Hi all!

I wanted to pick the collective brain here on if, and how much, textured ceilings are ok in a craftsman bungalow.

alas--We've got the classic 60's era popcorn, and we kind of need it.

It comes down easy, and isnt asbestos--but it hides some pretty bad ceiling problems.

So--what to do?

1) Any theories as to whether textured or untextured makes a room feel larger? This is sorta a touchy-feely question, but we have TINY rooms, and would consider tackling the repairs IF we gained a sense of space. Anything to make our rooms feel larger...

2) Barring that option, the historical question:

We currently have smallish popcorn for ceilings. Our house is cape codish with a classic craftsman interior.

It seems flats ceiling were the norm in the craftsman era (though not so much for the tudor types).

But, if the repairs are too much to handle--what texturing if any WAS done in the craftsman era?

3) Anybody hit on a relatively pleasing texture that while not accurate historically fits reasonably?

any advice, texture rants, commiseration is much appreciated!

-jim

I'm no expert on this subject. But, I can tell you that 3 rooms in our 1928/1928 bungalow have original textured ceilings (and walls, for that matter). Even the insides of the built-ins have these textures. One room has a "swirl" pattern to it, one looks as though it were applied with a very thick roller (lumpy), the third is a "venitian plaster" type of texture. I like the character it gives each room. My only complaint is that they can be a little more work to paint (have to really work the paint in).

How about papering them? There are some really nice paintable wallpapers out there that mimic tin panels and even texturing. Or go with the real thing (which is more costly), another idea is bead board. You can do the board by board version or the plywood version. With the lines running in the right direction you could get the feeling of more space too.
tanya

I just had popcorn removed and retexturing done on a small upstairs office room in my bungalow. For my money, smoother looks more spacious (though it's more of a height issue in my room). Note that original plaster, even if "flat," was not dead smooth but had a sort of sand texture (someone told me to look inside closets--on walls it gets more levelled out by many coats of paint, and indeed it's very clear to feel inside my linen closet). Professionals who do plaster work (either by spray or hand)can put in any texture you want, and should have samples. If you're doing it by hand you can mix special sand in with your paint or primer. Anyway, they make great stuff for patching cracks now--but the professional did a far better job than I could have done, as witness the walls in a hall I tried myself a couple of years ago!

The texture may not be sand. Our walls have this finish too and since we opened up several spots last summer I had to figure out what it was when we patched it back up. The texture is just a little wet plaster, very lightly brushed over the wall with a sponge. Here is a link to my blog post about what we did:
Artistic Success

i'm not sure how politically correct this is, but in a former house that had a really bad ceiling, we scraped the popcorn and put up drywall to cover the badly damaged original plaster. we lost a bit of ceiling height, but it wasn't bad.

if you're going to do something that isn't appropriate to the time period, smooth painted drywall would be fairly unobtrusive. lumpy bumpy popcorn doesn't look good in any house, period.

We have that stuff in our 1914 Craftsman--entryway/sitting room, living room and dining room.. Because all the other walls in these 3 rooms have been covered over with drywall (we still have the original plaster upstairs in the hallway and in 2 of the bedrooms), we're assuming the ceiling is drywall as well.

The other day I got on a stepladder and sprayed a portion and it came right off so we plan on getting rid of it.

One of the things I detest the most about that textured ceiling is how dirty it gets and looks... I'm sure this is just my personal opinion but it does nothing to enhance the look of the room as far as I'm concerned!

There are many different ceiling applications. In new construction we use a technique called "knock-down" which produces a textured look that hides imperfections, but still feels relatively smooth to the touch. This can be done in patterns such as starbursts etc. Not sure how historically accurate this may be, but definitely much better than popcorn. Most experienced drywall companies can do this relatively inexpensively.

I also like ChynaElizabeths idea of the celing paneling. May be slightly pricey for an entire home, but would look great in a nook or kitchen. Check out http://www.armstrong.com/resclgam/na/ceilings/en/us/ far a nice selection made by Armstrong. There are a number of places that sell the tiles made from wood/plastic/metal etc. out there.

This technique may help you:

When we bought our 1925 bungalow, our bedroom walls were a mess...peeling wallpaper here, bare drywall there. I wanted a smooth plastered look.

I ended up doing a skim coat of joint compound over all the walls. I worked it smooth with a trowel; I misted the troublesome areas with water from a trigger-spray bottle and gently troweled until it looked right.

The walls are not entirely smooth, and there were some ultrafine pinholes where air had bubbled up, but once primed and painted they looked great, and three years later they still do.

I'm working on our living room right now; peeling all the paint off the window frames, mantle and bookcases. I'll do the skimcoat trick on walls and ceiling before staining the woodwork. I plan on doing the ceiling on scaffold, lying on my back. Kind of like Mike did in the Sistine Chapel!

Mo