Carpet problem

Stating the obvious, but be sure you are positive your leak is fixed so you don't get a mold problem started around your precious dh's!!

There are some floor epoxies that are quite gorgeous that are a paint on deal. Some have a type of stuff that gets sprinkled in it while wet to create lovely textures and designs - even sparkling ones. They are 100% scrubbable.

Thanks Selkie, the leak will have to be addressed. We think we have the cause/solution narrowed down :-) I've seen the pretty epoxied floors, neat option. I also love terra cotta tiles but I think our winters are too harsh for them. The thing that really has me racking my brain is the drop ceiling, the tiles are old dusty and hideous but new ones are really expensive. Trying to come up with alternatives and creative ideas...such as covering the old tiles in fabric, spray painting, etc. corrugated metal is my choice but we have to make sure that wouldn't be too heavy for the drop ceiling grid.

My DIL used lightweight vinyl lattice to cover inside a basement grid ceiling. She was making a girl's bedroom so she put hot pink shimmery cloth above it and made pink beaded dangle lights to hang around the room. It was quite unique and pretty. Maybe you could adapt something like that to your situation.

How interesting, people are so creative. That sounds like a fun idea.

Sorry to hear about the water damage, but good that you found it now. Happy that the panelling project is going well. As for the ceiling tiles... maybe purchase a few sheets of Sheetrock and cut pieces to fit? They are easy to cut, easy to paint and have a smooth finish so they wouldn't collect dust like the textured ceiling tiles do.

My husbands basement space had terrible tiles, well, still does, and one day I pulled them down one by one, and just painted them with a coat of primer, then a coat of white. While it's still ceiling tiles, it's at least clean and white. We considered taking sheets of either thin beadboard or Luann (not sure that's right, thin boards?) cut them to size, and fit in the frame, but I was afraid they'd warp

I didn't consider Sheetrock because I assumed that would be too heavy for the grid. But if it would work I would love a nice flat clean look. As for the spray painting, the prob with these tiles is some are crumbled away around the edges, otherwise that would be my first low cost low hassle choice.