Stuck Indoors? Refresh Your Ceiling With This Bold, Clean Look

The ceiling in this 1980s house was showing its age and, during winter, a few of the glass panels around the fire in the living area were broken.

This allowed smoke to escape and rise to the ceiling, which created sooty stains.

Halogen downlights were installed when the house was built and many weren’t working. There was constant upkeep required replacing bulbs, not to mention ongoing costs.

Also, the ceiling in this living space was already fairly low and the timber and brass fans visually made it appear even lower.

1. Remove the stains

Scrub the smoke stains on the ceiling with a long-handled brush using white vinegar, then sugar soap, to cut the grease in the soot and remove the worst of the stains

2. Prepare the ceiling

Have an electrician remove the lights and fans, then repair any holes with plaster.

Apply a coat of stain blocker with a roller to prevent residual stains leaching through to the topcoat.

3. Install new fittings

Apply 2-3 coats of good-quality ceiling paint over the stain blocker with a roller. Have an electrician install LED downlights and modern white ceiling fans to update the room.

The ceiling in this 1980s house was showing its age and, during winter, a few of the glass panels around the fire in the living area were broken.

This allowed smoke to escape and rise to the ceiling, which created sooty stains.

Halogen downlights were installed when the house was built and many weren’t working. There was constant upkeep required replacing bulbs, not to mention ongoing costs.

Also, the ceiling in this living space was already fairly low and the timber and brass fans visually made it appear even lower.

LED vs halogen lights

Electricity bills are one of the biggest household expenses, after the rent or mortgage.

And surprisingly, lighting contributes to up to 30% of that bill.

There is a significant difference in energy consumption between different types of lighting. This is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), with 1kWh being equal to a 1000W electrical appliance running for one hour.

LED BULBS have a power rating of 7-20W while halogen bulbs are rated anywhere from 35-500W. Halogens can use nine times the power to create the same amount of light. In a house with 20 downlights, over five years, the electricity bill for halogens alone would be about $3810 while LEDs would cost about $705.

HALOGEN BULBS run electricity through a filament, which heats up and creates light. Ninety percent of the electricity used creates the heat while 10% creates light, making them less efficient than LED bulbs. LED bulbs use small semiconductors rather than filaments to produce light. Eighty five percent of the energy is used to create light, so they stay cool and contribute less to household heat.

LIFE SPAN is also an important consideration, as halogen bulbs can last up to 2000 hours while LED bulbs have a life span of up to 50,000 hours. This means an LED bulb could last 25 times longer than a halogen one.

Before the refresh

We restored a dingy ceiling by cleaning off stains, then painting it with stain blocker and ceiling paint.

Replacing the dated fan with a new white model0 created a sense of space. We also installed energy-efficient LED downlights.

After the refresh

Stain-blocking paint and LED downlights were used to modernise this living space.