The ceiling is often called “the fifth wall” in painting. Many people paint their walls and then completely forget about the ceiling. It’s easy to forget about if it’s not in disrepair or some bright color. Your ceiling is probably white or some shade of off-white. That will likely work for any type of home decor, but rarely does it pop with your walls. If you’re painting your walls, you should paint your ceiling as well. Some people choose to paint the ceiling the same color as the walls; however, that could make the room feel a little bit like a box. That feeling is lessened if the ceiling is textured. The real concern that people have is the difficulty of painting a ceiling. It’s a little more complex than painting a wall but definitely within the grasp of most DIYers.
Mise En Place
Chefs talk about “mise en place” before they start cooking. It means getting everything in its proper place before they begin. For a chef, that means their knives, ingredients, and so on. For someone painting the ceiling, you need to prepare. You need drop cloths, painter’s tape, a paint roller, paint pans, an extended arm for your roller, a brush, and enough paint to easily cover the ceiling in at least two layers. You need to set all of that out before you begin.
Remove all of the furniture from your room. Lay down the drop cloths and tape them over the baseboards. Do the same to any molding near the ceiling. You could also tape drop cloths over the walls to prevent any drips. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to load your roller and get started.
Start Painting
To start, you should first paint in a few inches from the corner of the ceiling. Getting an even coat with a roller into a corner is incredibly difficult. Do it with a brush and then use the cleaned brush to feather out the coat of paint so it blends nicely. Then, you want to roll the paint on with the roller in parallel lines. To paint a wall, it’s often recommended to use a V or a W shape. For a ceiling, paint in straight parallel lines. Paint towards yourself but don’t go over your head.
Use even pressure and don’t try to stretch the paint. That could cause uneven coats. You also should not change cans of paint in the middle of the wall. Before you begin, make sure that each can has enough paint for the entire coat.