About Ceiling Textures

From tiles to custom texture, the ceiling of a room needs to get all the attention it deserves. One of the good things about ceiling texture is that the do-it-yourself homeowner can create her own design. With a basic understanding of drywall, anyone can create a ceiling texture to suit his or her needs or desires. Swirling, stamping, blowing and sponging are just a few ways to create ceiling texture.

Expert Insight

If you are removing an existing texture, try a wide drywall knife with rounded corners and a spray bottle with water to loosen it up. Afterward, let it dry and you are ready to apply a texture creation all your own. One thing to know about ceiling texture is that the drywall mud used can be thinned with either water or latex paint. This makes it easier to spread and makes it easier to design as you desire.

Effects

Ceiling texture effects range from simple to elegant. The most common is the "popcorn" texture that is sprayed on with a paint gun and a hopper. This gives the room a neutral effect, which allows for many different wall textures and colors. A sponge-on texture is much thicker than popcorn and takes more time to apply. However, the result is different from the neutrality of popcorn texture. In addition to these, a whisk broom with stiff straw bristles used in a light, sweeping motion will add a different effect than the others mentioned.

Features

In days gone by, gold flakes were added to "popcorn" ceiling texture to give it a night-sky feature. While you may not run across this feature anymore, there are new features that set the ceiling into the atmosphere of the room. Features range from tiles that can be secured to the existing ceiling where the light fixture or ceiling fan is to simply dress up the ceiling and draw attention to the fixtures.

Identification

Knowing what ceiling textures will work for any given room can be a little tricky. Especially if you don't know they exist. Research on ceiling textures is as close as the Internet. Here will you will find styles, designs, whole ceiling kits. Learn the difference between slap brush and orange peel and how to apply them to your ceiling as well. Knock down texture requires a few steps to do properly, but learning to identify ceiling textures is the first step to actually applying it to your home.

Type

This is where the rubber meets the road, or the mud meets the ceiling, as is our case. The types of ceiling texture are numerous, with more being added as technology improves. By using the same texturing method on the ceiling as you would walls, you are at the precipice of a potential discovery. Realizing that swirl, knock down and sand textures are already in use, anyone with an imagination can create another type. Cottage cheese, splatter and Spanish knife all hint at the visual effect that each type represents.