How to Faux Paint a Tin Ceiling

A. Debby Travis' Painted house did a show on this recently and you can get the instructions from her website (just do a search for Debby Travis on the internet) -- but essentially -- she painted the anaglypta wallpaper with a roller (latex paint) and then took a different colour and applied it just to the "raised pattern bits" by dabbing off much of the colour and then just brushing the sponge, ever so lightly, until the raised part had accepted the colour. Debby then went over with a paint brush and highlighted individual parts of the pattern with an artist's paint brush -- but this wouldn't really be necessary...It looked really nice!

A. Hi Cory: You are probably long since finished, but for future reference you can basecoat with any number of waterborne metallic finishes (McCloskey [affil links], Sheffield [affil links], Crescent Bronze [affil links], and Modern Masters [affil links] are all pretty good). You can get your desired shade of copper by adding a little silver and some red. You needn't buy whole quarts of metallic for shadings: go to your local hobby shop and get 2 oz containers of airbrush colors for $1 to $4 ea.

Apply the basecoat with either a 50/50 lambswool/fiber blend roller cover 1/2" nap [affil links] which will allow you take out the roller lines, or if you want it super smooth, brush it on with a good Wooster paint brush [affil links] or Purdy nylon/polyester brush [affil links]. An angle sash brush will allow you to go fast and do tricks like swirling.

When the basecoat dries, you can either accent with a bright gold, or take a 1/8" mohair roller cover [affil links] and it will leave paint just on the raised portions. Sheffield will send you a complete chart of available metallic colors. McCloskey only makes 4 or 5, but they accept additional tinting better. Good luck.

A. I used paintable wallpaper anaglypta [on eBay or Amazon] for about $10 a double roll. They have one design that actually looks liked old tin when painted. The design is raised and it is very authentic looking.

A. I have used the anaglypta [on eBay or Amazon] (embossed wallpaper). I work at Home Depot in blinds & wallpaper dept. The designer & I displayed the papers on 4 x 8 sheets of plywood & had them hung to show different ways to paint embossed paper. We painted one silver, one copper & and one to look like brass, using the Ralph Lauren metallics in the quart jars. The panels turn out beautiful. We also washed 1/2 of each board with paint to resemble tarnished metals. They hung in the store for 3-5 mos. People would pass and say look at the tin ceilings. We were very pleased with our results. We used the paper with the 6 x 6 inch square design. I am going to use the bigger square (12 x 12) for my ceiling in dining room at my 120 yr. old cottage.

PS: we used teal color wash for copper, black for the silver & brownish for brass. looked very real.

Thanks,

A. I also lived in a old Victorian home and redid the bathroom. I wanted a tin ceiling in there and I tried the apron [on eBay or Amazon] embossed wallpaper on the ceiling. I did have some trouble getting the paper to stick but used staples also. I was concerned about the seams and how they would look so after I hung the paper and painted it with the metal paints, I trimmed all the edges and all the seams with a one inch trim board which was painted the same color. It turned out wonderful. I got so many comments saying how real it looked.

A. I just finished two rooms in my home with the embossed, tin-looking wallpaper and it turned out awesome. I cut the wallpaper which was 6"x6" squares into 4 by 4 squares (resembling tin plates) which I could handle easily by myself when hanging. I found the paper on eBay for 9 bucks a roll. I also found the ceiling texture was a big factor for the pre-pasted wallpaper to adhere properly (also when they say to soak the paper for 5 seconds take 10 and only let sit 3 to five minutes for booking). The flatter or non textured, the better and easier. I wallpapered over one ceiling with that had that sand additive for texture in the paint, and had lots of trouble making the squares match up. Solution, white caulking on the spots that lifted from the ceiling and two coats of paint. Looks great. I had to write back after finishing my project, because I used a lot of good advice from you all!

A. Hi, Rebecca. I have not done this myself, but priming with the Shieldz Wallcovering Primer seems like exactly the correct way to do this project. I am not familiar with what you used for adhesive for the ceiling tiles, and maybe that is the problem? You probably need an instant-setting adhesive, not something that tacks up in a few hours.

Regards,

A. Easy to do!
Armstrong sells a staple up embossed ceiling tile 12 x 12 or 24 x 24 that can go directly onto bottom of studs, you can also buy a trackless hidden mounting system (I have done both ways, it is way faster to use the system if doing a large area)

Armstrong also sells almost the same tile in system designed for standard drop ceiling grids

Both tiles styles are paintable and look wonderful done with aluminum paint (1 coat only - looks a bit dull, helps to hid any imperfections)

These tiles can be ordered directly from Armstrong or the stores.

