I prefer my ceilings to be SW "ceiling bright white". I don't like colored ceilings.

I think she should go for what appeal to most buyers and my guess is white would be it, not cream, or bluish white. Something that no matter what color you paint the walls you don't have to paint the ceilings.

And I am just the opposite... I dislike white ceilings!

Most of mine are the same color as the walls or a shade or two lighter.

Since you are selling, won't it be cheaper to go with what you like instead of what the painter likes?
Chances are a new buyer won't like those colors and will repaint anyways...

We use Behrs ceiling paint which is a soft white. It goes on pink so you can see where you have painted and dries white. Sue

I think that here on the boards, where you are only here if you CARE about decorating/want the newest thing/want to know what the trends are in paint and furniture/spend time & money on your home..........many may be into ceiling colors. But the average home-buyer, walking into a house that probably isn't painted just the way they may like it anyway, expects to see white ceilings. I know I do.

I just painted my shower ceiling in Alexandria Beige, the same color I put on the walls. It's in the MBath and the room is tiny anyway. I like the way it looked and so did my DH. But in the main, My ceilings stay white. They don't change with my very changeable wall colors. I may log on here to see what's available from Farrow & Ball, what new colors EK came out with, or what the latest entryway paint shade may be that I need to splotch. But I'm NOT re-painting the dadgummed ceiling. Not happening. If I walked into a house to buy and the LR was in a rosey beige, My first thought would probably be...."Well, I can't handle that pink/beige, but maybe I'll do a taupe...."
But if the ceiling were sky blue in an earthy green room, I'm going to be in a whole other train of thought....."Do I really want a house where I have to repaint the ceilings before I can even live here?!"

Just my opinion, but I'd be very surprised if most people don't just agree with the painter.

Red

Definitely go with the ceiling white. I recently had my FR ceiling painted and to me for years it was "white". When it was done, I commented to the painter, wow, the room feels like it has so much more light in it now. He told me that's because I used ceiling white and the FR ceiling had been previously painted a slightly off white. I never noticed that the ceilings were not a true bright white - they looked fine to me, but once they were painted the brighter white, it really made the room feel much brighter. If you don't get alot of natural light in the rooms, go with the bright white.

It's not about what's cheapest (and not my house), it's about trying to make the rooms appear brighter and bring more mass market appeal. And to cover up the last of the tell-tale signs that my parents used to be smokers. And to cover up 16 years' of blemishes and what I call "boogers" - those paint mars you can't quite identify, that don't really wash off.

If I were to be in the market and look at her house, the current paint would definitely detract because I would be thinking, "Ugh, nightmare to prime that...I'm not in the market for work."

She considered a painting allowance, but she's having my painter do it, and I send him enough business that, well, h's doing all interior rooms and some exterior touch-ups for way less than even a sparing allowance.

I have a hard time stepping back and removing my personal taste when asked for opinion. I would be a miserable flipper! But you guys are right. Hubby and I are planning to move within 2 years and have started looking at new construction specs and -- now that I have stopped to think about it -- all of those houses had bright white ceilings, even with more earthy decor. It just looks so strange to me, like there's a big marshmallow over my head! :) (here's an example from a spec house we looked at)

All "ceiling whites" are different according to the brand. Some are gray, some are gold, it just depends. I would definitely choose a white. It looks like you are using SW. I used SW Alabaster in my whole house on the ceilings and trim.

I'm always the first to say paint your ceiling a color. I just love it and dislike white ceilings now. HOWEVER, if I were selling a home, I would absolutely do either ceiling white or at least Navajo white since it will appeal to the widest market. Even if the new buyer likes color on the ceiling, chances are they will want something other than what you choose. Stick to white for resale purposes!

Leahwalker, I'm surprised that the Spec homes you are seeing are white ceilings. Most new houses out here have color. Things that make you go...hmmmm? LOL

We used ceiling white (Glidden in the big bucket, the kind that goes on pink and dries your basic white, on sale at HD) on all the ceilings in our previous house when we were spiffing it up for sale. It looked very clean and pleasant, and also looked a little different in each room because of the color that reflected off the walls.

I am very much a white-ceiling person in general - a room with a colored ceiling feels like a closed-in box to me, while the white ceiling "lifts the lid" - though I'm not so big on automatically just using standard ceiling white. There are so many different whites to choose from, although whites with a yellow cast often just look like they're nicotine-stained. :-( If I looked at a house to buy that had colored ceilings the first thing that would be going through my head would be "oh man, MORE painting, and even more of a PITA than walls" - we don't all love painting the way some of you folks do!

