First thing was first with the basement: tape anything off that needs to be covered and spray paint the ceilings black. If you read the Basement Planning post than you know we were considering a drop ceiling. In the end this just made more sense. It was a lot less costly and its a look we each like about a thousand times more. Drop ceilings only had one thing going for them: we could have insulated between the floors but it just wasn’t worth it for us.
This is going to be our basement winter bar/our theater room/our great spot for over night guests in the future so, insulating between the floors wasn’t number one on our list. (Unlike if this had ended up a rental suite like my earlier plans.)
I LOVE the look of these old basement ceilings, with their cross beams and rough cut 100 year old timbers, it would have really killed me to cover them up anyway.
Lodi gets ALL of the credit here and, I’ll admit, I’m not the least bit unhappy I missed spray painting black paint over my head! I’ve done my share of spray painting in the past and fully understand how crappy a job it is. I rented a sprayer years ago and spray painted this entire house, ceilings, sheet rock etc.
But though that was a bigger job it definitely paled in comparison to the SUCKAGE that was getting this done.
For one thing the paint sprayer I rented back then was a lot bigger and didn’t require constant refilling or HOLDING 1/4 of a gallon of paint in hand while spraying it. The other thing it was a lot more powerful so I didn’t have to use a ladder at all to even do the ceilings.
On top of that the ceilings I was spray painting were flat… these ceilings are just a nightmare to get into every nook and cranny.
But Lodi got it done and used the new paint sprayer I bought as a treat for myself a few months ago. Honestly though, I wish I had skipped the purchase (though I’ll definitely use it in the future) and just rented a paint sprayer for this job.
In the end he used four gallons of paint and it took him around six hours all together. Despite the crap job though he totally agreed it was worth it.
I love how it made the ceilings just disappear!
I am aware of how crappy the basement looks in these pictures lol we still have a ways to go on this space but I wanted to update you guys on where we were…. or, I should say, where Lodi is on this project!
At this point I haven’t contributed besides my opinion and experience at all!
Lodi stripped the place, cleaned it, taped it off and now has the ceilings complete. In the future I’ll be contributing a lot more – as an essential employee I was working so it just made sense for Lodi to be tackling house projects when he was stuck at home.
I’m still trying to figure out the lighting plan – I’m leaning toward replacing all the bulbs with Edison bulbs and doing something really unique over that florescent light in the middle… or replacing the florescent light completely…
I really think we made the right choice on these old ceilings! Can’t wait to show you guys the Rust-oleum RockSolid Garage Flooring we chose for this space!
Ah, yes. I see what you mean about removing the chimney. It looks seriously easy. In fact, it looks a little like it might fall down! That base is not terribly sturdy looking.
And the black paint does look much better!
Thanks Grace. Yep goodbye chimney is definitely on the bucket list some day!
Wow- ceilings look great! I have a laundry area in my basement & was undecided between black or gray for the ceiling- definitely going with black. Thanks for sharing
Thank you Liz, we’re totally thrilled with how they turned out!
Tarah, my aunt is the only one I’ve ever known to paint a ceiling black. It was many, many years ago and her kitchen, of all things! She had either 9-or 10-foot ceilings, can’t remember, and it looked fabulous! I think you two made a good choice–looks great.
Thank you so much Jean, we were worried when we did it but are SO happy with how it turned out!
What a nice job to have done. It turned out wonderful and I can’t wait to see it after you get it all done.
Thank you Amy!
Looks great! Am curious what type of paint you used? Thanks!
Hi Shelly we used high gloss acrylic paint by Royal – which is Ace Hardware’s brand of paint.