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Original poster

Artex ceilings- worth getting rid?

43 replies

JoanIsNotAwful · 20/04/2025 19:03

I have an 80s house with artex ceilings throughout. The icicle pokey style one, not the ones with interesting patterns.

I want to decorate throughout as currently it's just very boring cream in every single room. I'm paying someone to do this because I don't have time or the skills to do so, so it's quite an investment.

I can't decide whether to get all the ceilings plastered over before decoration or not. I don't really like it at all, but it turns out that having it replastered will be a real hassle because a) all the rooms have spotlights which we need an electrician to sort out before the plastering and b) the plasterer wants the beds removed from the rooms to do the bedrooms which is going to be a huge undertaking as they were all made in the room and we have a king in one bedroom and a super king in another and I don't even know if we can dismantle and remake them.

Decorator would be happy to work around the beds but plasterer isn't.

What would you do? Have you had yours plastered over and found it a huge positive difference, or has anyone left them alone and regretted it?

Previous owners said they did asbestos test and was clear hence being able to install all the spotlights, but we don't have a copy of the test so don't know whether to redo ourselves.

OP posts:
buriedminion · 20/04/2025 19:07

Tbh all my house has artexed ceilings (80s house) and the only time I notice them is when I’m painting them.

i genuinely wouldn’t bother spending money and have the hassle. I don’t know why people are so anti. Of all the houses I visit I couldn’t tell you what the ceilings are like!

SunnySideDeepDown · 20/04/2025 19:12

100% get rid, it never looks good and dates decoration. A clean replaster is the most important foundation of redecoration in my opinion.

PinedApple · 20/04/2025 19:18

Didn’t like ours when we moved in but honestly now I don’t really notice them or care about what’s in style - I like how my home is decorated so that’s all that matters really! If I was selling up I would consider it.

Fadesto · 20/04/2025 19:19

Never look at the ceiling in anyone’s house, barely look at the ceiling in my own house, so I probably wouldn’t bother

Hollieandtheivie · 20/04/2025 19:20

I think if you are thinking about selling in the future is the most important factor. If not, don't bother. It's a very messy job.

Nextdoor55 · 20/04/2025 19:46

If it's not deep artex you might get away with thick paint which is designed to cover things like artex. That way the decorator can do it instead of the plasterer?

LavenderBlue19 · 20/04/2025 20:30

We didn't bother in our 80s house. We couldn't afford it before moving in and it seemed such a huge hassle to do when we decorated (slowly, by room), it just didn't seem worth it.

I suppose it will affect resale value a bit, but we've lived here nearly 10 years and I can honestly say I barely think about them now. Of course it would be nice if they were done but it's no big deal.

That said, I think if I were to move into another house with them I would try to get them sorted while the house was empty.

Original poster
JoanIsNotAwful · 20/04/2025 20:34

Thanks all.

Hopefully not selling for several decades so not bothered about that.

I don't know if I should just try and get used to it, but to be honest I do look at them quite a bit and I don't like what I see.

I like the look of painting ceilings an interesting colour or the same colour as the walls etc and just can't picture whether it'll look really horrible with artex? I'm trying to find any nicely decorated colourful rooms with artex but have failed so far, so I just can't work out if it'll be a big regret to keep them as they are.

Really wish we'd delayed moving in for a few weeks now and got it done when empty!

OP posts:
Artrunner · 20/04/2025 21:24

Could you remove the mattress from the beds and turn the beds on the side and the mattresses on the side and put them against seperate walls. dust sheet them up very well ,that would give the plasterer more space to work with? Or he could move them around more easily to work around them?

We have bought a house with artex ceilings in every room except kitchen. I'm getting them skimmed as we refurbish the house i bloody hate them!!

Silsatrip · 20/04/2025 21:30

We have redone ours over the years...amazing how much brighter a room is without it.

Veggielepsy · 20/04/2025 21:37

If beds are the issue I would just do the living room and maybe dining/ entrance way.

