Painting the living room ceiling

 The ceiling was flat and 8' tall. They used a material in the early 1900's called Upson Board, a masonite like product. . Almost felt like an extra stiff painted cardboard. It was applied in 4'x8' pieces and the joints were covered with batten strips.
Many years of moisture caused the material to sag in the center. When I did the pre purchase inspection in the attic, I saw some wonderful old lumber.
One of our first jobs when we bought the house was to remove the 8' high flat  Upson Board ceiling.
This made the living room appear to double in size and exposed the tongue and groove roofing material and massive beams and collar ties .  It was a no brainer not to replace the flat ceiling and go with the cathedral ceiling.
This meant the new wood ceiling would require much cleaning, sanding, wood filler, more sanding, caulking, priming, and painting. The wood had become a very dark brown, almost black , so we knew going to white would be a challenge.
We started the process last week.

                                                                  Original ceiling

With Upson Board ceiling removed

The painting begins

With the addition of the gable window, there is so much more sunlight :0)

This is a Southern exposure so Sun should be coming in all day long.