How to Do a Ceiling With Stucco Finish

Pull all the furniture out of the room. Lay tarps out over the floor.

Use your paint scraper to remove all the paint and any other loose material from the ceiling. Get it completely clean and flat.

Brush a coat of primer around the edges of the ceiling with a paintbrush. Cover the rest of the ceiling with primer using a paint roller.

Let the primer set for 24 hours.

Lay stucco paint onto the ceiling at one end, covering about 5 feet. Roll out stucco over the rest of the surface, from the stucco you brushed on, outward onto the open portion of the ceiling. Cover an area 5 or 6 feet on a side.

Look at the new textured paint from the floor to assess it for consistency.

Set your rubber grout float into the stucco paint, pressing the flat rubber of the float into the paint and getting it set there. Pull it straight down all at once to make an area of peaks.

Repeat, putting the trowel back into the paint right next to the peaks you just created. Pull it out again. Repeat, setting the float into the paint in little sections that build across the whole surface. (Note: Stop occasionally and make sure the texture you're creating is consistent.)

Add more stucco paint over the next 5- or 6-foot-square section and texture it in the same manner. Continue stepping back and assessing the texture to ensure it's consistent. Do the whole ceiling.