Choose a light shade of your wall color and paint the ceiling in a flat or eggshell paint. Agree with Danielle re. trim & beam paint.

Also, many of this would love to have a ceiling like this so that we could paint a contrast color. Why not do a bluer version of the grey on the walls? I love metallic finish on ceilings, but this is a different issue.

Paint the ceiling flat or eggshell and leave the box trim in the semi-gloss.

Thanks to all for comments. Good to know our intuition on this is correct. I love the idea of considering a softer contrast color. Will look at options. Should I consider flat or eggshell?

I agree with keeping the boxes in Semi-gloss (or paint them Satin/Pearl finish if you want a little less sheen than Semi-gloss) and then paint the inlays of the ceiling portions a soft colour or at very least painting them flat white so you play up the contrast between the two sheens.

The "before pics" of this 1920's house. We lived for 8 years with plastic on the walls to save money to restore and take time to do the research into 1920's style.

Wow ! What a great transformation already! I suggest flat paint for your ceilings and I usually use white. If you want the beams to stand out they would look nice as is or in a pearl/satin finish. I look forward to seeing your finished project.

Please, only use flat or eggshell on the ceiling. It will highlight the beautiful beams especially if you paint the ceiling a color and not white.

Thanks!!! We have done this on a real shoestring, so appreciate positive comments! Will post finished pics Easter weekend. :)

Just did my ceiling with the beams. Inanities the beams the semi-white as all other trim and painted the ceiling a satin finish paint that is a very soft cream. The slight contrast is just enough to be noticed but not over powering. My walls are a sage green. Everyone loves my ceiling. Definitely NO semi-gloss on the ceiling! Builders ares often not interior designers and just use what they have on hand. yuck!

Why did they paint it that way? They should come back and re paint.never a glossy look on ceiling. I would paint it charcoal with white beams for a dramatic look.

For a painted shiplap ceiling would you do eggshell or matte?