Painting a ceiling may seem like a daunting task, but with a few simple tools and a lot of care, it can be pretty quick and painless. You can change the look of a whole room in a short while with just a little effort.
Instructions
1. Choose a paint color first. Of course, white is the traditional color, but more and more people are using ceiling color as a contrast or accent to their wall colors. You can browse color swatches in your local hardware store, or go online to try out a color on a virtual room (see Additional Resources).
2. Estimate the amount of paint you will need for the job. Figure out the square footage of your ceiling. One gallon of paint covers about 350 square feet of wall. Note, if you are painting over a color, and/or painting over textured wall, you will need nearly double the amount of paint for second coats.
3. Gather and/or buy the paint and painting supplies including paint rollers, painters tape, a drop cloths, plastic tarp, a ladder and primer paint, if needed. If you are painting a new coat of the same color on your ceiling, you will not need a primer. But if you are changing colors, you will need to use a primer.
4. To apply primer, follow all the steps below using primer first, wait for the primer to dry, and then follow the steps using paint.
5. Move your furniture to the center of the room and cover the furniture with drop cloths. Put a plastic tarp on any exposed floor. When painting a wall, you need to tarp only the edges of the walls, but when painting the ceiling, every part of the floor is exposed to drips and drops.
6. Use a damp cloth or a vacuum cleaner attachment to wipe/suck the dust off the ceiling. Use painter's tape along the top of the walls to avoid smearing paint from the ceiling on the walls.
7. Set up the ladder. Fill a painting tray with paint. Put the tray on the ladder shelf and climb the ladder. Submerge the roller in paint, roll back and forth to saturate the foam and wipe off any excess primer to avoid dripping.
8. Roll the brush on the ceiling in small sections. Don't paint all the way to the edge with the roller, you will want to use a smaller brush closer to the walls. Replenish the paint as necessary. Spread the paint evenly, using an X-type motion to avoid uniform striping, which can look unfinished.
9. Once you are finished painting with the roller, take a smaller brush and paint all the way to the edge of the ceiling.
10. Wait for the paint to dry completely. When the paint is totally dry, you can A) apply color paint if your first coat was a primer; B) apply a second coat; or C) take down the tape and admire your newly painted ceiling.
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