Painting ceilings is super fun.
Said no one ever.
Here are some things to keep in mind when painting a ceiling.
Who knows when this advice might come in handy?
Truth #1: Painting a ceiling is great “me” time.
Need some alone time?
We all do from time to time.
If you need some alone time just ask anyone if they want to help you paint a ceiling.
Poof!
Just like magic, everyone will disappear.
Truth #2: Remember, painting ceilings is super fun.
Just keep repeating this mantra over and over.
If you say it enough times, you might even start to believe it.
If you don’t say it enough, the home improvement gods with smite you.
You’ve been forewarned.
Truth #3: Do yourself a favor and patch ceiling holes before you start painting.
This is a pretty obvious tip. Of course you’re going to patch any big holes. It’s part of why painting ceilings is super fun!
It’s the little holes you think you can get away with not patching that might bite you in the paint roller.
Let’s say that the previous owners let their children thumbtack 300 boy band posters to the ceiling. You might think the paint will fill in those teeny tiny holes and you won’t have to patch 1,200 thumbtack holes.
It might. It might not.
Are you willing to risk it?
That’s what I thought.
Truth #4: I hate to break it to you, but priming might be necessary.
So you had a little water leak that has since been fixed. No biggie, right?
Wrong.
That brown spot on the ceiling is like a pesky rash. If you don’t prime the heck out of it first, it’s going to come back.
I don’t know why water stains bleed through regular paint, but they do. You need a good stain-blocking primer, probably an oil-based one, if you want a fighting chance of covering up that water stain.
It wouldn’t hurt to make a sacrifice to the home improvement gods too.
Truth #5: If you want to ‘level up’ on your ceiling painting game, wait until AFTER you’ve moved in.
Sure, you could paint the ceiling before you’ve moved all your earthly possessions and animal menagerie into your home.
Sure, you could take the time to tape off the light fixtures and move all the furniture out of the room like a practical person before you paint the ceiling.
But where’s the challenge in those scenarios?
Instead, just throw a drop cloth over every single thing in the room. Legos on the floor? No problem. The drop cloth will surely blunt the sting of stepping on one of those hard, plastic instruments of torture.
In any of these scenarios, Murphy’s Law states that if one centimeter of space is left uncovered by the drop cloth, that is where the paint will drip.
Don’t believe me? Go ahead. Tempt Murphy.
Truth #6: This is going to get messy.
You have two choices.
Cover yourself in a hazmat suit or prepare to come out of this ceiling painting experience looking like a speckled Easter egg.
There is a third choice. Between you and me, I think you’re ready to hear this.
It’s called denial.
Just never look up at your ceilings and you’ll never know how much fun you’re missing out on by not painting your ceilings.
In all seriousness though, when you paint your ceilings please wear your glasses. Not only do you need to see what you’re painting, but protecting your eyes from flying droplets of paint is imperative. Safety glasses work too.
Did you notice that piece of orange card stock in the above photograph? If I’m not using a paint roller extension pole for super high ceilings, I like to hold a piece of card stock directly under the paint roller as much as possible to catch the worst of the flying specks of paint. Oh, and my “drop cloth” on this particular day was an old duvet cover.
Also, I opted to use a smaller foam roller for this particular ceiling because that’s what I had on hand and it isn’t as heavy as a normal paint roller. That matters when you are a wimp like me your arm is stuck up in the air for long periods of time.
Truth #7: More is more when it comes to illuminating the ceiling you are painting.
It can be tricky to see where you’ve painted a white ceiling with more white paint when conditions are optimal.
If the lighting is bad and you have a crick in your neck, forget about it.
You don’t want to have to come back and do touchups, so do yourself a favor and make sure your room is well illuminated. It also helps to work in small sections.
If this seems daunting, there is another alternative. Paint your ceiling any color other than white. That IS possible and can be oh, so lovely.
Truth #8: You should have done this a long time ago.
Once you paint your ceiling, you’re going to realize you’ve been living under a dingy scrap of drywall for the last umpteen years.
Possibly one that was dingy AND covered in 1,200 thumbtack holes, but who’s counting?
A freshly painted ceiling is like the perfect accessory you didn’t know your outfit needed until you put it on. It’s going to make the entire room look better!
Have I convinced you yet that painting a ceiling is super fun?
So far, I’ve painted 970 sq. ft. of ceilings in our home.
That means I only have too many, way too many 1,330 sq. ft. more to go.
Yay?
Happy painting!
P.S. If you want a serious ceiling painting tutorial, the folks at Home Depot have one on their website and they should know what they are talking about. I’ll let you guess how many of their tips I followed to the letter.
Well, this has been fun! I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did. Here are some other posts that might tickle your fancy too.
I’m Keeping the Ruby Glass Chandelier (as a nod to the above picture in this post)
Refinishing Wood Chairs Without Using Power Tools (it is possible)
Painted Visor Using a Doily Stencil (I STILL wear this hat. It’s my favorite.)
*affiliate links in this blog post*