{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 use it for freshening up my laundry room!
a lot , new windows the kitchen (it’s 70′) , new flooring.
I LOVE your blog! You have inspired me so much more than you could ever know…
As far as what Iwould do with a Lowe’s giftcard… it’s a toss up. On one hand I think I would use it to makeover my master bedroom. As a single mother, it would be nice to have a place that is just for me… a retreat if you will. But.. on the other hand… I think I would use it to fix my Laundry room. I spend a lot of time in there and it has been in need of repair since I moved in. So… the Lowe’s giftcard would be great for either one of those things.
I don’t need anything but my daughter and son-in-law just moved into their first house and it doesn’t have gutters. Son-in-law is buying gutters from Lowes and putting them up himself! I would give the gift card to them.
I am refinishing my grandmother’s antique desk, and I’d love to get some glaze & moulding for the project. Thanks for the giveaway!
Rhoda, your ceiling looks great! What a job! I know it’s nice now to have fresh tiles! I would love to update bathrooms and the Lowe’s card would really help! Thanks for hosting this great giveaway!
We really need to completely renovate our 34 year old main bath. It still has the old fiberglass 70’s gold tub inclosure, gold toilet, and gold sink in wood cabinet, and Solarian laminate on the floor!
I am completely remodeling and old bathroom so I have many projects! The ceiling is one of many, so I would have no problem using a gift card from Lowes!
Kim J
We need to do some outside trim paint – fence, gate, trellis. Lowe’s is our go to place!
Wow…love how much that improved the room for you. Can’t wait to see more pictures when you start decorating. I need to do some serious painting in the house, a gift card would go a long way!
I am in need of some cabinets for my mudroom and that gift card would go a long way!
I would paint my kitchen and then attempt to redo my backsplash similar to yours in your new kitchen. Love your blog….been with you for over two years! You feel like Family! 🙂
I would love to use this gift card for my kitchen backsplash. After seeing you tackle yours I believe it is something I can do. I have been trying to decide what to do and when I saw your beautiful kitchen reveal I knew!
I want to paint my living room and kitchen. That gift card would go a long way towards covering the cost of paint and supplies. 🙂
We need to fix some crumbling grout in our bathroom tile floor and several rooms need to be painted!
Oh gosh – houses are never done, there’s always a project lurking!
At the moment I need a new faucet set to replace the leaky one dribbling away in the kitchen. The gift card would make a big dent in that purchase!
Thanks for the chance to win…
After removing some overgrown shrubbery, I realized just how bad my shutters look. The gift card would be a big help with the paint, rollers (need to paint the front door also), and brushes. Your reno has inspired me to do some updates!
As always you made a very messy frustrating job look easy, it looks so nice now! I love you new home I feel that I could just walk right in and live there. Like most of us I have several projects that need doing, but at the top of my list is new blinds. I haven’t replaced the ill-fitting mini blinds that were here when I moved in and would love to update them with blinds that don’t fall out of the holder when adjusted! Please keep doing what you’re doing, you inspire us so much!
What a HUGE difference those ceiling tiles made! So fresh and clean looking. I have four little girls with new bedrooms that used to belong to little boys. We need some walls that reflect our more feminine style. :o) So my project punch list involves buying some paint!!
We want to get our garage cleaned and organized, so we can fit both our vehicles inside before the really cold weather hits. A Lowes gift card would really help with the supplies we’ll need!