We are in the process of painting our living room which has two "layers" of decorative soffits on the ceiling as well as a long vertical post by the fireplace. Previous owners had these painted white. My inclination is to paint the large vertical post by fireplace the same color as the walls. For the ceiling I was considering painting the lower soffit the wall color as well and leaving the rest white. Any advice on this? I would like ceilings to look as high as possible.