A freshly painted ceiling greatly improves the look of a room. It is my preference to work from the top down when painting a room. As a result this is the first thing that I am doing here. I have been lucky and haven’t had to use an oil based primer to prevent the popcorn from pulling away from the drywall, but some people might not be so lucky. I find that ceilings in general, and textured ceilings in particular have a tendency to be a bit messy when painting. The big takeaways are to not overwork an area as it could create a moist layer between the popcorn and drywall and cause the popcorn to pull away from the ceiling.