I think it'll be quite nice keeping a little bit of an 80s remnant in a less obvious area as part of the history of the house and it can be painted with a thick Matt paint to make it less obvious. I wouldn't go to that trouble with the beds of they're in good condition

puffylovett · 20/04/2025 21:39

We overboard ours but we didn’t plaster we just taped, jointed and easy filled the joints. You’d never know and I much prefer it, couldn’t stand the old artex!

puffylovett · 20/04/2025 21:39

Sanding the easifill created loads of dust though, so actually that was a pointless post as it wouldn’t work for you unless you could remove your mattresses.

Angrymum22 · 20/04/2025 21:45

A word of warning, some artex contains asbestos. Before you try and remove it you may need to get it checked. Anything applied before 1999, when it was banned, could potentially contain asbestos.
There are plenty of firms who can do a simple survey and take a sample for testing.

100PercentFaithful · 20/04/2025 21:48

I’d leave them. No doubt they will become desirable again.
They aren’t ugly.

LittleGreenDuck · 21/04/2025 07:56

We have the same icicle type. We've left them, they don't bother me and I'm waiting for them to become a "period feature".

Needapadlockonmyfridge · 21/04/2025 08:00

I had mine skimmed. Made a big difference to the look of the rooms.

Previously in another house with shallower "artex" I used a cover up paint. It didn't completely get rid , but was much better afterwards!

RosesAndHellebores · 21/04/2025 08:05

Our drawing room ceiling had been artexed. I have no idea why as the house was built in 1923 and it would have been done later. We couldn't plaster board because of cornicing and the section between cornice and picture rail had also been artexed.

It's a big room and it cost about £1500 but worth every single penny.

In a 50/60s/70s house where they were original, I think I could live with them as part of the original style. I'm not sure I can imagine spotlights in an icicle artex ceiling.

theresnolimits · 21/04/2025 08:06

We did ours. I didn’t think it was that expensive for the work involved although, yes, the furniture moving and painting was a pain. But it made a huge difference imo, making the whole house look more modern and each room brighter. I wish I’d done it earlier.

Solocatmum · 21/04/2025 08:10

i wouldn’t have anyone drill into it without having it tested yourself first.

i think I would get rid of it. I had it in sitting room at previous and didn’t bother me much, but a bedroom is different as you look up a lot.

Goforhappy · 21/04/2025 08:13

We did ours, the whole house had a different artex style in every room and it was visually 'noisy'. Things look much less cluttered and busy now. However of all the tradespeople we have had in, Plasterers have been the messiest, empty the rooms if you can (and consider it can take over a week to dry out properly, smells wet and makes your house feel damp while it dries - we had condensation from the plaster on every window and door for a couple of days)

sorrynotathome · 21/04/2025 08:16

I used to be anti-Artex but I’ve moved into a house with some. Once painted a nice bright white they’re fine! All the houses around me (80s estate) have them and there are some pretty cool designs. Some people have got rid of course. My rooms are all quite large and ceilings are high enough so you’d never really notice anyway.

anon2022anon · 21/04/2025 08:18

We've had them skimmed in every room we've decorated in our house so far. Yes it costs money, but I absolutely don't think there's any point in paying money for the room to be redecorated, it will still look old fashioned at the end of it with those ceilings. Doing it this way means that we've still not redecorated every room after 5.5 years of living here, but at least every room will be done properly at the end of it.

glasgowstations · 21/04/2025 08:20

Yes I’d get it retested for asbestos if you want it sanded. We had it in every room in the house and chipped it all off then replastered over. It’s was particularly long and spiky! We also found that it had been plastered over some rather thick wallpaper (on the ceiling…I don’t even know what era that would have been) so once we got the artex off we had to get the wallpaper off…it had clearly been a smokers house because steaming the ceiling resulting in black tar streaming down our arms. It was the grossest messiest thing we did. I still have nightmares about it but was worth it for the lovely clean flat ceilings we have now.

TennesseeStella · 21/04/2025 08:20

I live in a 70s semi, all the ceilings are artex, even the bathroom. 😭 I'm slowly doing up the house room by room and every single one of them will be getting plastered over, no matter how much it costs or how messy it gets!