Lindy, it might be a regional variation - although we knew we didn't want to do the subdivision thing we looked at a few new spec houses last summer and every one of them had white ceilings.

I love "ceiling white" on ceilings. It makes the room look airy and bright. But the top of the wall color has to be spot-on straight. Even if it means dropping the ceiling paint a bit (1/8") to compensate for uneven walls, I just think it looks cleaner and fresher.

Ceiling paint, labeled as such, does have a slightly bluish cast. I've use SW Extra White and it doesn't seem bluish to me - just sort of neutral. It's the base SW uses to mix up most of its colors. If you want something warmer, look at the SW "Whites" color card and find something as light as you can get with just a hint of yellow/gold in it like Dover White or Alabaster. You'd swear they were both just plain white unless you held them up against a white piece of paper.

Be careful about Antique White as the SW version is much darker than you might think - it's the color of aged lace, IMO--more like ecru.

I like white and light ceilings and for resale I think a clean white is the best choice.

However,there are some new spec houses near me and the ceilings are painted the same as the walls and they all have very white woodwork and crown moulding. They can get away with it as the ceilings are very high. When the wall and ceiling colors are ligher I think it looks okay but with darker walls and ceilings I don't care for it.

When we painted our house during our remodel I was not reading this board yet and assumed white ceilings were the way to go. My GC recommended swiss coffee for all trim and the ceilings which is available from many different brands. When presented with a dizzing array of whites we went with his choice and find it a very attractive, warm, bright white. I like that it matches all the trim in my house. I don't know what "ceiling white" is, though it sounds a safe choice for resale. I'm just wondering if this will match the trim?

After seeing many pics here of painting ceilings I'm drawn to the idea of doing the ceilings 50% lighter than the wall colors.

The most important choice should be the one that makes the house look light and airy.

One other thing about a "brighter white" is that it gives the appearance of clean, any tint towards gray or yellow will make it look dirty.

Not sure if the ceiling is visible enough in any of these, but this was SW "ceiling bright white" NOT "ceiling white". I used it in my old house that I sold last year.

old house

We have the ceilings in the library and the playroom painted Christine's Cloud by Ellen Kennon. The walls are green and Buttercream, respectively. The ceilings in the main living areas of the house are white. After living with both the blue and the white ceilings I can tell you I am now a HUGE fan of painted ceilings! I'm itching to paint the rest of the ceilings in the house either a lighter version of the wall color or the same blue we used by EK. It amazes me how the painted ceiling makes the room feel so much more complete. I feel like the ceilings that are still white make the rooms seem unfinished. However, it really is a preference thing and I think you have to live with it for a bit to see what you like the best.

I never had white ceilings that were whiter than the walls until 1.5 years ago and I love it so much. All my rooms are now bright and happy and it really changed the look of the walls. Light walls now have more of a color to them without any gray tints like they did when the ceilings were off-white.

I would never do white ceilings in my house again. Makes the walls feel shorter (love the image of the marshmallow overhead - so true! LOL), and looks to me like someone forgot to paint part of the room. Colored ceilings also show off crown moulding so much more effectively.

However, for resale I would do it. People expect to see it, and some people would be turned off by color on the ceiling, just because it is not what they are used to seeing.

And, as others have mentioned, since the new buyers might be planning to repaint right away, they might see it as less of a job if they didn't have to do the ceiling.

It is the same with color on the walls. Our house was 'builder beige' when we bought it, and it took a few years to get things painted. DH wasn't so sure about it, as he grew up with white walls. But once we started putting color on the walls, he wondered out loud why we had waited so long!

I love white ceilings, but I also love the two I didn't paint white. I find that if you have crown molding it somehow softens the line between a colored wall and white ceilling.

I chose to paint my guest bath ceililng the same as the wall because the room is so narrow and the ceiling is 10'. I was attempting to make the room feel cozier. As for the foyer, we wanted to really show off the pretty crown that ran up onto the ceiling and with a white ceiling you wouldn't have been able to see it. So I'm a convert somewhat.

If I had crown molding, I may just paint the ceilings 50% the wall color. I love crown molding i a bright white or a creamy white depending on the particular room.

A lot of my rooms have vaults similar to leahwalker's picture. I always paint those ceiling white, otherwise the vault just gets lost. However, in my gameroom the vault comes halfways down the wall - painting that ceiling white would be ridiculous. The only other room that has matching ceiling and walls is my kids little bathroom. I just painted my bathroom ceiling with some very inexpensive ceiling paint from Walmart, and i'm very happy with it.