My house is 76 years old and has plaster ceilings that have patterns brushed into them. The ridges on the decorative pattern are atleast 1/4 inch deep. They are also damgaged from old water leaks. It woudl be impossible to mimic the sweep of pattern. To remodel this ceiling we are considering putting a new ceiling right on top. Maybe a textured wallpaper and paint or a fake tin ceiling. Will textured wallpaper stick to a ceiling with the deep grooves of the pattern? What other textured ceiling options are there? We definately don't want a popcorn ceiling and are looking for something more fancy like tin ceilings. although we can't afford them. Any other ideas?

I just moved into a house where the basement has the old real wood panels I was thinking that I could just clean the walls and apply a light wood color (natural) paint and water it down so it would soak into the wood grain to lighten it up a bit because it is so dark... Any sugestions on this?