i love colored ceilings... i would absolutely paint it.

I like colored ceilings if the ceilings are high, others like them at any height. Remember even if you paint the ceiling the same color as the wall it will appear lighter on the ceiling, so I would go one shade lighter. If you decide to just go with another white, that will show off your crown nicely. I'd like to see a photo of the room if you have one.

Thanks so much for your replies. I had not considered how it will look lighter on the ceiling vs. on the wall. I think I will go for it!! Sorry, Greatgollymolly, no pictures right now. The room is in disarray, but maybe when I get it painted and get my new light installed I can post a before/after.

Betsy our current house has a tiered ceiling in the dining room and when we bought it the tiers were all white like the crown molding, plus these tiers had mini popcorn on them. We scraped off the little bumps and had all surfaces painted Powell Buff like the walls. Left the crown white like all the wood trim. Our next door neighbor saw this and was amazed that she had never noticed the ceiling before. That was because it was all white, I am sure, so Go For It with color.

Oh, I saw a lovely model home once years ago that had a Smokey Topaz DR. The other color in the house was SW Blonde. I liked the color scheme so well that I called the realtor in charge of the house to get the colors (I was searching for new colors for my house at the time). I can't swear to the ceiling color, but it might've been SW Ivoire (or maybe the lightest color on same strip).

In my current house, I have Duron 'Basque Brown' which is along the same color idea as Smokey Topaz--just more reddish--and I used Ivoire as the ceiling color with it. Looks good. Ivoire, on the ceiling, is a light tan. No yellow detected.

I am so happy I posted my question. You have totally made up my mind--gonna do it!! Dorothy, what a job that scraping must have been but it sure sounds like it was worth it. Your room sounds lovely! Tracy, I'm going to look at the Blonde and Ivorie. In fact, my sunporch is painted Ivorie and I hadn't even considered that a possible ceiling color. Thanks for that idea and you're right--it doesn't look yellow. Many thanks!

At our last house we had all our ceilings painted. We added some of the wall color in with BM linen white and it was beautiful. I forget whether we did a 10% or 25% mix.

"Remember even if you paint the ceiling the same color as the wall it will appear lighter on the ceiling, so I would go one shade lighter"
Yes, usually...I think. What a coincidence, since my painters just left and I was very surprised to see the ceiling
is showing as one-two shades darker than the walls! I did this elsewhere with lighter paint and the ceilings do look a half to a whole shade lighter(depending on time of day). Not so with this darker mid-tone tan wall. It may be due to the type: two tier tray. I'm having them go back over in 50% lighter. Sooo,after this experience, I'd do a test to be sure.

Maisouil, Did you use the same color throughout on your walls and then a lighter shade on each ceiling or did you have different colors? As much as I want to do this, I'm wondering how it will look with some white ceilings and then the DR ceiling a whole different color.

Leahcate, How right you are about test colors!! I learned that the hard way in a bathroom years ago. What I thought was a subtle almost silvery blue turned out to be a bright almost royal blue. Dumb me: I kept thinking it would change when it dried--nope!!

Hey...this is neat!

I just worked-up a perfect match to this!
(yes...it was into ACE-Royal ;-))

Faron

Yes, paint the ceiling. I painted my DR BM Honeycomb and painted the ceiling Tumeric which is darker. I only have 8 ft ceilings and everyone loves it. I have a bedroom painted BM Palladian blue and used the same color for the ceiling. Make sure you use flat on the ceiling.

denali: "I have a bedroom painted BM Palladian blue and used the same color for the ceiling."
I just did this in one of our bedrooms today and this time it turned out beautifully! Such a lovely rich, warm aqua or blue green.
faron: wha???

We have 11 foot ceilings in most rooms and about 15 ft in the library and all are painted. The color keeps me from feeling we are floating away :) I think the right color on a ceiling adds interest and warmth --- the only caveat being not to color highly ornate ceilings with lots of moldings or plaster ornamentation, or paint tray ceiling tiers in colors. In those cases the ceiling becomes distracting, IMO.

Just my opinion...I would agree that color on the ceiling takes on a darker tone than the walls, my experience:
We just painted our ceilings a pale blue (white walls, crown and wainscoting) and as a recommendation from our painter and paint store's in house designer, went with a much lighter shade (25%) than the original color chip I chose. They said color looks darker on ceilings because of shadowing. My rooms have 8ft ceilings with lots of natural light from floor to ceiling windows and multiple sliders but my toned down version from a distance looks almost like the original chip (full color). The only difference here is that I don't have the same color on the walls. But boy am I glad that I took their advice!

