Popcorn ceiling question

[Me]

I did a small experiment today to see if wetting the popcorn down really did make the stuff come off like butter, and it did. While doing this, I also scraped a little off of a spot next to my test area to see how that worked. So here is what I noticed: the wet area is nice an smooth down to the sheetrock. The other area has kind of a textured look to it now.

So my issue is this: my intentions where to put some kind of textured ceiling up after scraping the popcorn off, but now I am wondering if just scraping it dry and leaving whats left for painting, might produce the textured look I would want. Any ideas or experiences on this?

[SteveB]

If you like the way it looks, what difference does it make if I like it? The "shabby chic" look is in, and I have seen some Gawd ugly things done to walls and ceilings on purpose, and people paid money to have it done. You can do all sorts of things with texturing and surfacing. Go to Home Depot and look at their books and guides to get some ideas. Once you have the popcorn off, the rest is a breeze.

Steve

[Me]

I wasn't asking whether or not you would like it. I asked for ideas or experiences with doing this. In other words, would it actually produce a nice textured look after painting.

[m Ransley]

Who knows we cant see it

[SQLit]

I scraped mine off. The tape joints were pretty rough. I tried to smooth them out and ended up hiring a drywall contractor to finish. They spent parts of 3 days taping all of the joints and then finally spraying a knock down texture on the ceiling. It worked out 90-95%. I put 2 coats of paint on the ceiling and then just before sale hired a contractor to paint the home professionally. They had to use another 2 coats of paint. If the light was just right you could still see the tape joints in the ceiling. If that is the look you want your in like flint.

[Me]

OK, I did a section over a bay window in the house. It turned out pretty good. Did not have any problem with tape joints, in fact never saw them. Of course it is not knock down ceilings, but then again it is not popcorn anymore. I am not one who happens to like smooth flat ceilings; I prefer a textured look, and now I have it. What I like is that I didn't have to do anything to get the textured look other than dry scraping the popcorn and painting over it. The only issue I've had is making sure not to scrap too hard or one will end up with tiny areas of smooth surface. So go lightly.