{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
The new ceilings look great! We are hoping to put a deck on the back of the house by next spring!
I’m ready to finish my dining room project. We took out a dropped ceiling, which now needs painting and then I want to do a board and batten treatment.
The ceiling looks great, Rhoda!
I’d love to use this gift card for our master bedroom makeover or maybe a furniture project. I have a “to-do” list a mile long, so this would come in handy! Thanks!
Your house looks beautiful.
I need a new floor in my guest bath and I need to paint my daughters’ room.
Rhoda, your ceiling looks so much better and I know you’re so glad that you went ahead and did it before moving in. I am working on painting our deck and freshening the furniture on it, so a gift card would come in mighty handy! Thanks to you and Lowe’s for this generous giveaway.
I love your postings! Makes me want to do some needed updating and also declutter. I would welcome a $100 Home Depot gift card to paint our house trim on the outside so we would have better curb appeal.
Thanks!
Ready to tackle painting jobs in office and daughter’s bedroom.
Need to redo my closet! It’s such a mess with no where to hang dresses which is a big part of my wardrobe. Also need some ceiling fans and other electrical stuff. I spend more time and money at Lowes than I do at the grocery store!
I am in need of a new garbage disposal. This gift card would come in very handy, thanks for the giveaway!!
We just moved into a new house and in the bathroom NONE of the towel holders on the walls match. It is really annoying and I’d love to change them to a nice matching set.
I LOVED watching your entire home reno and am amazed at all you accomplished and what a great team you have with your parents! We have a 100+ y/o farmhouse with no end of projects to be done and very limited finances to tackle them. My first project would be to tile the tub surround in the bathroom…the previous owners put in tileboard and it is rotting away. The rest of my vision includes board & batten on the walls; redoing the countertops; painting the vanity; painting the bright brassy hardware and fixtures (orb or satin nickel?) and possibly beadboard on the ceiling to cover the aging and peeling plaster. Thanks for the giveaway…crossing my fingers! 🙂
We’re buying a new house so will have lots of projects including replacing really saggy ceiling tiles in the basement.
I was inspired by reading how you updated your bathroom, so my project would definitely involve putting up some beadboard wallpaper – you did a great job.
Hey!! We just got married a few months ago and bought a new house and we could really use a $100 gift card! It’s a new house but our master bath is too plain for me so I want to update it to our style! Thanks so much! 🙂
I would put the gift card to great use by applying it toward supplies for raised bed gardening.
We are working on our kitchen. The gift card would go a long ways and I love Lowes!
That ceiling looks waaay better. Good move.
Girl, you are a regular trooper. You jump right in, and have a way of making things go juuuust right. Me? I think I totally finished ruining our front door today -this time on the inside. (I am nothing, if not consistent!) Was preparing to order a nice Larson storm door from Lowes for the back entrance, but now it looks as if I’ll be needing a front door first. If it’s not one thing, it’s six others….
I am working on my basement too. Its one long room that we want to make into a guest and play room.
I love your posts!!! thanks for always sharing! I am wanting to get a new awesome sander from Lowes so the gift card would be a huge help on all of my furniture projects!
I would put this gift card towards replacing my kitchen counter top.
Love all that you have done! You are a real inspiration.