I'd honestly recommend stripping the popcorn off the ceiling, THEN do
your work, and plan on skimming/priming painting the whole ceiling
when you're done. *IMHO popcorn isn't all that attractive, either, but
if you like it I can actually recommend a guy to patch it for you
(assuming you're near DC)

I don't like the popcorn ceiling at all. We were planning on stripping
it off but we've got so much other stuff to do. I haven't yet
installed the ceiling lights/fans. I'll post here when I do.