Plastered

Since I am laid off right now, I am working on both my mother's and father's houses. My dad put an addition on his house to move his father up from Florida, and while we finished the downstairs part of it (my grandpa's "apartment") the upstairs is still not finished or tied into the rest of the house. Access, currently, is through a closet, and there are some floor elevation issues as well as needing to reroute some ductwork and frame for a new hallway to tie everything in. My mother's house has some plaster damage on the ceilings and walls which I need to attend to, as well as the subsequent painting. There are also a few odds and ends like putting a switch to the light in the laundry room (it is currently a pull chain light) and drilling out under the kitchen cabinets to run a water line to the refrigerator for the ice maker.

Today I am at my mom's house and I am waiting for the coat of mud on he walls and ceiling patches to dry (hence the time to write this post). As I am looking around at the walls and ceilings, I am noticing that other than the one wall I am working on, the walls are in pretty good shape (I think the plaster is about 60 years old) but the ceiling leaves much to be desired. the areas I am patching are not large, but where the old wall for the kitchen used to be before this house was remodeled some 40 years ago, as well as where old paint and plaster peeled or flaked YEARS ago and got painted over look, in my opinion, like crap. So that begs the question "Do I skim the whole ceiling flat, patch the areas I need to and try to blend the brush texture back in, or do I re-texture the entire ceiling?"

I already know that I am going to match the existing brush texture on the wall by skimming the whole surface after I am done with the patches and putting a new texture back on. It will be the easiest way to blend things back together, but the ceiling is much more surface area, obviously overhead (and who really likes working overhead), and I am just not sure what would be best for me to do in terms of my time and energy, as well as for the house (thinking future resale value). Right now I'm thinking about skimming the obvious area and then re-texturing by rolling either loose, wet mud or using texture paint.

Anyone else have any ideas for me?