Patch job on my hallway ceiling took 4 days longer than I planned

I hit a water stain in my hallway ceiling last month and figured I'd sand, mud, and paint in one afternoon. But after the first coat dried, the patch was still visible because the texture didn't match at all. Then I spent 2 more days just trying to blend the popcorn texture with a spray can from Home Depot. On one side, you could say just sand the whole ceiling and start fresh for a uniform look. On the other hand, my neighbor swears by using a brush and stippling to match the original texture. Which method do you think gives better results without taking a full week?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin6282h ago

You tried the spray can too? Yeah that stuff never comes out right. I did the same damn thing on my kitchen ceiling last year. Wasted a whole can and it still looked like a crater. The stiff brush stippling is the real trick though. I grabbed an old paintbrush from the garage and stabbed at the joint compound until it looked fuzzy. Took maybe 20 minutes total and you can't even see the patch now. Way faster than messing with those expensive spray texture cans. Stippling wins hands down. Save yourself the headache.

david_jones385h ago

I read on a DIY site that stippling with a stiff brush blends popcorn texture better than spray cans ever do.

the_harper5h ago

@david_jones38 has a solid point about stippling, I had the exact same popcorn ceiling nightmare last year. The spray cans from Home Depot never matched my original texture either, no matter how much I practiced on cardboard. A stiff brush and some patience with stippling gave me a near-invisible patch in about 30 minutes.