{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
Your new house is coming right along very nicely. Love all of your ideas!. We have been working on our basement for quite a while. It started with taking down the drop ceiling exposing everything then taking down a wall and putting up a huge beam and colums for support now the new wood ceiling, walls, and flooring….boy we have a lot to do….a hundred dollar gift card could really be a great motivator for us!!!
I have truly enjoyed reading about your new home – it looks great! I could really use this Lowe’s giftcard to complete some repairs in my guest bathroom.
I would love to paint the ceilings in our house – it is an older home and the ceilings are dingy-yellow!
My next project is the backyard gardens. Deer ate everything out there this year! I’m going to replant and try “liquid fence”
Let me first say, I love every single thing you have done to that house….your new fabulous HOME! Secondly, I sooooo wish I had half your energy and determination. Finally, in some of those pics you look like your daddy. Precious!
I would use the Lowes card for improvements we are trying to make on my own daddy’s house. He is deceased and we are now going to sell the home. It’s pitiful……40 years of grease on the kitchen cabinets. My hubby is doing the work…we are trying to put some lipstick on this pig……but it really is one ugly sow. HA!
Thanks for the chance to win.
We need to replace some things in our guest bathroom. A giftcard would be a great start for us!
I have followed the tranformation of your home each morning during having my morning coffee. It has been amazing watching you and your parents transform this home. You are surley blessed to have such active and handy parent’s to assit you. Now it will be exciting to see how you decorate. I can already tell it is going to be AWSOME!
I will be retiring from my job in a couple of months and I would use the Lowes card to make a dent in the Honey Do list I have been compiling. I plan on keeping my husband really busy. First project is to pull the yucky carpet off of my basement stairs and paint them and install a runner. This sure would help do that.
Thank you for the wonderful ideas you share daily and the opportunities you offer your readers.
Your home looks so good. l loved following all the work you and your family put into it…Many happy and blessed years in your beautiful home..
I would love to win the gift card. We are planning to put a tile back splash in our kitchen. A gift card would go a long way to make this happen…Thank you, Gail
Rhoda–you are doing a great job on your home! It was fun to see your furniture out of storage and settling in too. I recognized so much of it from following your blogs these past few years. I can imagine how thrilled you were to see these “old friends” again.
We are working on our kitchen and since you already know how “pricy” it can be, I don’t have to tell you how a gift card would help! Thanks for the opportunity. And a special thanks for sharing your life and your love for our Lord with us! CJ
Love following your blog! We are in the middle of a remodeling project right now. We just had our 2 story home picked up, tore out the old rock basement, and put in a new one. Lights, ceiling tile, you name it we need it.
Thanks so much!!
Sign me up for the fab Lowe’s gift card giveaway; we have an endless list of things we can use to continue our houselove! Thanks!
The new tiles look great Rhoda, I would have been freaking out about spiders dropping on me so probably would have worn a hat too :).
I have been painting my mums ceilings white again and what a difference it makes when a ceiling has started to yellow, re painting makes it look so fresh. I think a bit easier than having to replace tiles, thankful mums are just plastered. However, you have proved that we women can do anything 🙂
Lee
I have so enjoyed reading your blog and watching your home transformation! Your parents are truly amazing and awesome people! I would love to win a gift card to Lowes so we could finish tiling our master bathroom floor! Thank you. 🙂
I have LOVED following your blog, I started just as you began your current house project. Ive loved seeing all your hard work pay off!
$100 at Lowes would be awesome!!! My current project is redoing my daughters bedoom, I could definately use it towards that project.
Thank you so much for all these fabulous give aways!!
Hi,
Your renovations look awesome. I need a new range mine is 13 years old and failing. I know, I know…$100 won’t quite cover it…but every little bit helps. Thanks for the giveaway chance!
I need to build myself an entertainment center!
i like lowes on facebook!
Its so funny that you posted about replacing drop ceiling tiles! That is one of the projects that my parents need done at their house. I would give the $100 Lowe’s gift card to them so they could start it. And I could even send them to your page to get some pointers on how to do it! =0
i follow lowes on twitter @cass_k20
Am trying to convince my husband to put up beadboard in our family room! This would come in handy.