I would think you would be fine using it on the ceiling. Folks paper their bathroom walls all the time.

I would advise you use the special "bathroom/kitchen" paint that many companies make when you paint it. It's more mildew resistant although you can have mildewcides added to any paint. All of them can be tinted.

How is the ventilation in there? The better that is, the better all your surfaces will be!

Is there any warning on the paper label stating that it isn't recco'd for damp areas??

No, no warning at all, it does not mention using it on the ceiling. I know people use wallpaper all the time in the bath, but this will go directly over the shower/tub. I said it was latex but I meant to say vinyl.

let us know how this turns out, because i've been thinking about doing this for a long time but i haven't tried it yet. i bet it will be beautiful, so long as you don't have any issues with moisture. do you mind if i ask what color the bathroom is? i wanted to try this with a robins egg blue...

I don't know. I've seen many wallpapered bathrooms, I've even papered the walls and ceiling in a powder room years ago. I've never seen anyone wallpaper directly over the shower/tub. I think you might be asking for trouble if this bathroom is used regularly. Have you ever looked closely at the ceiling over the tub after taking a shower? I suspect you'll find it wet or moist in which case I wouldn't take the chance. Be careful with even subtle moisture problems because mold loves to grow on wallpaper paste and wallpaper and will be hidden from site while it grows and spreads under the paper. Of course dampness that gets under the paper will weaken the glue and the paper will loosen.

I've known people who did this in their kitchen to great effect - it fit the age and style of the house. They painted it white to mimic old tin ceilings that often ended up painted white. You could do a faux finish to make it tin or copper. Maybe you could hang this paper elsewhere in the house so you have a tin ceiling you can enjoy without worry?

Sky

Getting wallpaper to stick to the ceiling is a little tricky. You will want to have a helper.

If this shower is used often, I wouldn't do it at all with any of the products because we're talking about right over the shower. If it's a guest bath that is seldom used, I might do it. Yes, wallpaper can steam off. If, OTOH, you use the real thing, or the real fake thing, aren't you just providing a place for mildew maybe to grow behind it?

I'm not sure how well it would work in the bathroom, but a restaurant here in town used this wallpaper on the ceiling - looks really cool.

I noticed this wallpaper one day at a paint/wallpaper store and said "wouldn't that be cool on a ceiling". The lady working there told me to go eat at this particular restaurant, because that's exactly what they had done. Any excuse to go out and eat, lol. I love the look and would love to have it in a room of my house. Hubby says I'm crazy, but I'm working on him. :)

I'd love to have a tin ceiling in my basement, but can't afford the real thing. I'm curious how the paint treatment is done on the wallpaper to make it look realistic? Does anyone have ideas on that?

Thanks,
Robbi

Ârealistic depends on what youÂre looking for Â

IÂve seen the faux-painted to look like bare metal, enameled, Âdistressed and painted in more decorative manners Â

Of course, doing anything complex on a ceilingÂs downright exhausting (even with scaffolding, itÂs hard to hold a paintbrush over your head for more than 15 minutes at a time) but IÂm wondering if vinyl paper needs to be Âeased like paper does, and if some of that couldnÂt be done before itÂs hung, or if it would flex/crack right off?

Have you checked "faux tin"? A friend of ours used them as a backsplash and I know she was on a really tight budget so they might not be too pricey for your bathroom remodel. There were quite a few places when I googled them, including Armstrong, that carried a vinyl product in a tile where you wouldn't have to worry about peeling. Good luck, it sounds like it would look wonderful in your bathroom.

Decorpas, the color of the walls is toasted almond- not the inside of the almond, the outside, so its brown, The color picks up the granite countertop colors.

onourway2nc - the Faux Tin is plastic. They want $276 for an 8 by 7.5 foot room. While that's not a fortune, it's a bit much if I have a better alternative. There is another type of faux tin, but it is styrofoam and kind of cheesy.

The mold issue concerns me, because this is the main bath and it does get used daily for showers. Maybe I can find a stencil and faux paint the tin ceiling...

Scarlett: Today as I gazed at the ceiling in our bath, I thought of you and the wallpaper and now I think I may know how you might make it work!

It will require to follow all instructions to the letter in letting all materials cure the proper amount of time before going on to the next step. It may involve very quick showers for your family for a few days to keep the overall moisture level down as much as possible. (Is there a spare bath that everyone can use for a few days?)

First: paint the ceiling w/ one coat of the special kit/bath paint made of high moisture areas. This is your base and your "primer". Let cure.

Second: hang the wallpaper using a paste recco'd for your paper. Be sure to measure the "tin" pattern so it will fall in a pleasing manner. Hang the paper and let the glue fully cure before using the room.

Third: (I think this is the secret to making this work). Purchase moulding to use as trim around the perimiter of the room. (We used a large 1/4 round in our small bath to keep everything in scale). CAULK!!! Caulk the trim to the ceiling and to the wall. No cracks, no gaps!

