Drop ceilings can be a practical choice, but they can also be eyesores in certain rooms of your home. Here’s how to complete an easy drop-ceiling update that will create a beautiful feature for any space.
We were more than a little annoyed with the suspended ceilings in our living and dining rooms when we first moved into our house. These are rooms that you usually want to make extra comfortable and beautiful. Something as utilitarian as a basic drop ceiling on metal grids just didn’t seem to fit in. It appears that installing suspended ceilings in 100+-year-old homes like ours was really popular at one point a few years ago, and we think maybe it was for heating reasons because it’s easier to heat a room with 8-foot ceilings than one with ceilings that are 10 feet or higher. You may have drop ceiling tiles in your home to cover basement ceiling duct work or for some other practical reason, but chances are that you probably don’t love the look of them, and you may feel that they just don’t match the aesthetic of your home at all. If this sounds like a familiar remodel dilemma, this easy ceiling update is for you!
More home renovation inspiration: Recent Room Updates Around Our Old Farmhouse
Benefits of Updating a Drop Ceiling With New Tiles
I’m so excited to share this transformation with you today. I partnered up with Decorative Ceiling Tiles several years ago to update our suspended ceiling panels, and we really couldn’t be more thrilled with how this DIY project turned out. We initially intended this to be a temporary solution, but we love the look of the tiles so much and get so many compliments on this ceiling tile project that we currently have no plans to change things any time soon.
I get so many questions about this ceiling whenever it appears in a photo on my Instagram stories, so I thought I’d better put together a full, updated blog post with information about this project and the products we used. Most often, people think it’s an original plaster or metal ceiling in great condition because the faux tin ceiling tiles really look so realistic.
If you’d like to complete a new ceiling installation without embarking on a full renovation, new ceiling tiles are easy for any novice installer to put into place. If you have any issues with your ceiling becoming stained or with humidity, these tiles are fully washable with a damp cloth. Since they’re actually lightweight, waterproof plastic, staining and corrosion will never be an issue. They come in an almost endless array of finishes, from weathered faux wood, metallic antique bronze metal, to antique white, but I really think you can’t beat the elegance of plain white faux metal tiles.
A drop ceiling with decorative tiles is a great alternative to drywall, a textured popcorn ceiling, a plank ceiling, or a recessed coffered ceiling, especially if you’re hoping to find a solution that’s quick and simple to install.
Decorating ideas for your home: How to Age Shiny Galvanized Steel Containers
Our Dropped Ceiling Update: Before and After
Here’s how the ceiling in our living room and dining room used to look a long, long time ago. The grid system framing was a darker grey and the tiles had some damage, so it was quite a dreary look and did nothing to compliment the room design.
And here’s how the ceiling looks after the new tile installation.
Would you believe that this is still a suspended ceiling? It looks like a beautiful, artfully tiled ceiling now, doesn’t it? The trick is just to find the right tile. I had no idea that beautiful tiles for drop ceilings existed before I discovered Decorative Ceiling Tiles, but they just make all the difference.
How to Update a Suspended Ceiling: The Process
In order to update a suspended ceiling, all you really need to do is select a style of tile that fits your home decor, pop the old tiles out, and replace them with new tiles.
We actually painted our suspended ceiling grid as well, since the metal bars were grey before and we wanted them to be white to match the new tiles. Once that was done, we just dropped the new tiles back in place of the old ones.
This is definitely home decor instant-gratification at its finest.
More ceiling ideas for your home: How High Should a Ceiling Light Fixture Hang Over a Table?
These lightweight PVC ceiling tiles are super easy to work with. We actually had to cut a few ceiling panel tiles to fit along a few walls where the space in the grid ceiling wasn’t a full square. We were able to do this really easily and precisely, even when cutting through the embossed and stamped portions of the suspended ceiling tiles using an oscillating multitool, but you could honestly probably cut these panel ceiling materials with a utility knife, snips, or even scissors in a pinch. Installation requires no fasteners, caulk, or filler, and the tiles do not need to be glued.
Once the ceiling tiles are in place, you would almost never know that this isn’t a real Victorian tin tile ceiling.
This style of false ceiling tile that we used is called “Schoolhouse”, but you can find ceiling tiles in just about every style and color that you could need for an economical solution to match your backsplash, molding profiles, lamps, wall covering choices, curtains, and other main home decorating elements on the Decorative Ceiling Tiles website.
If you have ugly suspended ceilings and you aren’t sure what to do about them, this is definitely a great, simple solution!
Did you know these fancy drop-in ceiling tiles existed? Do you need to update a suspended ceiling in your home?
Thank you so much to Decorative Ceiling Tiles for providing the ceiling tiles for this remodeling project!
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.