I've spent years over in the kitchen and bath forums and those remodeling projects are thankfully done. Now I need some good advice and expertise on painting and hope you can help.

I am trying to fix up a hallway that has a painted plywood ceiling. We have a cedar log home and the previous owners put a plywood "drop ceiling" in the hallway to create attic storage above. This is the only place in the house we don't have cedar T&G cathedral ceilings so I'm not sure what to do with it. Removal is not an option, ductwork runs through the space above. It is currently painted white right over the plywood and you can see the grain, nail holes, etc. Very ugly.

I've pretty much ruled out applying any heavy texture as the cover for the opening to the attic is just a plywood panel that gets slid to one side. Any heavy texture would get scraped off. (Folding attic stairs or hinged opening not an option due to aforementioned ductwork. sigh.)

Is there any primer/paint combo that would be heavy enough to cover the plywood but durable enough for the cover to occasionally be slid aside? I was looking at the RL suede finish - is that totally stupid?

I don't want to make a huge mistake and would like to paint next weekend so any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Teddi