The beauty of ceilings is they really do fade away from the visual field -- While you may notice them now, I doubt you will once everything is done. (You have so many beautiful elements in your design, I can't imagine anyone looking at your ceiling!)

Unless it is absolutely bone-chillingly horrible, I probably wouldn't worry too much.

Breezygirl,

Short answer: You need to make them come back. I didn't and my husband and I have regretted it. Don't pay them until it's right. If they balk, offer to file a complaint with your state contractors' board. Then do it.

Can it be fixed? Make them scrape it and do it again. If it has been painted over, I don't know if it can be scraped. (Repost this on the Paint Forum for the expert advice. They are awesome over there.) If the contractor contends it can't be scraped, then they can do a skim coat of mud but will likely have to do your ENTIRE ceiling to make it the same height. Then texture, prime, paint.

My story: We had all of our popcorn ceilings removed on the first floor five years ago. We had to do an asbestos decontam specialist and we got a really good one that the school districts all use too. However, their texturing and painting subs did a terrible job matching up the texture in our kitchen (the U didn't have popcorn) and actually forgot to brocade another section. Then they then said all they could do was orange peel the forgotten part. Three ceiling textures in one room.

I have lived with it for FIVE years and we finally found a decent guy to repair it two weeks ago as part of our kitchen remodel. He couldn't believe a professional had left our ceilings in the state they were, but admitted his branch of the construction industry had some of the biggest flakes in it. I can't tell you how pleased we were.

My kids were younger then and I was exhausted (all my first floor furnishings were packed in the garage) and tired of camping and staying at grandma's. So I gave in. Moral of the story: They are counting on you to be too overwhelmed to challenge them. I have been following your story, and I know you can prove them wrong:)

Zac--No, I'm afraid this texture won't fade from view. It's very busy, thick, and heavy. Think almost gothic-like. I'll try to take a pic later and post. Maybe if the little black dots weren't everywhere it would be better. I WILL notice this always, and it WILL creep me out. I'm a texture girl.

Colorfast--Thanks for your story. The drywall company has the reputation of being the best in town. We haven't paid them a penny yet and this job is almost $6500. Up until now, the owner has been very accomodating on the phone with me. He has said several times, "I want you to be happy with our job." I still dread calling him about this. DH already called him last week the day the texture was put on to say how much he loved it! Yikes. I wasn't so sure it was matched well, but I wanted to give it a chance with primer and paint.

If they have to skim the entire ceiling (runs through the kitchen, FR, LR, DR, entry, and hallway), that's about 1100 square feet.

I'm past overwhelmed. With the death of my cat I'm now numb and almost disinterested in the house. I'm trying to snap out of that because I know I don't want to "go along to get along" on the ceiling texture.

I don't want to sound mean, but you need to buck up and get your indignance on. Of course, you need to call the drywall co owner and be polite, but if you sense any sort of brush off, tell him that you will discuss it only in person after he sees the ceiling.
If they are professionals, and they are to be paid a tidy sum, then it is on them to deliver a professional job. You can tell them that from now on, they deal with you. Dh can love it all he wants, but you are the one who has the checkbook and will beholding back payment until you see it has been corrected. As it is now, it will cost you more to get what you want than before they touched it. The responsibility was on them to get it right the first time.

They count on people wanting to be liked and also worn out. If they worried about you liking them, they would have done it better the first time and/or corrected it right away.
Get mad, fired up and determined. Then be polite. They can smell wishy washy a mile away. Polite, firm and persistent wins the race.

Sorry about your cat :( I hope you feel better asap and have more good news to post. You can do this. You work hard for your money and deserve a good outcome.

Pets are so helpful for us humans. I'm sorry you and your family are grieving the loss of your precious kitty.

I like what colorfast and dianalo said. Have the boss come and look for themselves if you get resistance. My observation has been we can pay good money for bad work and good money for good work. When its bad work its like the plumber, "done". This needs to be addressed, after a few deep breaths. Best of luck.

Breezy every time I read your posts I just want to give you a hug and a glass of wine! I am very sorry about your kitty and I hope you get this resolved and that things progress better from here on out. At least you are making progress, slowly but steadily...

