How to Paint a Ceiling Like a Pro

Ideally, you’ll want to move all furniture out of the room to have an open and airy space to work. If you can’t take everything out, cover all remaining furniture with drop cloths or protective coverings.

Next, turn off the power and remove all lighting fixtures. Cover all ceiling fan and lighting fixture bases with painter’s tape.

Finally, if your ceiling isn’t smooth, run a sanding pole across it with 100-grit sandpaper. Follow this up by cleaning your ceiling with a damp cloth, so it’s dust-free, prepped, and ready to go.

We recommend purchasing cloth drop cloths to cover the entire floor. You’ll want to place each drop cloth at least 12 inches over each other to ensure there are no open cracks for the paint to fall through.

If you’re planning to paint the walls after the ceiling, you can skip this step. Otherwise, you’ll want to create a clean, straight line with your tape and place it right up to the ceiling on the walls or crown molding. 

Now is an excellent time to also fill in any small holes with spackle and a putty knife—and any cracks with a caulking gun.

Don’t skip the primer! Ceiling primer helps to cover stains and provides a nice smooth surface for ceiling paint. Here’s how to prime your ceiling:

• Grab your safety goggles, hat, and apron to protect yourself from splatter.

• Pour your primer into the paint tray and dip in your roller. 

• Apply one coat of primer to your ceiling. 

Check the instructions on the primer to find the ideal drying time before adding your first coat of paint.

“Cutting” is a painting technique where you use a brush to paint along the edges and any other space that would be hard to cover with a roller. While tedious, you'll need to take on this step for clean results.

Using a paintbrush, paint 2 to 3 inches around ceiling edges in nice even strokes, tapping excess paint back into the pail. If you covered your ceiling fan or lighting base in painter’s tape, now is the time to cut around those edges too.

While the corners are still wet, take your paint roller, lower it into the paint tray, and coat the 3/8-inch (for flat ceilings) or 1/2-inch (for textured ceilings) nap roller cover evenly with paint.

Paint the ceiling in small sections (typically 5-by-5 square feet) in a zig-zag pattern, keeping the area wet as you go. Start in one corner (facing away from windows) and paint across the ceiling to the nearest corner, meeting your brush strokes. Go over each section to smooth out and even the paint.

Pro Tip: For larger ceilings that take longer to paint, you’ll want to feather out the paint at the edges to keep them wet.

Wait for your first coat of ceiling paint to dry. If your ceiling has dark stains, uneven coverage, or just doesn’t have a flawless look, go ahead and apply a second coat of paint.

Pro Tip: Textured ceilings typically require at least two coats of paint, if not more, to fill in all the uneven grooves.

Before you breathe a sigh of relief, you’ll want to clean your painting tools immediately. Getting dry paint off your tools is tough, making it harder to use them for future painting projects.

• Rinse your rollers and paintbrushes in warm soapy water. Use a paintbrush comb to clean your brushes thoroughly.

• Squeeze and wring out your roller until the water runs clear.

• Fully dry all metal tools to prevent rusting.

• Add any remaining paint from the tray back into the can. 

• Wash the tray with soapy water and save your paint can for touch-ups.

• Allow brushes to completely dry and store them in waxed paper wrapped with a rubber band to retain their shape.

• Remove painter’s tape and drop cloths.

• Reattach any ceiling fixtures.

• Move furniture back into your room.