Smooth wall is very nice and modern but it has to be done right because it will show lots of imperfections if you do smooth go level 4 or 5 smooth wall

It seems like this topic is not of interest to most Houzzers! Definitely does not inspire the same level of comment as "Should I paint my kitchen cabinets?" Thanks for your comment.

CORRECTION: It seems my existing texture is actually "Skip Trowel", as shown here: http://renovatedceilings.com/drywall-finishing/

Smooth. There are posts all over Houzz asking how to get rid of knockdown and other textures, popcorn ceilings, etc. Smooth is appropriate for any era of house.

How much skin is removed from your knuckles when you swipe them across the existing texture.

Smooth is good and modern looking if that is what you are looking for. If not keep the same texture, but to actually match it is not simple and takes a professional who has been doing it for a long time.

personally I like knock down for covering blemishes and remodels but a very light orange peel has a nice effect painted in a semi gloss. We are going to be skim coating our ceiling and doing a knock down this summer--I have a early 60's 4level split with a race track ceiling in the living room.

Most of our projects are taking texture to smooth wall. We rarely do orange peel or knock down as we don't do tract work. Modified skip trowel...sometimes.

Smooth is always in style

My vote is if your renovating now - GO SMOOTH. It is a more timeless classic look.

For the textures, there are tons of ceiling textures - depends upon the trades people hired to do it - what is their specialty. And, to try and match to your old texture is impossible - trust me, I've tried and had to redo entire rooms because we couldn't match properly enough. Save yourself the headache now and get rid of it -it really isn't adding any value unless it is a very unique ceiling pattern - like lemon meringue pie looks are more unique and impossible to mimmick.

Some ceiling textures for you first is a 1950's renovation I completed where we kept the merengue ceiling, but worked it in with a smooth transition border to the newer areas where a smooth ceiling was more appropriate - that way, we kept the history, and the gorgeous texture in the living room.

The other photos are of typical speckle and knock down applications - good luck with your project.

Thank you for your great comments. I never heard all this "Level 5" wall texture talk before, I half thought my GC was making it up. Now you have educated me.

I'm not sure it makes my decision easier though. I really value consistency throughout a house, and I'm worried that having super-smooth modern walls and ceiling in just some rooms will make the rest of the skip trowel walls look dated and dowdy. I mean even more dated and dowdy than they already do.

You might be able to find somebody to skip trowel just do research it's not easy to do but if you can I would make the whole house smooth.

@soberg: The textured walls are indeed dated. If you value consistency in interior finishes, bite the bullet and get it done smooth. Don't add more dowdy to dowdy.

Real estate in Sunnyvale is increasing in value, too, for obvious reasons. Take the weekend to look at some houses for sale that are just above yours in price; see what the finishes are like for the "fixed up" ones that are selling like hotcakes. You'll need to do it in person because wall finishes don't usually show up on MLS photos (except for supersmooth gloss finishes in Manhattan penthouses and troweled on Venetian plaster in Texas Tuscan villas).

UPDATE: I ended up selecting Level 4 smooth finishes in my main rooms and entry (actually, my GC threw it in for free as a thank you for the way I handled the furnace/asbestos debacle). I am stunned at how gorgeous and modern they look! Along with my $7,000 worth of recessed lights (many LED) and 4 Solatubes, the place practically gleams! Smooth was a great choice. I also pulled the old oak trim (of which part had been installed wrong anyway, when house was built), so all room-to-room doorways have no casing, just drywall finish. This also looks very updated.

Bedrooms and bedroom hallway remain skip trowel. It's not really that rough and certainly would not take any skin even off a lady's knuckles.

Bottom line: Go smooth. One of the best decisions so far and it was one that - even with my obsessive years of research - I didn't even know was a possibility. Thanks Houzzers!

P.S. on trim: Only one opening had ever been cased and the trim was puny and undersized and did not match anything else, especially my much beefier window casings in dark stained poplar. The oak trim (enough to case a 7' wide standard height opening on both sides) did not get even a nibble on Freecycle but I still have it for anyone who wants it..... Just trying to protect myself pre-emptively from the wood-trim-loving patrol..... :-)

Smooth is nice if you have interest in doing a faux finish. Just a standard paint job risks showing all minor imperfections.

I live in a house with smooth finish drywall. I had a second home built in 2004 with the knockdown finish all done by the same builder. I liked the rougher finish as it seemed a more casual look, but it was at the beach. I still had it all painted, did some myself and it was not really harder to paint.. I even did some sponge painting in the powder room. The advantage comes with decorating and making holes from nails- you can spackle and touch up paint and not worry about it showing. It did not matter to me about the finish.

It was recommended by several house flipper types to do knockdown since it can hide a lot of imperfections. I walked into the ($40,000) renovation I am doing tonight and wasn't all that happy with the product. It looks like cheep-o apartment walls to me. It is in the LR, DR and converted garage and on the ceilings. I have a stopping point after the hall is done which means the full bath in hall, 2 bedrooms at end of hall, and the master BR and BA (also at end of hall) will have knockdown on the ceilings, but not the walls. Is this going to look weird?? The house is 1400 sq ft. I am not ill, but pretty disappointed.

I have the same question about leaving the 1980's texture on ceiling and skim coating walls to achieve a smooth finish. My texture is heavy and looks like wide swipes of frosting swirls. I'm also wondering if it is a plaster since the flat areas have a texture look rather than super smooth like all purpose compound produces (there was mesh corner bead also).

Karen, I have the frosting swirls ceiling (looks like your photo above) in just the dining room of our 1929 home. I know it isn't original, but I don't know what era to blame for it. I hate it and am constantly annoyed by looking at it. The rest of our walls and ceilings are smooth, thank heavens, and some day we'll get around to fixing that one. If I had a house full of it I would be even more anxious to make a change to a smooth finish.

The material may be Artex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artex

And it may contain asbestos, so I recommend having it evaluated before planning removal.

Is is appropriate to have a smooth ceiling in a bathroom, but have textured ceilings in the rest of the house?

I have knockdown on all walls except bathrooms which are orange peel. Took popcorn off ceilings and am wondering what to replace it with. Any advise?

My walls are to imperfect for a smooth texture. How does a light orange peel look compared to smooth. Does it look like it was a miss?