Fourth: (The rest of the secret). Paint the paper, trim, caulk w/ the kit/bath paint. The paint will further seal all the edges!

Tah Dah!! If this is done correctly, there will be nowhere for moisure to penetrate. If you have to allow for ventilation fans or lights in the ceiling, just be sure to CAULK around all the edges of the paper.

Scarlett, here is the best stencil place I've ever found. They're in England and I don't truly know if they ship but oh the patterns they have! Seems to me you could print them out and get a stencil cutter and make your own.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Stencil Library

ok, you got me at the "can be applied right over popcorn ceilings" -- has anyone done this?!?

We have the "tin ceiling wallpaper" on the ceiling in our kitchen and bathroom, installed by the PO (about 5-7 years ago). The kitchen is in great shape...the bathroom has some slight "peeling corner" and a few "peeling seams" on it....the bath is not used for showers very often--our kids are still at the bath stage. When they do start showering (2 girls--I know that shower will get a workout!) I will have to address the problem. I have thought about the molding/caulk/painting as a solution to the problem. I think it would work, but I don't have any experience with it yet. But it does look great (even with some loose edges) Good luck.

On the subject of styrofoam ceiling tiles: I saw them at the home show and chuckled. However, I did sign up for a demo of one of their other products--crown molding/moulding. The guy came out to give me an estimate and I rejected it as way too expensive for me.

He then showed me the ceiling tiles. I didn't have the heart to tell him "no way". He said that he was installing them in a multi-million $ home down the street and asked if I wanted to see the product installed. I said a resounding "yes" only because I was dying to tour that house. I was blown away with what I saw and hired him to do my "low end" foyer. I don't tell anyone (so keep my secret) that it is Styrofoam.

This may or may not help, but I had that "wall" paper on my ceiling in my dining room. It IS very lovely and eye-catching. Would I use it in a bathroom? Absolutely! One warning. Putting it on is defying the force of gravity. It took 3 people to hold one piece in place long enough for the glue to "take" as someone smoothed it.

Mustangs your ceiling looks WONDERFUL. These tiles are deceiving and up close it can look suspicious but once finished and up on the ceiling I think they look great. The instructions to put up are follows (I have not installed these myself I have only seen them and read about them):

 To install polystyrene tiles youÂll need a knife, pencil, straight edge (to cut the tiles), putty knife and AcrylPro ceramic tile adhesive (from Home Depot).

1. Wipe off the ceiling. Remove loose plaster, paint, wall paper etc. For popcorn (stucco) ceilings no special preparations required.

2. Draw an angle: draw straight lines in the corner (in width and length part) and make a 90o angle for starting point of pasting.

3. Apply the adhesive: We recommend to use Acrylic Base wall tileÂs adhesive (which could be found at any local building supplies store).

4. Place & Press: Place the first tile at the central point of your room and press firmly but gently. Put the next tile side by side to the first tile (butt joint) along the straight line perpendicular to the wall.

scarlett2001 has this helped you at all? Are you interested in more info on the ceiling tiles or are you bent on the idea of the textured paper?

Here is a link that might be useful: here is another source for tiles with some on sale

Mustangs, your ceiling is gorgeous. Did you watch how he painted it so you could tell us?

Thanks for the comments.

The tiles came painted, I had a number of finishes to choose from. I selected something sort of plain relative to the ones used in the mansion which were very ornate and the ceilings were 30'; mine are only 18'.

Your selection is excellent!

I did a search and found a company that seems reasonable.

They have 2X4 panels for $18, if my brain is working correctly, that comes to $2.25 a square foot.

It is real metal too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Perhaps this will work for someone.

mustangs,

Do you know where your installer got those tiles? And I love the color if you know that as well. I hate it, I can't get the site that msjay2u liked us to (syrodecor.com) to load. I have a fairly big area (400 sq ft)to cover and I'd love to do the styrofoam tiles if the price is right.

I don't know where his source for the product but here is his website. I made a spontaneous decision after seeing the installation at the mansion, normally I would go into analysis paralysis first. It was pricey but I am so pleased with the project that I didn't regret it and thankfully DH didn't ask (I think he was afraid). The guy was a master and did a great job.

As I look at his website, I think it looks better in person than the photos reflect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ceiling Tiles

I've never done links before with HTML so if this doesn't work, I'll slither out of here with my tail between my legs.

Paintable Wallpaper

Paintable Ideas

Paintable Large Squares

"Large Squares" makes me think if this would be possible:
Get your rolls of paintable Faux Tin wallpaper, cut out each square.
Use wallpaper paste for heavier paper and just like applying wallpaper, put up each cut out square individually?
I would think it might be more trouble ---cutting out those large squares---but soooo much easier and it wouldn't take two people.

I've painted lots of paintable wallpaper and it's really easy to create that 'old' look.
I painted the whole roll first (although I didn't put it on the ceiling) and then applied it to the wall.

Since it's a ceiling, wouldn't it be easier to cut out the squares and adhere them to the wall individually?

