Help! Color for ceilings? Decorating advice?

[lunalibre]

Pleeeeeeease help out this interior-decorating-challenged mom!

Painters are supposed to be at my house TOMORROW. I thought we had everything settled -- walls were to be painted a light beige, ceilings and woodwork were going to be white. The head painter was just at my house and pointed out that, in the one room with a vaulted ceiling, the top of the wall isn't actually straight -- it "waves" a bit. If they paint the ceiling white, you'll see every bit of that wave. He suggested painting the whole room, ceiling and all, the beige color. The problem is the room with the vault "flows" into other rooms. There's an obvious point to start painting the ceiling white, but then I think that's going to look a bit strange, so maybe I keep painting the adjoing rooms' ceilings beige as well.

But... then is it going to look strange to have some ceilings painted beige, then other rooms painted white (like the kids' bedroom ceilings)? I really don't think I want their ceilings beige, because the ceilings in their rooms are somewhat lower and I'm afraid it'll look dark. Also, I figure they'll want to paint their rooms other colors in a couple of years (blue, green, whatever), and I certainly wouldn't paint their ceilings that color. Wouldn't I want white ceilings for that?

Also, I have dark wood paneling in our family room, and dark cabinets in the kitchen. I was really planning to paint those ceilings white. I like dark wood, but I don't want to live in a cave.

And what do I do with the formal rooms? I have crown molding in them. Do I still paint the ceilings white, or do I go with all one wall color and then the white on the woodwork?

Help! My house is ~16 years old and I'm trying to update to a more modern look.

 

[TheRatPack]

Paint them all white....if it looks to bad where the wall isn't straight then you can install some crown moulding later on. When we moved in to our current home all the ceilings were beige color/light tan....we couldn't figure out if they were dirty, smoke stained or what.....maybe they were just painted that color but it always looked dirty to us.

My SIL does some interior design work and she has been in houses where they wanted the ceilings a different color (blue's, pinks and even one NAVY) and some turn out looking pretty cool...but still, if you want white, go with white

 

[puffkin]

I like color (A LOT) but all the ceilings in my house are white, regardless of the room/wall color. The only exception is my living room/dining room. It is one big area with a 12 foot vault. There is a flat 1 foot wide piece that continues from the wall, right across the middle of the vault. We did the walls a dark khaki and felt that that piece needed to be khaki too. But then it would have looked wierd with white ceiling on either side. So we had the vaulted ceiling painted a few shades lighter. It looks great and not "cave like" at all It also doesn't bother me that the ceilings in that room don't match the adjoining foyer or kitchen (which are white).

If try a shade a few shades lighter than your wall color in just that room.

 

[JackJack08]

Totally agree. Paint them white. We have had them the same as the wall colour before....and hated it. Stick to your plan!

 

[karinbelle]

We painted DS's ceiling several shades lighter than his walls. We like it. The room is not too dark, but it also is in tone with the rest of the room.

However, all the rest of the ceilings are white. We're just probably lazy about painting all the ceilings.