The Different Types of Textured Ceiling Painting

Acoustic

• Acoustic ceiling painting is commonly referred to as “popcorn.” The painter mixes the drywall compound with tiny Styrofoam beads and sprays the mixture onto the ceiling surface. The acoustic popcorn ceiling technique requires special equipment , which you can hire at major hardware stores. It takes skill and experience to use.

Orange Peel

• The orange peel technique is another spray-on application. It has a smoother look than acoustic popcorn ceilings, in that the styrofoam beads are not as closely spaced together and as pronounced. You can think of the orange peel texture as “popcorn lite.” The texture looks like it’s style name suggests -- an orange peel, with scattered rounded protrusions and indentations.

Stipple

• Stipple ceiling painting is achieved by rolling or spraying the ceiling with a drywall compound. The painter uses the brush to dab the compound mixture to create the stippled effect. The result is a ceiling with a textured pattern, look and a visible shape. Common stipple shapes are round, oval or wide and monolithic. The brush stokes are visible and flow and mimic the selected shape.

Knock Down

• The knock down ceiling painting texture combines stippling with troweling. After the stippling is completed, the painter uses a stiff article, like a trowel, to “knock down” the intensity and protrusion of the stipples. What is left is a ceiling that is textured, but flatter, in that the stipples are less pronounced and there is no visible shape, such as a circle or oval. To achieve the flattened look, the painter might also glide the trowel or a plastic straight edge over the ceiling paint and compound mixture before it dries.

Roll Texture

• Roll texture painting gives a ceiling the flattest texture of all. It is also the easiest texture painting technique. The painter simply applies a layer of drywall compound with a paint roller and mixes it to mud-like consistencies that is thicker and heavier than paint, but thinner than the material used for stippling or knock down textures. As a result, the ceiling will have a flatter look, and more closely match the texture of a wall finish. While the roll texture can be used for room ceilings, it is more commonly used in areas that are not visible, such as closets.

Trowel

• Trowel painting is an old-school style from the days when plastering ceilings versus painting ceilings was commonplace. Homes with Spanish architectural styles often feature them. The trowel is manipulated from left to right in a fan movement. In some cases, sand or other aggregate materials are added to the ceiling compound to give the ceiling texture a grainy, rough and rugged appearance.