Once it's dry, a couple thin coats of water-based poly should seal the whole thing, no?
OK, just thinking out loud.

Ok, so that didn't work.

Here are the links I tried to post above.
Maybe someone here can make them clickable for Scarlett2001.

http://lelandswallpaper.com/paintwall.htm

http://www.fyhome.com/shopping/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1627

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000N3VWLK/finishingcominc

Wow Mustangs --- That's incredible, beautiful!

Amity,

I ordered a sample of that kind paper a while back, but they didn't have the large squares (I see them on one of the sites you posted) and that is more what I was looking for (less busy). I have heard that you have to be careful when applying this type of paper to be sure you don't press out the dimension. Did you find that a problem? Also, I don't have any experience on painting to make it look old. Any ideas on how to copy the look of mustangs?

Everyone's always going on about "moisture on the walls" and "moisture on the ceiling" in bathrooms - doesn't anyone use an exhaust fan??? In our previous house I took hour-long scalding-hot baths and DH took lengthy, steamy showers (he worked out a lot and would be very sore later) and we never had moisture on the walls or the ceilings or the spendy handprinted wallpaper borders because we used our fan religiously! It was an 8x8 room and the window and mirror didn't even fog in the slightest if you turned on the fan. We invested in a very quiet fan so we could run it during a bath/shower without feeling like we were under a jet engine, but it wasn't expensive as these things go. (If you don't need a light, an 80cfm Panasonic WhisperCeiling fan can be had under $100. We had to get up on a stepstool directly underneath our fan to hear it, and we only had 7.5' ceilings there!) We also did not use the "bathroom and kitchen paint" in our main bathroom - I got talked into it for the secondary bathroom and hated the shiny finish.

What was the place you were looking at for the "faux tin"? Surfacing Solution has white styrene faux tin panels for $12 each delivered, no minimum order, and by my (admittedly bad and probably wrong LOL) math you only need 8 of them. That's $96. It's more than the $12 but installation looks extremely easy and you can even prefinish them before installing. They can go right over popcorn ceilings once you vacuum off any loose chunks. I ordered samples and while they looked kind of chintzy sitting on the kitchen counter, but when I taped the piece to the ceiling even unfinished it looked surprisingly good. We're considering doing tin ceiling for the entire first floor (because it's far cheaper than having the rather trashed ceilings all replastered or sheetrocked!) and will probably use this product because we're both cheap and lazy. :-) (Thanks to Les for recommending it.)

Sorry about the bad link. here is a link (below) to Mustangs tile....I think!

Also I have an order sitting in the shopping cart to order the unfinished tiles. Remember these tiles are 20"x20" so if you do decide to order any you divide your total sq footage by 2.78 to get your number of tiles. Remember to order extra. I found the postage on this link (which is www.styrodecor.com) to be the most reasonable. Had to be if I order them (me and my cheap self LOL). I decided to check here first to see if anyone found them cheaper and I am going to check the links out now.

Good Luck in whatever you decide and POST PICTURES :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Mustangs Tile

i CLICKED ON THAT LINK FOR THE TIN CEILINGS then clicked on the installation instructions. Good Lord that looks so much more complicated! I rather snap a line and dab some glue and be done with it.

This probably is not what you are looking for, but we put a tin ceiling up in our kitchen. Actually a friend did it. The link is a picture of our kitchen actually.

Here is the link
http://www.tinology.com/Tin-Ceiling-Installation-2-p/tc-2.htm

Granted he is in So Cal, so may not be what you wanted. I do love it and it was my WOW factor for my small kitchen redo.

I did use the paintable wall paper for my accent wall that leads from my living room to my family room. I would post the pic, but photo bucket is down. Will have to post later.

Toodles,

Many, many thanks to all who posted here! We decided to go with the wallpaper as a first effort, with all suggested cautions. If that doesn't work, we will next try the styrene tile. Your help has been wonderful.

Please post a picture and let us know your experience. I'm still undecided on my basement, so I'd love to hear how it goes :-)

Thanks,
Robbi

I went to Home Depot yesterday and found 18 x 24 thermoplastic sheets looking like tin backsplashes. Has anyone used these? The one color I saw didn't look too bad. I think they were 17.98 a sheet.

I've put up the 'tin' paper (with ease) on my foyer and upstairs hallway and bathroom ceilings. The simple little trick I used is to cut the paper in 2' pieces. I cut around the design, glue it really well, and then put it up like a jig-saw puzzle. No hassle whatsoever; it's seamless if done properly, and it looks like a million bucks painted!

I have real tin ceiling in my house and when i came to the bathroom with opted the plastic looking panels.They are 2 feet by 4.Very easy to installed a the cost was a fraction of what the tin ceiling cost.My only concern for the wallpaper would be steam from the shower and having wallpapered many rooms it would be very hard to do over head.Good luck with your decision.We would love to see pics when your done.

This thread is from 2008.