A question has asked if the same color paint that is being used on the wall of our bedroom would look good being used on the ceiling? The crown molding and base boarding will be a white semi-gloss, walls will be light blue in color satin, hard wood floors will be chesnut brownish. We will use a ceiling flat base.

Please don't use a "ceiling paint" on your ceiling.

Companies that make paint try to make paints for each application, such a bathroom paints, floor paints, interior and exterior paints, bar-b-que paints, etc.

But, when it comes to ceilings, they say: "Well, the ceiling doesn't get dirty, so it doesn't have to stand up to hard scrubbing to remove stubborn marks." Therefore, we don't need to provide a hard drying binder in a ceiling paint, and we can save our loyal customers a few dollars by selling them a less expensive paint with a softer drying binder instead.

Paints sold as "ceiling paints" are simply lesser quality versions of the interior paints sold for use on walls. They won't stand up well to hard scrubbing because they have a softer binder resin in them. But, if you scrub off a stubborn mark near a ceiling light fixture or near a window, you're going to see the scrubbed area in the way the light reflects off the ceiling differently in the scrubbed area.

Spend the extra $5 and use a top quality interior wall paint on your ceiling instead of a paint meant to be used on ceilings. It'll cost a bit more, but it'll protect you from having to repaint that area after scrubbing off a stubborn mark.

Is there any reason you necessarily want to use a flat gloss on your ceiling? It's not a bad idea, but flat paints are harder to clean than glossier paints.

Frankly, contractors will use flat paints on ceilings only because of ceiling mounted light fixtures. The sharp lighting angle makes every little glitch in the ceiling drywalling stand out like Mt. Everest or the Grand Canyon. Painting the ceilings with a flat paint helps to hide those glitches and results in fewer complaints from the people that buy their homes. In fact, nowadays most contractors will use "texture" on ceilings. You can nail a dead animal to your ceiling, texture over it, and not notice the "bump" on the ceiling. If you have flat paint on your ceiling, it's not because there's any real benefit to YOU in having flat paint there, it's to the developer building the house. He knows that with flat paint on the ceilings, the people that buy the house won't notice the problems with the ceiling drywall revealed by the sharp angle of the lighting. And, texture on the ceiling will hide almost anything.

It's not a BAD idea to opt for a flat paint, but if it wuz me, I'd go with an eggshell for easier cleaning.

Colour is personal preference. Ceilings do reflect light and white reflects it better than any other colour. But, in my building I have off-white walls and the same off-white colour on the ceilings only because it allows me to be a little less careful when painting the walls or painting the ceilings.

If the point that it would be more work to paint the walls one colour and the ceiling another comes up, you can simply use a piece of sheet metal with some masking tape on one edge to nullify that point. Simply bend the sheet metal into the corner where wall meets ceiling when painting walls with a roller or when painting the ceiling white with a roller. When the masking tape gets all mucked up with partially dried paint, replace the masking tape on that working edge and you're good to go again.

Hope this helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,

I think that making the ceiling the same color as the walls really classes up the room - as long as your walls are a lighter color neutral. Once you get in to some darker colors then adding a dark ceiling just makes the room look ...well....dark.

I'd go with a flat finish for the ceiling in the same color as the walls. Use flat because it hides irregularities much better than any other finish. Ceilings get their fair share of movement, either from floor joists moving above from live loads or from the lower cord of trusses expanding and contracting with temperature changes. Because of this, you rarely have a perfectly flat ceiling so there will be imperfections. Flat paint just hides that better. That's not cheap contracting, just working within the reality of the materials.

Nestor makes a valid point about clean-up, flat paint is much harder to clean. But, unless you have a 6' tall 15-year-old (like I do) there is not much around that will get a ceiling dirty. I feel that the hiding abilities of flat outweigh the cleaning factor.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jaybee,

quote:

Originally posted by Jaybee:
Nestor makes a valid point about clean-up, flat paint is much harder to clean.

Or, umm, maybe, maybe not. It all depends...
I mean, probably.
That's just what it said on some web site I was on a long time ago.

Can't remember what web site. Can't remember when.

I won't be making any comments about nailing animals to ceilings while the investigation is ongoing either.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Nestor,

Well, I've got to confess that the dead-animal-nailed-to-the-ceiling thing is a totally new concept to me. I might just have to do some research over at deadanimalonceiling.com and check out the install details.

I don't think so that you should use the same color on the ceiling. It will not look so good. However if you have painted the same color than you can go through the some lighting fixture to decor the ceiling of the room, which will give an attractive look to your room. Though, I have also decorated my room by install crystal chandelier, which I have easily installed through the http://www.expertlightinginc.com/ who offered the best services of chandelier installation.

I would go a shade or two lighter then the walls.
The reason being is so it does not come out looking like a box.
Sounds silly but I get to work for some really wealthy people that have pro designers come in and one of them owns hotels all over the world and designs all of the interiers himself.
When working on his own homes he and his wife have to have every room completly differant and sometimes he comes up with some off the walls ideas.
But he has figured out what works to make a simple room look brighter and bigger then it really is.
And having the ceilings lighter then the walls is one idea that really works.