I hate that stuff too. I think they do it to cover up sloppy work. It gets on my nerves, especially if there is a vent near it. I did not have popcorn, but had some swirl style on my ceiling. I ended up sheet rocking over it so I can get it smooth. The main reason though was because of work done in the kitchen and did not two styles as the kitchen ran into the dining and living room without a break.I once ended up tossing out an old couch that I really just could not stand to see anymore! The biggest issue right now is the place we are in, has fake popcorn ceiling. It seems whoever thought it was cool (besides in style) ended up going the cheap route and using a cement type fake mix that from what I have been reading is much harder to remove than the normal style. I wish I could make that go.