Ceiling or wall textures are almost impossible to match, even with top quality trades. It's not the cheapest solution, but the best solution would have been to redo the entire ceiling instead of trying to piecemeal it. At this point, after paint, it's also almost impossible to scrape what's there off cleanly. The best solution would now be to give it a good scrape and put up 1/4" drywall over the whole ceiling. That is well beyond the original scope of the job.

I know you weren't thinking straight, but your husband has already approved the job. If you didn't like it, the time to register that disapproval was before the paint went on. Painting constitutes acceptance. They are owed a check for the work as done. You cannot ask them for a redo at this point without paying them an additional fee. However, if you hate is as much as you say, then perhaps it would be worth it to you to redo it properly with the additional drywall. I would expect those costs to be another 5-6K.

I truly understand how you feel about your beloved cat.
keep good thoughts and memories of him/her in the forefront of your mind.
Allow yourself to grieve for such a loss
I really found reading "the Rainbow Bridge" to be helpful when i was faced with this heartbreaking situation

regarding your ceiling. I do understand that it seems your hubby gave 'sort of approvel' however if the paint has not gone on smoothly, as in everywhere, then that i6s a different thing.
You cannot have a 'spotted' surface and i am sure they will understand
wishing this hurdle becomes a small one soon so you can keep going forward and finally move in ( soon )

I have to disagree. Our gc did something that was not right and I tried to like it his way. At the next step, it got worse, so I spoke up with my displeasure. It had been done differently than in our blueprint and I felt bad that I ultimately could not agree to it. In your case, you did not realize that what you did not like would get worse after painting.
Is there a way you can use some molding to make a break in the ceiling? If you switched to another color for either the old texture or new, that could help minimize it. You just need to think of a way to transition it.
We hope to put tin tiles on our dining room ceiling someday, so maybe something like that could break up the expanse?
From what you said, it is not just the mismatch that is wrong, but the new part looks bad. I'd see how it can be fixed and take it from there. The company owner may have ideas and more experience than the guys in the field.
If not, then post pix and maybe we can brainstorm something here.....

Breezy no idea about the ceiling, but I am so sorry about the loss of your cat. I lost my sweet, beautiful, loving feline friend in January 2009 and still miss her. She wasn't just a pet - she was a loyal pal and I grieved her as much as I've grieved a non-furry buddy. (((Hugs)))

It won't hurt to have the boss come and have a look. I told you about our friends' addition ceiling that was supposed to match the adjoining ceiling. It was close, but not, and definitely didn't fade into the background. It didn't bother them enough to do something about it, but it would've driven me crazy. If it bothers you, and it's as bad as it sounds, address it now.

Dianalo, Enduring, Beagles, Muspic, Natalie--Thank you for the kind thoughts about my precious Achie.

Dianalo--Thanks for the kick in the pants.

Enduring--Yes, deep breaths helped!

Holly--Textures can be difficult to match. If I had liked the new texture I would have been fine keeping it as is. I was assured that they could come very close. They did not.

Muspic--Good point about the spotted surface not accepting paint correctly. And thank you for mentioning "The Rainbow Bridge" even though that one makes me sob.

Rhome--I took your advice about the boss coming to have a look.

UPDATE:
I took a deep breath and politely called the owner. He met with me Monday morning to see it. The first words out of mouth were, "we screwed up." He very sincerely apologized several times for not doing it correctly the first time, for not catching themselves that it wasn't right, and for putting me through the stress of the problem. He nicely told me that they would fix it and do whatever it took to make it right! How great is that?!! Customer service and someone who takes pride in their work being done correctly with a satisfied customer in the end!

He sent his guys back yesterday, and they skimmed the ENTIRE 1100 square feet of ceiling. It must be costing him a lot to send his guys back to work on so many square feet of ceiling. I'm very impressed. If anybody lives in the capital of Washington state and needs a drywall sub, call Mark's Drywall for fabulous customer service!

Good job - you and Mark's Drywall! So glad it worked out for you.

So glad you called the owner to speak with him, and that he also stepped up to fix the problem. In the long run, it's a win-win for both of you, and you will go out of your way now to refer business to them because they want to (and I assume, will) do good work!

Great news!

And, so sorry about your cat. It's hard enough to do a renovation, let alone with young kids, and to have that happen, too, is so sad and stressful.

Thanks Bl!

Jmcgowan--I agree about it being a win-win. Thanks for the kitty condolences.

