Restoring Our Antique Pressed Tin Ceiling Tiles: Part 1

Restoring our antique pressed tin ceiling tiles was one of the most laborious projects to date, ranking right up there with exposing our brick walls. When we first bought our manor, the tin ceiling was in such disarray. Because of this, we thought we would have to take it all down. (BLASPHEMY! I know…the audacity right?) I felt that way too..we didn’t have the heart to do it and we found a way to avoid that! After several weeks of intense physical labor, we were able to restore it. It is now the jewel of the downstairs.

The History of Pressed Tin Ceilings

Let’s first talk about the history of the pressed tin ceiling. Where did these originate from? Believe it or not, this design feature originated right here in America in the late 1800s. That’s right! They were created as a more affordable and more durable alternative to the intricate plaster ceilings that were so popular in Europe. They were made from pressed steel sheet metal that was plated with tin. This material was installed by nailing into wood furring strips that could be placed right on top of plaster ceilings.

You can see the furring strips in this photo below.

These pressed tin ceiling tiles were very durable, fire resistant, lightweight, and easy to clean. They were often painted white to mimic old plaster ceilings, complete with intricate designs. In fact, that was our original plan to restore them back to the way they were. Why did we change our mind? I’ll get to that in a bit.. If you see below, these do not look white to me so I am not sure when they were painted white but at some point they were. I am still trying to collect information and photos on this place to be able to share some of its rich history with the world.

A Little Back Story

In a nutshell my story goes like this: I fell in love with upcycling old furniture after doing a DIY reupholstery project on my dining chairs. I began to explore upholstery, sewing slipcovers, painting and refinishing furniture. My mom and I started selling on Facebook and Craigslist and began doing custom pieces for clients. We decided that it could be fun one day to open our very own store, similar to the one’s we would frequent in the area. I’ve always been a dreamer, starting in my childhood with my head always in the clouds. This idea seemed too far fetched but my visionary self decided to start looking out of curiosity. Many places we found were way out of our realm of possibility due to the cost. Commercial property is EXPENSIVE! Even in the Midwest.

One day we were visiting our good friends at their flea mark and told them about our dreams. They mentioned that they knew a man who owned a building right down the street who was looking to sell. I GOT CHILLS!!! You ever actually FEEL God moving you into a new direction? It’s just crazy.. Our friend called him and he agreed to show it to us. We didn’t think that day that any of this would work out but we were curious and wanted to see the place.

Love at First Sight

That afternoon, we met up with the owner to see the building. Have you ever met a person and instantly felt their warmth? That was this man. He seemed very kind and genuine. His name was Peter and he was a Pastor (Another sign?) He unlocked the door and led us inside. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the beautiful antique pressed ceiling tins and cornice. I’ve been in old buildings before but I’ve never quite experienced this kind of beautiful detail!

I instantly fell in love and knew in my heart that this place was home. ❤️ He showed us around and we discussed the details before coming to an agreement. This ceiling was a huge selling point of the building. Even though it was severely damaged, we felt it was worth saving and we finally found a way to restore it!

Our Plan for Restoring Our Antique Pressed Tin Ceiling Tiles

Assess the Damage

Our building has been many things including a shoe store and a laundromat (check out our cute laundry mural we once had on the wall). At one period in time, a drop ceiling was installed as you can see in the picture below. Not understanding why someone would cover up something so special, I have to assume it was done to cut down on utility costs and to hide wiring, ductwook, etc. The ceilings are almost 14 feet after all. Later it was converted to a laundromat which when you combine the constant moisture in the air and the drop ceiling tiles, it can be a recipe for disaster in tin ceilings.

Our ceiling had many giant holes where the rust had eaten through. The old paint was majorly chipping off, and many tins were missing or bent back to run plumbing to the 3 apartments upstairs. It was an absolute mess. It made us sad to see something that special so neglected and destroyed.

Several tiles in the back were also missing.

As you can imagine, this was going to be quite the undertaking, especially for having zero experience with antique pressed tin ceiling tiles.

Making A Plan

I dove into researching all I could about restoring antique pressed tin ceiling tiles. I didn’t find alot of information easily so this took awhile. At one point, we discovered you could have them recreated. There are only a handful of people that do this so it is very expensive, about $75 per tin! This was majorly out of our budget so we moved on from that idea pretty quickly. 😅

Another option we considered was to put up false “tins” you can buy at Menards or Lowes. These are beautiful however they do not compare to the real thing.

When thinking about the layout of downstairs, we found the PERFECT solution! I knew I wanted both the main storefront and a separate work area in the back. We decided to build a floor to ceiling wall to separate the two areas. We could actually remove all of the back ceiling tiles and use them in in the storefront area. I counted them and we had more than enough tiles to replace the bad ones upfront! This was going to preserve the look we ultimately wanted, keeping to the original design of the ceiling, and did not cost us anything except for time.

Now that we had a plan in place, it was time to start this renovation project! Follow along as we finish this ceiling restoration in Part 2, COMING SOON!