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Remove/ repaint black from ceiling

amywamyd1dJzMfFTamywamyd1dJzMfFT Posts: 1
in Problem solving
My partner has painted our pergola ceiling black. That is in addition to the black fence panels. So it is now a horrible, oppressive cave of doom with black on 4 sides. I absolutely hate it but I'm at a loss on how to resolve it. 
If I try and dissolve the paint from the ceiling, would that just make black rain all over me? Would it even work given how dark it is? It's so dark you can't put just wood dye on it.

I'm looking for any advice on how to salvage this. Please help!!


Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Messy to remove and probably really hard to paint over so I would prescribe lights.

    You can get fairy lights or bigger bulbs on strings for outdoor use now and even some which can run off solar panels so that's what I would do and, maybe, some mirrors or strategically placed mirror tiles to reflect their light. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    First, get rid of your partner! Did he not ask you first before he painted it?

    You won't be able to dissolve the paint and you won't be able to paint over it in a lighter colour either. All I can suggest is that you plant quick growing annual climbers up the pillars and as they grow, twine them round the pillars.
    It sounds as though you have an arbour if you're talking about a ceiling, rather than a pergola which is usually uprights with wooden beams across the top with gaps between the beams?
    You might be able to fashion a tented fabric ceiling hung on curtain hooks screwed into the wood just below the ceiling.
    Good luck.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I'd go with loads of fairy lights run to and fro across the whole ceiling, like a starry sky. Or ones on a net, like this (other sellers available).
    The only paint-type product I can think of that might cover black wood stain would be something like Zinsser BIN, but I don't know how it would perform in an outdoor situation, and in any case you'd be stuck with having to keep repainting it white (or other opaque colour) to stop it getting tatty-looking. I don't think you could use woodstain over it.
     

    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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