Just for fun, here's a pic of the ceiling. It was hard to capture on camera with the light that morning, but here's a pic of the ceiling looking from the new texture to the old. You can see the transition just in front of the can lights.

Here's a close-up of the old texture that had only been painted one time before the reno.

Here's are close-ups of the new.

You can see the black dots here.

It's all covered up now with a skim coat. I'm hoping that when they're done it looks more like the second pic.

Breezy,
I've missed you.
So very sorry about your cat.
I lost a cat more than 20 years ago
and I have never been able to get
another. I still miss him.
I do understand and I hope your
happy memories get you through.
~boxerpups

Lavender asked me for some progress pics so I thought I'd post some that show positive progress. These are from last week before the texture went on.

View of the see-thru fireplace looking from family room to living room beyond. Dining room will be where the checkered wall is.

Here's the pantry. Wall ovens will go on the right and fridge on the left.

And I couldn't resist posting one of my favorite pics of Archie. He was older and fatter here (really not as fat as he looks), but very much enjoying helping us with the flagstone project. He loved being with me regardless of the activity. :)

Soooo sorry to read about Archie! I still miss the girls we lost 8 years ago (3 within a 4 month time-span). I do love the two we have now with all my heart as well, though. They're all my babies.

I am glad your drywall guy made good. It stinks that you had to go through the stress before they fixed it, but it's nice to have a happy resolution.

So glad your drywall co owner is a stand up guy. Now if only the workers themselves had caught the mistake sooner, it would have made it easier on everyone...... Hopefully, he explained that to them and it won't happen again. He sounds like a keeper. I hope you post on Angie's List about his reputation for quality. A guy like that deserves it. Anyone can have a mistake, esp by a sub, but he did the right thing and sadly, that isn't so common any more. He deserves praise for that.

Boxer--thank you for your sweet words. I haven't heard anything about your boxer lately. I hope you still have him in good health.

Cat_mom--Three in four months? Oh my. That's horrible. I've lost two in 12 months and that was bad enough.

Dianalo--I'm glad too! If I belonged to Angie's list I would report favorably. Instead, I will recommend him to every person I come in contact with along the reno path. I wish you had a guy like him on your project instead of the incompetents doing your work.

Hi, a long time lurker on your threads. About the colors for your master bedroom, why don't you try surfing around the Color Me Happy (Maria Killam) site? I find her step-by-step breakdown and detailed color advice really helpful. Now when I see things in places I go that look wrong, I know WHY they look wrong. Before, I just thought my taste was different from the decorators.

Breezy- I don't know how I missed this thread...but I'm so sorry about Archie. He sure looks like he was a sweet kitty and I'm so sorry for your loss. You always miss them, but eventually you remember the funny, cute and sweet things they did, and less about them being gone.

Hope the remodel is going well and I wish you and your family all the best!

Hi Slateberry! I love Maria Killam's blog. I've learned so much there. It's very interesting you posted on this today and mentioned Maria. I had a color consult today with a woman who just took Maria's workshop! She helped me choose colors for almost every room in the house. I can't believe how helpful she was! Big shout out to Ellen who recommended her to me.

Lavender--Archie was the most caring cat. (sigh) I still miss him everyday, but it is getting better. We recently decided to adopt a little kitten and her mother. Mom should have the kittens weaned by Halloween! I'm looking forward to more fuzzy babies in the house.

Thank you both for your posts.

I just saw you photo of Archie -- looks so much like a female I had when DH and I married. Brings back memories - she was my law school companion ad the reason my once feral cat (all white) adopted us. My experience has been losing them close together. They went about 3 months apart -- the feral had a bad heart and the other one stopped eating when he was gone. Our two more recent felines went about 4 months apart. The last one was last month after sudden onset of seizures. I put everything on hold for a while. I can't imagine having to deal with that and contractors at the same time. I'm glad you had such a great guy to work with at the time. Hope everything else is going well -- haven't seen how the pendant search is going for a while. :)

Lascatx--Archie was the cat of my lifetime. I'm sorry you lost yours so close together. Now that would be tough.

I put the pendant search on hold for a few days. I'm concerned about your comments and from others about how my lights are rough-in already. I'm planning a research trip to the big city (Seattle) next week to check out lighting stores and maybe hardware. Dragging two little kids along won't be fun, but it's my only option. Maybe I'll find something perfect while I'm up there!