house! I am afraid to change one room and doing the whole thing is so intimidating. I have not scraped because of the asbestos issue too. I have fooled myself for years into thinking no one really noticed the ceiling – haha!
Scewilla Elliott
I love this idea & look. Yes to the French Farm Cottage look.
Banna
Just a couple of questions…(Maybe I missed it)
Why nails instead of screws? (Nails tend to pop out after time)
Why not paint the wood before putting it up? (Less messy, easier on the back)
These questions from an old timer. lol.
Shaye Elliott
Yes to both, Banna! 🙂 That would’ve been awesome. It’s very lightweight though so the nails don’t seem to be posing a problem.
Jo
How did you not disturb potential asbestos??
Kathy
What a wonderful idea! So beautiful!
Angela
I love this idea! We just bought an old farmhouse in the country to start our own little homestead. This idea is definitely going on my Pinterest board. 🙂 I can’t wait to see the whole room!
Sarah
Great idea! We have popcorn ceilings, and when I bemoaned its aesthetic to my husband, he couldn’t see where the fire was. He actually LIKED it. So there goes trying to sell him on the time and expense and hassle to get rid of it. We have a 60s ranch, I’m not sure that planking it over would work with the style, but that totally works for a farm house! Maybe I should just play up the popcorn and blow glitter up there…
Kelly @ montanahappy.com
I love this idea. It’s perfect and actually adds so much value to the home and it’s relatively inexpensive. Thanks for posting the details.
Teresa
Looks amazing!! Quick question – why didn’t you paint the boards before you put them Up? Wouldn’t that have been easier? I only ask because I am planning on doing the same thing and have to work around furniture that is too big to move.
Jacob
I was in the same situation because I had popcorn ceilings…it took me about 4 days to scrape and paint everything for me and my wife. We had so much mess and trashes were all over the place…don’t want to even remember that mess 🙂 Great article!
Monique
Maybe I missed it…
Where did you purchase your packages of planked wood? I’m a skimmer when it comes to reading.
So you have a link?
Thanks!
Kat
This was one of the best DIY instructives that I’ve read, so thanks! Looks like it is equal or possibly less time and trouble then popcorn removal with exponentially better outcome.
Does one need to leave a small gap between wood and wall as you do with hardwoods for expansion?
Cynthia
How many total square feet did you cover? Also if I want to white wash before I put up do you think that is okay, I see you painted after you put up.
Leora
Hi, cool post. How do you not disturb the asbestos when you’re applying the planks? Seems like between sliding it in and nailing it up there would be dust created.
Laura
Thank you for sharing! This is exactly what my newly acquired fixer forest home needs! I can’t wait.