A. Floor joists will probably be on 16" centers rather than 12" or 24", so it seems you would still need furring strips rather than stapling directly to the floor joists. But if otherwise, please explain. Thanks.

A. A ceiling look can be obtained with paint. You would have to pick what type of metallic paint you would like the tone to be and a stencil with what decorative design you'd like. It would be time consuming, but it can be done. You'd start with the metallic paint. Painting the whole ceiling... then lining up your squares, taping them off if you want the squares showing.. Then color washing the ceiling in either a brassy dark tone of antique black ... depending on the color of your metallic. Then stencil your squares with metallic again with a light roller. When done color wash lightly.
It can be done.

A. I decor8 for a living and they have come out with Tin looking wallpapers that are already painted. Bronze, Gold, copper, silver, pewter, greens, reds blues and yellows
Warner wall coverings have these. Oh they make my life so much easier... These papers are really pretty. Any paint or wallpaper store that carry catalogs of wallpaper books can order these for you.
Good luck and you will love papered ceilings. Do not forget to size your ceilings first. That way the seams do not open and shrink. Then you can remove it later on down the line.
Best to you

Lillian Weist
- Nashville, Tennessee

A. My home is an updated Victorian (approximately 120 years old); although the styling has changed considerably over the years. The interior style is French Farmhouse. The kitchen was added about 25 years ago. It's a large, open area with pantries only ~ no overhead cabinets. The finish on the pantry doors is dark oak and due to the volume of surface area, it would really save my budget to create interest to the ceiling rather than the cabinetry. I've decided on a tin ceiling look. (I would love to have real metal, but I don't want the kitchen noise to bounce around the room.) The wonderful faux, metal-look products on the market today are the solution! Since I'm a copper collector, I've decided to go with an antique copper finish. I hope my "closet designer" ideas will encourage others to consider faux tin ceiling [affil links] finishes, too.

A. I live in a mobile home that has the typical "daisy head" screws and wood strips on the ceiling. Two years ago I replaced all the screws with 1-1/4" sheet rock screws and taped the seams using sheet rock mud to cover the heads and seams. I then thinned the mud and did a half moon swirl design with a brush attached to an ice pick. I measured so as to have a uniform look. It turned out great and helped to cover the imperfections in the existing ceiling. The only room I did not do was my bathroom. I have decided to create a faux ceiling tin with sheet rock mud. I am in the process of prep work now and am excited to get started. I plan to use stencils designed for sculpturing that I purchased at Lowes. I will measure the space into 12x12 grid using string to pop the lines onto the ceiling. It will be a 2 phase project with the 1st stencil creating the tile block using a 12" spreader to create a smooth surface. After that dries, I will go back over each "tile" with the decorative stencil then paint in a silver and burnish with a diluted black paint. It will be a time consuming project, but my hopes are high that it will turn out great.

A. Hi Susan, I had the same problem but I found the English anaglypta paper at fyhome.com. It was delivered promptly without any problems.

A. I have done the wallpaper on my ceilings and they look great. If you get the extra adhesive, usually for border and use that along with the prepasted paper you will have no problems having it stick or have loose spots. Practice a little first and you will get the hang of lining up the seems and when you get them tight, you cannot see them. Trust me I have done tons of wallpaper. Also I have a real tin ceiling and the "fake" one looks just as real. One more solution to the drop ceiling people and cottage cheese person is to look online for the styrofoam fake tin ceiling panels. They are cheap and can be glued right over drop ceilings or cottage cheese, popcorn, whatever. I am in the process now. They are about 3 to 4 dollars each and 20 inches square. It sounds crazy but again it works and looks awesome. I think the company is euro-deco.

A. This is a follow-up to my inquiry about how to make embossed wallpaper look like an antique tin ceiling that I posted almost a year ago. I spent two months testing, trying, erroring on scrap paper until I got what I wanted.

Here it is: The paper was applied in rolls by a professional paperhanger. After letting it dry for 3 weeks, I painted it with a dense roller (I found that the tools were as important as the materials)in a cafe a'lait color. Then a applied a gel stain in hickory with a 2 in. x 1 in. nap-less painter stick that I first used to paint my louvered shutters. This was chosen because of the ceiling pattern; it was square with straight separators and I needed to follow the line of the pattern (also learned through trial and error), much as you would follow the grain of wood when staining. Then I used a rag to wipe the stain in the same pattern - working with application and wiping in 2-3 square foot sections. As your rag gets more and more saturated, it is easier to control how much you take off. If you take off too much, reapply the stain. I got done with my pantry before I perfected the technique in the kitchen, so I went back two days later and restained the pantry. The embossed pattern was very deep, so wiping it took off more stain from the raised areas, leaving more stain in the recessed areas. When that had dried, I took a small nap-less roller and lightly rolled over the entire ceiling with Ralph Lauren gold paint to which I added some inexpensive craft gold paint to get the lustre for which I was looking.

