How do I redo an ugly 1970 drop down ceiling?

Paint it. You could do something fun and make it look like the sky.

We refreshed our drop ceiling by upgrading to smaller square tiles ( without perforations) removing the larger rectangular tiles and added led light panel box which works much better than the older flourescent light box..

Gosh, I’d love to see a picture. I just don’t want to spend a ton of money to have it remodeled & look like an after thought. Thank u for your idea!

I think the ones with the bead board replacement tiles look good.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8asPNEkGMjc

In many restaurants I’ve seen their drop ceilings painted black and as crazy as it sounds it’s actually brilliant because it makes the ceiling nearly invisible. It gives the room a sense of openness as the black makes the ceiling recess further. It also disguises the tiles exceptionally well. My thought is if you do this I would plan on taping off your room exceptionally well and renting a paint sprayer to apply even coats to your ceiling. Good luck!

One of the things I learned in design school was most of us make the mistake of decorating things we don't like with the hope that we will. The problem with this is when you decorate something you draw the eye to it so I would keep it simple and plain if you don’t have the time or desire to put a fair amount of work into it and do something fabulous in the areas you do want the eyes to be drawn to. If you have the time and energy you could make a paste (I use cheap drywall mud and thin it with water) and use it with very simple patterned stencils to give it a bit of a raised look, then paint to give it a tin tile look. It’s labor/time intensive but technically easy and cheap. I used scaffolding and laid on my back like I was hanging at the Sistine Chapel and I learned that swim goggles and a bandana are helpful. I’ve also rented a sprayer and sprayed texture on ceilings like this then used a trowel so it’s knocked down vs popcorn and while it’s messy messy messy it’s also an easier option. Good luck to you I hate those ceilings as well!

Paint it! Maybe make a feature of it!!