my lanai upgrade.
A few years ago, we decided to finally fix the seam tape (used to conceal the joining of drywall boards) that was coming loose and starting to buckle.
I love sitting on my back porch or lanai, as it is called in Florida.
It is my favorite way to relax in the evening, and the nights are lovely here.
Sidenote: The blue on the ceiling in the picture below is a reflection of the pool and not paint.
I knew the problem wasn’t structural, so it wasn’t urgent.
But after a while, that little tape issue started to mock me!
I no longer loved sitting out there in the evenings—sad!
After researching various options and looking at a TON of pictures on Pinterest, I installed a grid ceiling to support and hide the imperfections happening before my eyes.
Below is a rough sketch of how I envisioned my lanai ceiling.
I wanted to paint the ceiling aqua-blue, so I went with Sherwin-Williams’ “Tame Teal.”
In the south, porch ceilings are painted blue for a reason.
This blue is called “haint” blue.
Haint blue is any shade of blue used to ward off evil spirits. Cool!
Did you know that lumber made out of plastic was a thing? WHAT?! Game changer!!!
This is PERFECT for outdoor applications.
I bought ten 1×4 12-foot long pieces of PVC (plastic) lumber and painted them my ceiling color – Tame Teal.
I had to paint them inside because the Florida humidity would not let the paint dry.
While the paint was drying, I used my favorite stud finder to find the roof trusses on the ceiling.
My husband helped me snap a chalk line across the ceiling where the trusses are.
After we drew the lines, we held up one of the 12-foot boards and marked where the chalk lines were (I could not lift the long boards by myself due to the length).
We then pre-drilled the holes for the screws to fit. Pre-drilling keeps the boards from splitting.
Here are the first few boards we put up.
After we installed the two vertical boards, I finished the rest of the ceiling myself.
Notice the difference in color between the two pictures?
It is the same color at different times of the day. 😉
I filled the screw holes and caulked around the edges after this picture was taken.
It looks great, and I can now enjoy my time out here without looking at a peeling ceiling.😎
In the comments below, let me know if you enjoyed “My Lanai Upgrade.”
I would LOVE to hear your input! Yay!