It looks like a hand burnished tin ceiling in a bronze color. Everyone is amazed, as am I, at the results. It looks exactly like I wanted it to look, and identical to the hand painted tin squares I found on Americantinceilings.com at $40-50 per 2 square foot sections. Good luck. I was not able to find a painter or an artist who could help me, so I hope you find this to work well for you.

A. Hi, Gail. Copper is copper, and paint isn't, so you're not going to be able to make your painted ceiling look precisely like copper. But I've been pleased with the "hammered" metal finishes .
They have some kind of dispersant that causes the paint to flow into tiny rings that look a lot like hammered metal.

Good luck.

Regards,

A. I used the paintable wallpaper for the tin ceiling look. The trick to the seams was just like any wall paper, you really have to work the edges to butt right up against each other, then use a seam roller. It took 3 of us because we have a very large kitchen and dining area. Start at one end and work the paper to the other end. When starting the next strip do the same lining it up along the way. The best part, the Martha Stewart metallic paints. We painted a "golden" color on with a deep pile roller across the entire ceiling. When it dried, we took the "Bronze" color and LIGHTLY painted at a almost 90 degree angle across just the highlighted surface with a brush just to give it dimension. Next a small jar of copper color and a natural sponge. Just blot it really well and dab randomly all over the ceiling. Looks absolutely great. Looks like the expensive metal tiles you can buy and the paint really makes the whole thing look great.

A. I do many ceilings professionally with the pressed tin paintable wallpaper. Our most popular is high-gloss white, but when we DO faux finish it in a metallic, we use the Brilliant Metals two-step process from Lowe's. Works well.

We also have request for deep rich tones in high gloss as in an Italian red (ketchup). Pictures attached.

     

A. I work for a company that sells faux tin ceiling [affil links]. Recently a restaurant bought our solid copper colored panels and simply painted them with a teal (patina colored) paint and then as it was drying brushed off the paint with a sponge to get the copper to show. This was the first time I'd ever seen anyone try this but they were very happy with the look they were able to get! We've tried to replicate it and realized it's a really easy DIY project!

A. Hi, Keith. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you just paint the whole wall with the matte paint, put painters tape on the areas which you want to keep that way, then paint with the sheen paint, and remove the paint.

Regards,

A. I have been using textured paper for years. I have put it over paneling on the ceiling to cover and most people cannot tell it is not the real thing. It is a very easy project but I suggest you get help because at least two people make it easier especially when matching the pattern. I always use wallpaper paste on the ceiling because it is easier than wetting and you can be sure it will hold good and not fall down and when you wet it there is more chance the paper will pick up any old left behind residue on the wall I painted my bedroom ceiling the same color as my wall with white trim in between and it looks great and I have been reading that you can go a shade lighter on the ceiling than you do the walls. I would recommend anyone trying this who wants to save money and don't mind a little work because the results are amazing. I have painted before; I hung this on the wall for a backsplash behind the stove, but not a big project such as the ceiling.

A. That sounds more like it was a surface preparation issue than an issue with different temperatures. Did you use anything to clean the wall off before you started painting?

A. If that outside wall had something that was not water soluble on it, then just wiping down wouldn't cut it. Try scuffing the area to be painted with a mild abrasive, like a scotchbrite pad or similar. Also try cleaning the surface with soap and water before painting.

I'm still betting that the issue was due to something on the wall.

A. On painting pressed tin type wallpaper!

I used regular wallpaper embossed to look like tin or copper panels purchased at Menards. First, paste it on like regular wallpaper. Align the edges to match. If you do it properly, you won't see the joints. Take your time, plan your steps and EXPERIMENT with paint colors, don't be to fast. I used regular paints for indoor use. I went to Ace Hardware for the paint. Second I put on a coat of medium dark latex blue as my base coat, After it dried, I took a sponge and medium green latex paint and (thoughtfully) sponged the green paint over the blue covering it so as to make the green prominent over the blue, then I took high quality GOLD paint and ever so lightly sponged it over the green, just to give the ceiling a slight spotty sheen. Then I set back and admired the ceiling. An important recommendation: only one person should apply the green and gold paint. This keeps the technique of the application and the painter the same for the whole project. Experiment with colors and think about it at least overnight, longer if you can. Remember! Patience is the most expensive part of this project. You are the artist for your project.

WALLPAPER is wallpaper, TIN is tin. I'm thinking about getting a paper car do you think it will be good quality? HAHAHAHA

  If you leave that paper car indoors, pasted to the ceiling, it may fill the need. I wouldn't try to drive it though :-)

Regards,