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For larger areas, like painting walls, a roller is the best option for applying eggshell paint. Rollers are made to hold more paint and spread it evenly and efficiently over your wall. A roller will be faster and give you a more even coat than a brush for painting walls and ceilings, and it will avoid the visible texture you’d get from brushstrokes for a clean finish. For smaller areas, like trim, a brush will work so long as you remember to paint with the grain of the wood.

Whether it’s better to roll or spray exterior house paint depends on your skill level, budget, and time constraints. Spraying produces even coverage quickly and efficiently, but mastering the technique can be challenging, and you might have to do a lot of splatter cleanup. Plus, renting or buying a sprayer costs more than budget-friendly rollers. Professional painters typically opt for spraying as it takes them less time and effort to get a flawless finish than rolling.

If your popcorn ceiling is asbestos-free and you are ready for a new look, painting is an option. As long as there is no flaking or other wear, a new coat of paint might be just the thing to refresh the old ceiling. The best way to paint a popcorn ceiling is to use either a paint sprayer or a thick roller to cover the popcorn texture fully. (Do not forget to dust it off beforehand!)

“Note that if you eventually want to remove the popcorn ceiling, a painted ceiling is a labor-intensive job to remove and will cost more,” says Bob Tschudi. “Once painted, the process of removing the popcorn ceiling requires physical scraping as opposed to a spray-and-scrape approach. It’s very labor-intensive, and thus more costly.”

First, make sure that you tape off all the areas that you don’t want to paint black. It’s harder to paint a light color over black than to touch up any lighter spots you missed. Once you’ve taped it off, make sure that the surface is clean and smooth, and then prime the wall with a tinted primer in gray. This step will help to transition from a lighter color to a darker one.