How to paint textured ceilings?

I would get a thick fluffy roller and go to it !

I took a roller and used a broom handle so it made the rolling easy. Went over my ceiling real nice! I made sure that my roller was for textured ceilings!

By the way I did all my trim work first that took the longest time , if you roll slowly you won’t spliter any paint. You can buy a primer in your paint so you don’t have to prime and then paint.

To cover up nicotine you need to prime with an oil based primer. Nicotine is oily and will bled through latex paint if you don't seal it first. When you do paint you will need to use a longer nap roller. The drawback here is that these rollers really tend to sling the paint, so make sure every thing is covered with plastic. You can buy an attachment/shield to catch some of the drips, but many painters find that they get in the way.

Scraping off and redo is very inexpensive. Just takes work. Painting with only requires that you remove anything loose, like dust and spider webs. You may need to use a stain-killing primer, but it's still just paint.

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/rooms-and-spaces/walls-and-ceilings/painting-over-a-popcorn-ceiling

If you decide to paint over the texture, make sure you have the correct paint. If memory serves me right you will need a oil based paint as the water content in the latex paint will get absorbed by the plaster in the texture. that happened to a friend of mine when re-painting a bedroom ceiling. Double check with a paint store rep as there may be a specially designed paint for textured ceilings!