Hi there! We are currently finishing out a large rec room in our basement. One of the rooms above it is a step down living room so 2/3rds of the new rec room has ceilings that are only about 7’2 so we decided to go with the black painting to not lose anymore height. I was reluctant to doing this way however after seeing some basements done this way, I’m excited. We also plan on doing crown molding to finish off the look. It is all very clean cut and a large rectangle room (32x14 with no low hanging pipes or furnace pieces) so it’s nice it won’t look choppy. My 2 questions….

Question 1: what is a good flat black paint color to use? We’ve used Benjamin Moore Wrought Iron on our fireplace upstairs and love it. It’s leans a bit toward lighter black/gray.

Question 2: should we do any type of insulation between the joists to cut down on noise? Would a foam board or anything like that really make a difference? We do have carpet in both rooms above so it doesn’t seem like it’s too bad with noise right now.

I would love feedback from anyone who has experience with this type of project! :)