When did these go out of style? When did people start to hate them? I'm just wondering because I just saw on yet another show a "designer" talk about how disgusting and outdated the homeowners' popcorn ceilings were. I ask because my house was built in 2005, I moved in 2006, it has updated amenities but it also has popcorn ceilings. I honestly didn't even pay attention to this and didn't know this was such a "horrible, disgusting, outdated" thing until I started hearing "designers" on real estate shows speak about it. I consider myself a pretty good decorator and relatively knowledgable about what's "in" and what's not in, and for some reason this popcorn ceiling thing just does not bother me at all. In fact I kind of like them, lol. I have no problem with solid ceilings, those are cool too, but I just missed this whole "popcorn celings are bad" movement, and I'm wondering if having them will have a bearing on the value of a house. Can anyone (real estate aficianados) shed light on this? Gracias

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PalmGen,

I have wondered just when decorators or realtors decided such ceilings are out-dated.

I bought my condo in 2006 (was built the year before) and it has what are called textured ceilings, not as heavy looking as popcorn, but not smooth either. I really didn't think too much of it, and they don't bother me.

I think there has alway been a stigma regarding popcorn ceilings, although I haven't had that much trouble selling homes with popcorn ceilings.

Most comments I have heard refer to the hazard of the popcorn falling off the ceiling, and animals or small children eating it. I have always recommended heavy coat of paint on the popcorn to make sure it stays up there.

Thank you, thank you. I thought that I must have been living under a rock all of these years. I also never heard anything bad until we brought a house that has them. I hate the wood tile floors(parquet) that so many homes have on HGTV, and not a word is said about those. I love Househunters and My House is Worth What, though. I hate the pause on the last show when giving the price.

Where I am, it has been associated with less costly homes, since drywall seams can be hidden so much easier with popcorn vs. knockdown texture.
Today no builder is doing popcorn any more here.

I was surprised as well to hear that popcorn ceilings were dispised. I never gave them (the ceilings) a second thought. So what? Our first house here in southern CA had them and while it took a heck of a lot of Behr white ultra gloss paint to paint them (we did the walls the same white gloss, too) the ceilings (and walls) looked fabulous! The ceilings themselves had sort of a sparkle to them, like little specks of diamonds, when the light hit them right. They were actually really pretty and I have to say, that Behr paint wore so well! Our new neighbor at the time came over to see our house and immediately commented on our freshly painted new walls. The fact was: we had painted the walls and ceilings about 8 years previous to that. :-)

I think it's where you live, I have only seen these ceilings in homes built in the 60's and 70's usually in ranch style homes. I've always had either flat ceilings or texture ceiling like in the links below in the homes I've had, the house I grew up in had a swirl ceiling similar to these with a definite patternSWIRL SAND FINISH SWIRL in the formal rooms and bedrooms, the bathroom, halls and kitchen had flat ceilings , the last two homes I've had have a random pattern like this SKIP TROWL on all the ceilings.

Popcorn ceilings were first used in the 60's and 70's but when asbestos was banned in the late 1970s, popcorn ceilings fell out of favor, as they usually contained asbestos. Fashions changed to more natural and hand made finishes. Popcorn ceiling became unattractive when it got dirty, and was hard to paint or patch. It's just like when people in the 70's put up drop ceilings hiding the high ceilings of older homes now no one wants the drop ceilings (I don't blame them) so they are taking them out and going back to the original architecture of the old homes. Your home looked old and dated in the 70's if you had tin ceilings now people who find the tin ceilings hidden behind the drop downs are happy!

I have never been a fan of the popcorn ceilings they looked strange to me, they always look heavy if that makes sense, however it would never stop me from buying a home though, I'd just scrape the finish off and refinish the ceilings.

Coming late to this discussion but I was glad to see that someone else mentioned "textured ceilings" vs. popcorn ceilings. We bought our current home from someone who over-saw every, and I mean every, structural detail in our two-story house that was completed in 1997.

The ceilings on the first floor are textured, not popcorn, and are great for sound purposes. Doubt they were constucted to save money or hide defects as they actually were more expensive than other types of ceilings.

Anyone else have this type of ceiling?

PS. "Beantown 2008," Just clicked on your link for "Skip Trowel" ceilings and that IS similar to our ceilings! Ours are a little more defined but definately similar. Anyone know anything about them?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Idaho Resident,

Aren't "skip trowel" (never heard of it before) and knockdown very similar if not the same?

I never cared for the swirls or the sparkles, but that is just personal taste.

The problem with painting popcorn ceiling is that it is then really difficult to get down. I think that when ours were redone (not all of them), that they just went over the popcorn.

In our previous house, we had smooth ceilings everywhere - no seams, no visual defects of any kind. They were just beautiful - the house was built in 1951!

After moving from a popcorn house to a non-popcorn house, I realized that I didn't care for the popcorn in retrospect. (I didn't even think about it until I had something else.) But then The Experts came and told us that popcorn was A Very Bad Thing, and that is what is/has been preached on HGTV (and through other media) for the past few years.