I had a similiar situation and since I had pump jacks, I built
a fake wall, like parallel bars, and attached the pumpjack poles
to the new fake wall. Worked like a charm. I made the wall such
that I could push it around our great room. One word of caution....
use screws and 2x6s min.

arjay wrote:
I am going to paint my living room that has a 17 foot high ceiling. I
must be able to reach the top because I need to fix popped nails, so
stretching is not really an option.

Would I be better off to buy a very tall ladder or rent scaffolding?
I have to work alone, so I need what is easiest to use and is the
safest.

Thanks for any helpful information you can give me.