First and foremost, do one room at a time !!! My former husband and I restored a house that was built in 1890 while living in it so am speaking first hand ;-) She's a grand old gal again now like in her days of old so all the work was well worth it :-) And, no, he is not former because of the house restoration ;-)
Anyway, personally, I don't think you should use plywood on ceilings because that's sort of like drop ceilings and popcorn ceilings, just different ...
Plaster ceiling:
If it is free of major damage/worries of falling plaster there are awesome textured paints out there and this paint also hides minor cracks ... No, they do not end up looking like popcorn ceilings ;-)
If there is damage of concern to you then I would cover with drywall because the walls are probably plaster, too, and then you would probably end up having to remove not only the ceiling but also the walls and end up having to drywall everything ... Places like Home Depot give free classes on how to hang, mud and sand drywall ... It sounds like a lot of work but is worth it's weight in gold in the end !!!
Popcorn Ceiling:
Ahhh, thank you dorky decades of the past ;-) I would try scraping off first and see if the ceiling above can be sanded smooth/texture painted or needs drywall ...
Drop Ceiling:
Save the worst for last cause who knows what disaster is above that (there's most likely something being 'covered up' for someone to have placed a ceiling like that in the first place) and you'll have already learned from the 'plaster and popcorn' of how to handle ... The 'drops' definitely need to be removed !!!
Please feel free to click my contact button and I'll give you my email addy for future help, ideas and to cheer you on if you need :-)
What kind of ceiling? It depends on which room you are looking at lol. There is plaster in 2 rooms. The bedrooms have drop ceiling, the living room is popcorn, and I'm not really sure about the bathroom. I don't know who did this and what they were thinking but I just laugh every time I look up. I was thinking today and wondered if I can cover them up so I'm glad you said that. Is it ok to just put up plywood over what's there now or is it best to take down the old and start over. Either way it has to be changed. There are no leaks or holes, it's just dirty and I would like all the rooms to have matching ceilings.
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