Patching and Plastering - How to blend 2 existing plastered ceilings together each with own pattern?

Hello,

We are going to remodel our kitchen this spring. We'd like to take down part of the wall between the kitchen and dining room to open the kitchen up more. We'd like to take the wall down all the way to the ceiling so that the kitchen and dining room ceilings will be one unified ceiling.

We had a plasterer out this week and he is weary to do this since while each existing ceiling is currently plaster, each has a different pattern and he's unsure how he would blend the 2 together to patch the 5 1/2" wide x 6' long gap we'd be making in the ceiling by removing the wall all the way up.

We thought of leaving a header up to keep the 2 ceilings separate, but then that really messes up our kitchen cabinet design.

Any ideas how we can take the wall down all the way to the ceiling like we want and blend the 2 ceilings together? I'd post some pictures but I'm not allowed (not sure why). Thanks for the help.

Mark

Hey Mark,

You could skim coat the 2 ceilings and either leave them slick or texture them.

mark

The pattern in the dining room ceiling is really nice (a bunch of decorative circles going out from the center of the ceiling) and we don't want to cover it up. Plus it matches other ceilings in the house.

Now the kitchen ceiling on the other hand, that's nothing special, but it's in good shape. I have thought of biting the bullet and tearing down the entire kitchen ceiling and having it redone from where the dining room ceiling ends. But that seems an awful waste too. Frustrating trying to figure this out.

Could you scrape the texture off of the kitchen ceiling, skim and then duplicate the dining rm texture? Although with the swirls radiating from the center, it might not look right. Are both rooms the same approximate size?

btw, I forgot:o
you can post pics using a free service like Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com)

Sounds like you have and are doing something I will be doing also. Kitchen is smooth, dining room has a nice texture even, like yours, the half circles going around the room from the centerpiece and I want to remove the wall between them. But I plan just to tear it all out and re-plaster.