Just a couple of notes:

I'd use only latex or acrylic paint as oil paint may damage the Pex.

The International Fuel Gas Code requires very specific ID of gas pipes.

401.5 Identification. For other than steel pipe, exposed piping
shall be identified by a yellow label marked “Gas” in black letters.
The marking shall be spaced at intervals not exceeding 5 feet (1524 mm).
The marking shall not be required on pipe located in the same room as
the appliance served.

Double-check with your gas supplier to be sure this is their requirement.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah was planning on latex for the paint. The gas line is black steel pipe (currently has no markings/labels). Alson wondering how well paint will stay on the HVAC soft ducts, not that they ever come in contact from anything (the material is never being flexed) but they are pliable, will painter crack/flake off? I guess if it becomes issues I could box them in.

Benjamin Moore has a number of speciality primers for difficult surfaces. For a budget conscious reno, I was sceptical about covering a half-wall of patterned shiny tile. Worked perfectly.

Another question..... Obviously location plays a role (I'm in central Massachusetts), but any idea ROUGHLY on cost of paying someone to do this? I figure if I do it myself it would cost at least 400-500 to do (buy power painters, the paint itself, plastic sheeting, mask, etc etc). Plus wondering how long it would take me to do vs pay someone that could knock it out way faster than doing it myself. The finished space would be roughly 400sqft.

Prices are so local, just call around. Best place to find good painters, I've found, is the local pro paint store. Outside the insane big city real estate markets, I understand trade rates are more reasonable.

Greg, I am also in central Mass and attempting a very similar project. Have you painted your ceiling yet? Did you end up doing it yourself? How did it go? Any advice??

Thanks!

Unfortunately I had to completely change up my plans. My house was built in 2011, the floor joists (ceiling joists in the basement) are engineered I-joists (https://www.google.com/search?q=engineered+i+beam&sa=X&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwiB7qi1ndHTAhWB4yYKHSxcDaYQsAQIPQ&biw=1200&bih=695) and in Massachusetts it's against fire code to leave those exposed. I ended up having contractor do 1/2 inch drywall ceiling (we're in the mudding/taping phase of the basement finish now).

Retroactive Code Enforcement of IRC 2012, 2015. I should have thought to ask about that, but I've never used I-beams. If you were building now and liked the industrial look, you could use fire-protected I beams.

I did something very similar in our basement. I opened up the ceiling and painted it. I moved the electric lines and HVAC to the side of the room and boxed it in.

Juuuust about done. Just needs the carpeting (and clean up) and we're done.

Wow! It looks really great. I like the colors.

Do you have any advice about recessed lights? Did you use 4" or 6"? How many did you use and how far apart are they (from each other and from the walls)?

Thanks in advance! We are still working on our project, since we decided to bring an electrician in to pull all the existing electrical (which wasn't done to code) and redo it all.

We had an electrician do all the lights outlets etc (to ensure it was to code and prevent myself from getting injured and/or burning down the house). They're 4 in. dimmable LEDs. There's 11 total for the 32x12 foot room (10 for the room itself and one for the bottom of the stairs (where the yellow wall is). They're evenly spaced apart along the 32 foot length, so rough math says 6 ft or so apart. The blue wall to gray wall is 12 feet, I'm not home but looks like maybe three feet from long walls and 6 feet between the 2 rows). We're happy with how it turned out. Originally the ceiling was going to be exposed as this thread started but firecode changed that. That back wall with the door/windows was going to be all brick, making a loft look. Loosing the ceiling meant loosing the loft look, so I didn't want to spend the money doing the brick wall.

Looks great.

I'd be cautious though about directly applying carpet to the concrete. Low-pile with no underpad worked well in some homes I built for many years. Still, the safest application is over a bubble membrane and subfloor or XPS and subfloor.