{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
We could really use new carpet in our master bedroom, so I would use the gift card to help with that.:)
i would love to buy some laminate flooring to put over the yucky old linoleum in our rental apartment kitchen! fingers crossed 🙂
Wow! Your house all ready looks amazing…can’t wait to see you add to your decor. Would love love love a Lowe’s card so that the Hubby can tackle a much needed painting job while he job hunts!
Loving watching your house become a home! Looks beautiful!! Would love to update my dining room that is now dark and unused!!
The ceiling looks so much better! And I have a very long list of how to put that Lowes card to use, starting with my master bedroom remodel …
🙂
Linda
Our kitchen doesn’t have any upper cabinets or storage above the counters (previous owner took them). I’ve been wantinf some white wood shelves for the kitchen since we moved in.
How is it that you manage to look glamourous…..even when you are rocking saftey glasses! Love the new dropped ceiling and I know you are so happy to be home!
Okay….now…..what would I change around my house? Hmmm…..I think I would add more molding. What is a house without a little more bling 🙂
Have a great day rock star!
karianne
We’re working on plans for a built-in office desk!
We need new ceiling tiles in our playroom. You’ve motivated me to get it done soon!
I would love a new side entry door. Mine has absolutely had it!
there is always something around this newly purchased house that needs a trip to Lowes to accomplish. if i had to say right now, then i would choose curtain rods for curtains not yet purchased or made but soon to be!
I love your “new” home! What a fantastic job you did and the fact that your dad and mom were so involved made the whole project even more fun to follow. I have to say, that of all the home stores, Lowe’s is the absolute best! A side story, my brother-in- law and his family were having a rough time and had no money for a Christmas tree a few years ago, I called the local Lowe’s on Christmas Eve to see if there were any trees that could be donated to the family. Not only did the manager donate a tree to them, he delivered it personally! I am a customer for life! As for the project I am finishing, I just replaced all the flooring in my home with laminate (all by myself) and I would love to put up new baseboard mouldings (the old ones came down and were not worth saving). As a single mom doing these projects a little help goes a long way. Thanks for all the inspiration!
I just moved into a 100 year old cottage one week ago and I cant wait to get started. First off, painting my sewing/crafting work room is a must, but next I’m tearing into the ground floor bathroom! I can’t even begin to think about the basement bathroom yet?! Luckily most of my work to come is all cosmetic, the fun part!
I need to replace 2 light fixtures.
Wow! What great work you’ve done to transform your new home! Bravo! I so admire your talent and spirit – you GO, Rhoda!
(I’d love to add some hanging storage and shelving to my closet.)
Everything you have done looks amazing. I have enjoyed watching your house evolve into your HOME. God is so good!
We just arrived home from CA where we were helping our kids plant a church. ( Our son-in-law is the pastor.) Anywhoo, we arrived home to SC to a refrigerator that had stopped working, a horrible smell in the house and wood floor beneath it with water damage. All the hardwood flooring had to be replaced. After seeing your new floors we had hand-scraped wood floors put in with the 3″, 5″, 7″. Love, love them! Thanks for all the posting you do. You’ve been in my prayers.
Had to buy new frig, also.
The gift card is a wonderful giveaway.
Hugs!
I’m still needing floor covering for our bedroom. Am redoing our bath at the moment, taking off old wallpaper. Now to fix the wall where I tore the sheet rock up trying to get that off. Would love to have a card from Lowe’s to finish some of these projects with!
That was so sweet of them to do that for you!!! Can’t wait to see how you’re going to decorate it all up now. It’s all looking good. Have really enjoyed the journey with you although I didn’t do any of the work. I know it’s a load off you though almost being done now.
I need so much work done I hardly know where to start! My house needs painting desperately so I would most lilkely use a gift card to buy paint for the living room, dining room and kitchen.
Thanks for the opportunity, Rhoda, and I have certainly enjoyed watching the transformation of your home. It is quite inspiring!
Thanks for the awesome giveway Rhoda & Lowes! Where couldn’t I use that gift card? Lol. Actually, we are just finishing up our first floor remodel and have changed all but one light fixture (all from Lowe’s coincidentally!), so I guess I would definitely put it towards replacing that fixture with something beautiful. Thanks again! Jane
I have about 15 projects going on at my house right now, so a gift card to Lowes would help with any of those. But I LOVE your new backsplash and think it is about time that I tile mine too (I never did it 2 years ago when we DIYed our “new” kitchen).