In article , Bill wrote:
I've been thinking and reading about finishing my project.
Having one of those "homemade stucco" finishes on the ceiling, made out
of joint compound, I left about 4 inches of drywall at the top of one
wall and about 18 inches at the top of another when I removed it.

This leaves me facing almost wall-length "butt joints". I presume that
with some patience (layering) and appropriate drywall compounds I can
make it look decent. Please tell me if you would suggest approaching it
any differently, in particular, by removing the wallboard to the
ceiling. My intuition tells me to stick with my original plan (the butt
joints), but I think this is a good time to ask.

I'd leave it the way it is, Bill. If you remove it all the way to the top,
you're still going to have to use some joint compound at the seam, but you're
going to have a much harder time of it due to the textured ceiling.