My parents had theirs professionally scraped in their new to them house - it was everywhere. It came out great - completely smooth and I cannot emphasize enough what an amazing difference it made. It was however extremely dusty and they had it done when they were on vacation and the house was basically empty. But if you only have it in one room they should be able to close it off so the dust doesn't get everywhere.

It will work out well. However, do keep in mind that it will be an absolute mess to cleanup and you will need to texture the ceiling to match the walls once it's all removed.

Use a hudson sprayer (garden sprayer) to wet the ceiling with water and soften the material prior to scraping it off. Put down lots of plastic on the floor, walls, over funiture, etc.

Another thing to think about is that the "popcorn" could potentially be an asbestos containing material, thus triggering different disposal and removal techniques. At the minimum wear the best mask you can buy while demoing the ceiling.

We removed all of our popcorn ceiling as well and had a pro texture the ceiling to match the walls. It's a huge mess and be sure to close your air conditioning vents. Dust blew out of the vents throughout the house for a while! It was worth the mess. It really updates the look of the home.

What about applying a textured, paintable wall paper over it? Would that work?!

We have a beaded board ceiling in our bedroom. I love it. It was original to the house, but you could have that put in, I would think-- seems less expensive and less mess than eliminating the popcorn. We have the bead board in a sunroom, too. In the sunroom, it was stained and varnished. In the bedroom, it's painted a haint blue.

I put down plastic sheeting on the floor and sprayed a fine mist of water before scraping. It helped keep the 'dust' from going everywhere. I also worked on small areas at a time. I re-textured using joint compound thinned slightly with water and a flattened brush. If I didn't like the way a section looked, I'd scrape it off and try again. Once dry, it was painted.

Using water is the way to go. I had a garage that had that stuff on the WALLS! It took about two weeks to tackle that myself, as it was best for me to do it section by section with some warm water to loosen it. In some places, the humidity and water actually got it to come off in sheets. Make an appointment for a massage ahead of time... :) That will be the carrot you'll need when your back and arms are giving out.

love that idea Dianahb! I think that I just might do that in my master bedroom. do you think it would work with the tray ceiling in there?

i just finished taking out all of our popcorn ceilings on the first floor, except for the living room, which was scraped. What a complete mess! I don't ever want to go thru that again. We put in a bunch of recessed lighting cans, and that's why we removed the ceiling rather than scraped in many areas. It is worth it, and I love the ceilings now- they even seem higher now, which is great. I should have done one room at a time, but i just wanted it done.

Christyheggie, I had a geometric imprint paintable wallpaper put on the ceiling, added crown moulding, and painted white. It looked great in my sunroom.
The scraping I did myself and it came off so easily with fabric softener added to the water.

squeakerpuppy, thanks! I haven't heard of adding fabric softener to the water. I suppose you rinsed the ceiling before applying the wallpaper?

No. I didn't rinse at all. Squirt and scrape. That's it. I used liquid Downey. I've read that Dawn works well too. I tried it with just water but it didn't come down as quickly in my case.
That wallpaper was still firmly in place years later when the person I sold the house to let me take a tour through. This was in south Florida too, where the humidity wreaks havoc on wallpaper.

Crazy as it sounds, doing that ceiling was my favorite DIY task ever. It was so satisfying. Now I have them again but this time I fear asbestos because of the build year so I'm putting bead board on the ceiling. I love that look.