{Giveaway is Closed}
The winner is #164: Lee in Ky! Congrats, Lee!
One of the last things Dad and I did before my move in date, was change out the ceiling tiles in the den. Well, most of them anyway. We still have to fix the ones where the light fixtures are attached and the ceiling vents, so there’s a little more to finish out before they are completely done. But, it’s amazing the transformation of just changing out the saggy old ceiling that was there since probably 1979, when the house was built. It was a mess up there.
Here’s the old, saggy ceiling tiles, which were very yellowed and just plain disgusting. I’m so glad I was able to change them out, they feel so fresh and clean now. Thanks to being part of Lowes Creative Bloggers team this month, we were given a giftcard to do any project we wanted to. Bingo! This was at the top of my list and I’m so grateful that I had enough to cover this. Cost for the ceiling tiles was just under $250.  I think it was worth it to change them out, makes a huge difference.
I did go in and roll white ceiling paint over all the gridlines to freshen them up too.
Then, one by one, I popped out the ceiling tiles. They were very brittle from age and lots of gunk was on top of them. I wore my safety glasses to keep stuff from flying in my eyes.
My dad is a pro at giving directions, as you can imagine. 
I took them down and he toted them out of the house and stacked them up.
Me and my safety glasses.
And pretty soon we had a bare ceiling with all the duct work showing. We left up the light fixtures for now and will get those changed out soon. If the ceiling just had open wood up there, I would have considered painting it, but all the duct work is up there too, so I’d rather keep the drop ceiling for now.
There was so much debris up there that fell out every time I pulled out another one. Lots of vacuuming going on afterward.
And one by one, those ceiling tiles went back up. It’s a matter of just inserting them back into the empty space and letting them settle into place. Not hard, but takes some patience to get them all in place, since there are wires on many of the ends of the grids that you have to work around. And the ceiling tiles are a little bit fragile, so you have to take care of the edges of them.
We went back after all the big tiles went in and cut these smaller pieces. I took out the old ones and drew a template for the new ones from those. We ended up getting out the table saw and it worked well for cutting these partial tiles nice and straight. I popped them all back in one at a time.
And now I have a fresh new ceiling that looks tons better than the old. No more sagging and yellow color.
We will fill in those holes very soon and it will all be finished with clean new tiles. So glad I decided to tackle this one now instead of later. It will feel so much better. You can see the difference in color on that one to the left of the vent where the light fixture is now. Much more drab and dirty.
I love the new clean ceiling that I got with these Armstrong commercial ceiling tiles. These are just regular commercial grade 2×4’ ceiling tiles, #933 if you’re looking at the store. They were $37.00 for 5 boxes or more (contractor pricing). We used 6 boxes to complete this project.
Thanks to Lowes for supplying the giftcard for October for this updating project. It was the perfect finishing touch for my new den furniture. It will feel so much better in there now. I love being a part of Lowe’s Creative Ideas blogger team.
Here’s some great news too! Lowe’s is giving away to ONE of my readers a $100 giftcard, so you can get busy on a project of your own. Just leave a comment telling me what needs doing at your house. I’ll choose one winner at random in a few days.
Thanks for stopping by!
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Giveaway is sponsored by Lowe’s. U.S. resident addresses only, please.  I received a giftcard for my project, but was not compensated for this post and all ideas and opinions are my own.Â
I would paint some bedrooms before the holidays! Could really use it! Thanks
We are redoing our kitchen, so a $100 giftcard could be used for SO many things: new wiring, new sink, new garbage disposal, new faucet, and new lights. I know it’s nothing glamorous, but just part of getting my kitchen to function again! Lori Lucas
Rhoda your house came out great! So happy for you! I’d love to get some storage shelving and do some organizing.
I need some organization for my master bedroom closet and I’ve seen a lot of things at Lowe’s that give me ideas for a grand closet.
Great job on the ceiling tiles! I need to lay down some weed barrier cloth in my front flowerbeds and plant some shrubs. Or should I do the backyard first? Or paint the bathroom? I have tons to do! LOL
Our ceiling in the bathroom and peeling off :-/ That would be the first think on my to-do list!!
I love your blog and your new house looks fantastic! We have an older house that we are slowly working on as we have the time and the funds! We need to do quite a bit of work on our bathroom…the tiles are old and the grout is yucky! Thanks Lowes for sponsoring such a great giveaway!
Love your blog and would love the $100 gift card from Lowes. Our kitchen is in need of a lot of updates and this would really help with our budget! Thank you!
Rhoda, I love everything you have done in your new home and know that you must be so happy after all of your (and your parents)hard work! I have kept up with your progress and am so amazed at the vision you had for it! I have so many projects, but would love to start with new laminate flooring, or light fixtures, or painting kitchen cabinets . . . 🙂 Wishing you all the best in your knew home! Lucy
Our living room ceiling needs re-sanding and painting. We have had some settling in our house of 5 years and some of the sheet rock has small cracks in the joints. This is what I would do with help of the Lowe’s card. Thanks!
What an improvement!! I need to paint my bedroom and all the wood trim. I need to pick up a good cutting in brush first though. 🙂
If I were to win the gift card I would buy paint for redoing our hallway!
Thanks for a chance to win.
Well, the majority of rooms in our house need the curtains moved – the previous owners did not follow ‘the rules’ and they’re all hung in the middle of the top window trim; and some windows need blinds. SO, since our cordless drill was left outside and got rained on (not pointing fingers), we could really use a new one to get all of these window treatments done!
Rhoda, your ceiling looks so fresh and clean, now! Isn’t it nice to get rid of someone else’s dirt and grime? Your home will now have YOU stamped all over it. I don’t know how you and your parents have the energy to tackle this entire project. My hat goes off… QuirkyKim
Wow! What a difference those tiles make!
I need to do so much to my home. I just can’t seem to get started. I would love to re-do my whole family room, starting with painting.
Do you still do the online decorating consultations?
Hi Rhoda,
It would be a shorter list to say what doesn’t need doing at my house, lol. I think the next project will be the kitchen ceiling. We want beadboard. Don’t know if we can do that with sheets of panelling and nail them up or have to suspend.
Janet
We moved into a 1996 split level in June. I could go on for days about all of the projects I want to do to update my home, but probably the first one on my list would be to tear out the ugly linoleum and carpet at the bottom of my stairs where everyone walks in from the garage, and on into my daughter’s bathroom at the end of that hallway. I would replace it with hard wood flooring or ceramic tile.
Rhoda you have done such an amazing job on your house. I have just purchased my first house (complete reno) and you have given me many idea for it! Thanks for your inspiration!
Cooler weather’s heading our way, and we need to replace our weatherstripping around our doors-the gift card would help with that!
Followed your house redo from the beginning. Wonderful results! Including your parents in your adventure will be a memory that you will cherish. Our dishwasher has been broken for a while now…could use the Lowe’s giftcard to help replace it.