I always paint ceilings the same color as the walls. I have never felt that it "closes" in the room or looks darker or lighter than the wall colors. Especially in the rooms with crown molding, it highlights the molding. I have 9 ft. ceilings. Here are some photos.

Marita, your rooms are gorgeous! How old is your house? Would love to see more of a "virtual tour". So charming!

Just stumbled across this post that might help...

Here is a link that might be useful: Yikes! Same paint on ceiling...

Wow, Marita40, your rooms are beautiful! The ceiling paint looks fantastic in your applications.

Marita,
Thanks so much for posting pix. My mind was made up, but seeing your rooms has removed any remaining particles of doubt for me! Is that beadboard in your dining area? I'm getting beadboard installed on Tuesday in my powder room--starting small. Love your house--I agree with Auntjen--more, more!!

Thanks, Coastal, I saw that post, too, and it was helpful to me.

Hi, that was my post, and I'm just hoping taking it down 50% will do the trick. Marita( yes! pretty home!), I have never had this problem before with our present 8,10 and 12 ft. walls, or even higher in another home. Most have heavy-ish white crown moulding and chair rail with wainscot. Can only surmise it's due to the particular lighting in that room and, the most likely culprit, the tray ceiling.
betsy, I'm betting yours will be fine.

auntjen, thanks for your compliment! Mine is a 1913 home built as a duplex and is now a two-unit condo. It is about 1500 square feet. At some point the dark woodwork was painted white but otherwise it is very close to the original. I don't mean to highjack this thread, but here are a few additional photos.

Marita - I love the deep color in the bathroom. It makes the window look gorgeous. I have always used light colors on my walls, but am trying to be more daring and not repeat myself (too much, lol) in this house.Our fave new color is a rich deep purple on our dining room and den walls. It is purple rain by BM and is the equivalent color of your bathroom. It makes the white trim, white wt and chrome chandelier pop. I also love how it looks behind our large mirror in the dining room. It makes the silver tones sparkle and the whites look crisper.

We recently painted our master bedroom ceiling a mid tone color and had pale walls and white trim. It was somehow not working. I repainted the ceiling about 2.5 shades darker by mixing a very dark gallon with what was left of the original color. It looks so much nicer now that it is dark. The other way it was too tentative. I love how the light looks when shining on the ceiling. It makes a lighter color patterned glow amidst a dark background.I also stenciled a few walls in the ceiling color and it turned out dramatic. I am a week or 2 away from posting pix.
Some of the ceiling issue is if your ceiling was not done in flat and is reflecting the floor color. It can get darker or lighter depending on the floor (as well as the lighting and natural light, of course). Our medium color bedroom carpet went in and it made the eggshell ceiling a little darker. Before the carpet it had unfinished hw and plywood on the floor while painting, which changed the tone of the room.

I like the idea of accentuating the crown. You can always repaint if you don't like it, so have a go at it.

We don't have the crown, but we went with a contrasting color on the ceiling.

The walls are a SW Mulberry Shadow and the ceiling is a gold (name unknown...LOL).

I love, love, love painted ceilings...

Hi, I don't mean to jijack the thread either, but I'm looking for a warm, not too gold paint color for my LR. Marita, your DR/LR color looks like it would do the trick. Can you tell us what it is?
Thanks!

You didn't hijack it, Florida. I hope Mairta sees your post and answers your question. I'm curious to know the color, too. It looks like SW Dromedary Camel that I had in a former LR. I LOVED that color and even considered it for my DR.

I'm bumping up this thread to answer your question, Florida. Sorry that I didn't see it until now! The gold paint is a mixture of Laura Ashley Gold 3 and 4: one quart 4 to one gallon 3. I liked 3 but wanted it just a tad darker. Hope this helps!

Marita, thanks for sharing. I love your paint choices! They are gorgeous!

Oh marita...that is one very very pretty home. Your simplicity of decorating is so charming too. I don't know what is my favorite . That bathroom is pretty, and that built in closet/storage...be still my heart...and then the front porch...I love those pillars...would love to come visit and ohhh and ahhh...so beautiful. Thank you for posting. c