How to Restore a Canvas Ceiling With Painting

Paint canvas ceilings with ceiling paint.

If you live in a home that has a canvas ceiling, then you may be wondering what you can do to freshen the color and the look of the canvas. Canvas is a sturdy fabric that sometimes is used as decorative ceiling art in older homes. You can use a wide variety of paints on a canvas ceiling --- including acrylic craft paints --- but for the purpose of giving the ceiling a finished, fluid look, use ceiling paint.

Things You'll Need

• Drop cloth
• Safety goggles
• Stepladder
• Assistant
• Painter's tape
• Ceiling paint
• Screwdriver
• Paint stick
• Paint tray
• Paint roller
• Extender for paint roller

Instructions

1. Spread a drop cloth across the floor to catch drips of paint.

2. Put on goggles and set up a stepladder. Climb up on the stepladder --- asking an assistant to hold it in place --- and run painter's tape along the trim adjacent to the ceiling to protect the trim from paint splatters and smudges.

3. Open the ceiling paint with a screwdriver, propping up the cover of the can and carefully removing the cover. Mix the ceiling paint with a paint stick and pour it into the paint tray.

4. Connect a paint roller to an extender and mush the roller gently into the paint. Roll the roller over the moguls on the tray to release the paint.

5. Roll the paint onto the canvas panels, using slow back-and-forth motions until the entire panel is coated with a single color of paint. Allow the ceiling paint to dry.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep in mind that you also can restore a canvas ceiling panel with acrylic craft paints. This works especially well if your panels have designs on them. If this is the case for you, squeeze acrylic craft paints onto a palette and use artists' paintbrushes to do the detail work.

Resources

• Create at Home: Painted Canvas Wall Art