We renovated 2 houses with stippling.
In the first house, the stippling was like ice-cream cones hanging down *shudder*. Was too difficult to sand down so like the others above, they slabbed the ceilings with plasterboard and skimmed over. Neat job
In our current house, the stippling was'nt do deep. The plasterer painted on Thistlebond (like bright green paint with sand in it) on the ceilings and walls. This gives the new plaster a grip. He then skimmed the ceiling and walls. Again, did a good job. This was a different plasterer to the first one
Hth
D