It feels strange sharing that we gave the ceiling in our entryway a refresh already, considering we just moved into our home December, 2022.  BUT.. that was part of the deal.  We had our builder finish all of the walls with paint and we would add all of the texture.  I knew I wanted vertical and horizontal shiplap in a few places, bead board, different trim, wallpaper, etc.  I finished wallpapering the dining room and have a post started but haven’t gotten the photos shot. So that will be done soon.  However, we just finished hanging and painting the tin ceiling wallpaper in our entryway today and I could not wait to share.

Tin Ceiling Wallpaper in our Entryway

Sources:  Tin Ceiling Wallpaper / Metallic Paint

I have to tell you a little story first.  This tin ceiling wallpaper is one that I used in my first house post divorce in 1999.  The house had plaster walls which were in rough shape.  There weren’t huge cracks but if you have ever seen plaster walls in a house from 1940, most aren’t smoothe.  They actually even had a texture if I remember correctly. They used a brush to make a fan motion. You’ve seen it I’m sure.  That decorative looking plaster wasn’t my style, so I hung textured wallpaper over it in every room of the house that had that design.  They make SO MANY PRETTY designs in this wallpaper.  It’s a thick paper that is paintable and is actually made to hide walls that aren’t in the best of shape.  You can also hang this over paneling, which is what we did in our first flip house.

See all of the pretty designs here.

I remember that my family room had a leaf pattern.  The dining room had this exact tin ceiling pattern that I used on the ceiling in our entryway.  And, I can’t remember what the other pattern was but I think I had three total.  I LOVED it. The fact that it is paintable is great so you can change the colors when the mood strikes you and you don’t have to remove it.  

I have had all of this wallpaper in my stash for a few years.  It was supposed to be hung in the bedroom in the cottage, aka Deb’s workshop, when we lived there.  But, I didn’t want to put all of the work into that room.  A few weeks ago, I got the idea to hang it on the entryway ceiling to make it look like a tin ceiling and give it some much needed texture.  Since we are considered pros now, I thought I would give you a few tips.  Ha!

Tips for hanging wallpaper on the ceiling….

Beg for help. Ha!   

If it is a really small room, like a bathroom, and you can reach each side of the room while standing on a ladder, you could do it alone. Or.. you could cut the wallpaper in manageable sized pieces and match the seams.  Our entryway is roughly 8′ x 12′ and I didn’t want pieces.  I truly thought I could do this myself and was willing to try.  Deb is so sweet.  She said she wanted to help me as my Valentine’s Day gift. So I had help..otherwise, there is no way.  One person has to hold the excess wallpaper while the other hangs it and removes the bubbles. It took us about half a day, but we made it.  I have it all shared over on social media if you missed it.  The first piece took FOREVER, but we got better as we went like all projects. 

This paper is pre-pasted which is my favorite kind.  It doesn’t cut easily with a knife so you may have to crease it and cut it with a scissors.  Also.. follow the directions because otherwise it tears easy.  We left it set the full five minutes to activate the glue and it seemed like it tore less doing that.  It is simple to paint. The edges, where it meets up to the wall, take a bit longer to cut in due to the texture. I didn’t touch up our wall color because we are adding crown moulding.

Since I wanted this to look like a tin ceiling, I wanted to find some bronze colored metallic paint.  That was so hard to locate for us in our area.  I actually had to order it online and then have them mix it for me because it comes in gold.  

This is the brand we found!

This particular brand comes in all of the colors below, but I chose Bronzed Ochre and had them mix it only 75% of the formula because I didn’t want it too dark.  I LOVE the color of this and think it would have been too dark for me if I would have had them do the full formula.  The below formula is directly from our can so if you want the same color, you can take it to your paint store. 

This is only the beginning of adding texture to this entryway of ours.  We have the entire stairway planned that Deb wants to start on next week.  She was just finishing up her designs for that.  And the crown moulding as I mentioned above. Stay tuned for those projects.  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions for me about this wallpaper and I will answer them when I get a chance.

Check out all of our other posts where we added texture to our home!