I know a few posters here have Ellen Kennon's Gustavian Gray on their ceilings and it looks fantastic. Let's see if I can search for a photo.

There's a pic in the Gallery under Ellen Kennon colors. PaigeCT about 1/4 of the way down.

Ellen Kennon Paint colors

Here's another thread kabergs ceiling

I think demifloyd also has it on one of her ceilings but couldn't find it.

With your lovely woodwork, you might want to lean more towards a green than a grey.

Personally, I don't like having grey overhead. It reminds me of bad weather.

Thank you lindy for going to the trouble to post those links. The GG does look a little more grey in the pics than I had wanted, but both say it looks more green in real life.

Mclarke, I do want it to be more teal than grey that's for sure. Just not sure how light I should go. I know floors always look lighter than you think they will because the lights hits them, so I'm thinking I should go much lighter on the ceiling. Definately going have to do some colour sampling. I have some grey wisp left over from another project so I'll try that 1st.

Squirrel has a thread with samples of haint blue and I love that look.

Actually GG looks more blue! I was going to put it in DH's study but it was too blue. I am not sure how it would look next to another color but on it's own it looked blue. If I remember correctly, EK recommends alexandra blue for her ceilings. I thought I might put blue on the ceiling in the master bedroom and see how that looks. Share pictures when you finish!

We painted our BM Palladium Blue and really like it. It's not teal but it's definitely a blue green. It's very soothing.

Yes -- try the Gray wisp -- I was thinking along the lines of RH's Silver Sage .....

Before you go to the hassle of re-painting, you might try changing your lighting.

Yes! I think you should paint this:

{{!gwi}}

Or maybe this:

{{!gwi}}

Be sure to post pictures for us when you're done. :)

I got a sample of Gustavian Grey and it looked grey in my lighting. No blue or green in it. :(

Budge, BM Classics' 687 strip is along the lines of HAint Paint's Giverney Green. The two haint blue swatches you were considering from the other thread's article seem similar to this strip. The first three are light for a light-colored ceiling and are pretty, grayed blues with green.

HTH!

If you want to warm the room up a bit I don't think I'd be moving toward blue/grey, personally.

Have you considered a nice subtle "blush"? it would be warmer than blue/grey, would probably work nicely with the woodwork, the wall color, and your new chairs. It will give the room a nice glow at night, too, softly reflecting the light.

Our bedroom has bright, "tomato" walls and I used a very delicate "blush" color on its ceiling. It's warm, very subtle, and there are times I wish I'd been a little braver and selected something a little more "tinted".

I just painted the ceiling in what will be my workroom a pale blue. I selected the palest option on the card and was initially very nervous that it was "too" blue. But with some time I've come to like the choice.

Sorry guys, had ten over for East Indian food last night and was busy cooking up an aromatic storm.

hoyamom and kitchen kelly, I'm thinking that the gust. gry is going to be too grey/blue for what I want. Thanks for confirming that.

Colleen, definitely going to try the palladian or maybe wythe blue (one step up on the card).

Teacats, it's funny but the grey wisp looks right in the bathroom, but in the living room it looks really grey.

Ideefix, in this old house, a major problem is that we have no lighting to fix. One chandelier in the dining room and antique torchiers in the rest of the room.

It's definitely more than lighting though. As soon as I walked in the room after it had been painted stark white, I could tell it was wrong (my hindsight on these things is always 20/20). And it is one of those things that I can just picture in my head how it should look very clearly. I'm just not sure how to get the colour I see in my head onto the ceiling.

Oceanna, I'm spazzing, thinking about the crick in my neck I'm going to get just going at it with a roller. I can't even imagine the poor Joe who did those beautiful jobs.

SH, for some reason I don't have 687 in my colour samples (sometimes we don't get the same colours up here in Canada). Raindance (680) is the closest and that might work too, but again looks a little grey.

Chelone, I'll keep that in mind, but I really think I need some contrast. The lancaster whitewash has a lot of blushiness in it. The green/grey I have in mind is really quite warm. But it is always good to have another direction to go in, if this really doesn't work.

I'm going to get some sample boards done this week. I'm thinking something like the Palladian or Covington blue (very close to the colour in the chairs). I also have a quart of avalon in the basement that I might try to lighten up and see how that looks.

Thanks again for the info and inspiration.

Here is a pic of my hallway w/ off-white walls, blue ceiling & dark woodwork. I love it! At one time I had my LR painted the same way & when I looked up at the ceiling it was if I was staring into a clear sunny sky. The color here is MS Garden Clogs (no longer manufactured) & it is very blue but if I had to do it again I would def. consider RH Silver Sage as mentioned above. Since my HW only gets indirect light the MS Garden Clogs doesn't appear as bright as it really is, that's why I'd suggest the Silver Sage.

Here's the online strip of swatches. They're off, though. Looking back at the deck, it seems to have some of the strip to the left in it too, a bit more of the green. The darker online colors on the strip look completely off and way dark gray.

Here is a link that might be useful: 687 BM Classics Strip on ColorCharts

Just to give you an idea, here's a pic of the contrast w/ the Palladium Blue and the wall paint (Danville Tan) from when we first painted it. Good luck with your choice! {{!gwi}}

ttodd and coleen, thank you so much. That is so much help to see what it looks like irl. It is just wonderful, I love the look.

SH, that whole colour strip is missing from my fandeck - how odd. Like I said, it must be a Canadian thing. I'd bet they could mix it up for me if I asked. The colours on either side do seem close too.

Your '680' is a different color than my Classics deck, too.

I painted a section of my ceilings a light sky blue color. It's BM, but I don't have the numbers with me here at work, sorry. Anyway, I really like it! I'm thinking about painting other ceiling areas blue as well. When I point it out to people to see what they think, most don't even realize it's blue until I mentioned it. I have 8 ft walls, and I think the color lifts the ceiling. The walls are BM shaker beige, too.

Budge1, Actually, a lot of those fancy ceilings are painted on canvas, then applied when done. So see? You can just do them at your kitchen table. :)

I have both Gustavian Gray and Alex Blue on ceilings in my house. And a Martha blue at the summer place. I do love blue ceilings! I also have the GG in two other places on the walls. In one it is very pale blue. In the other, it goes more aqua. Never gray, but that's with the strong light of FL.

One thing I will say is that my LR has the Alex Blue on the ceiling and I fell in love with F&B Light Blue (a very gray blue) and wanted to use it on the walls. Light Blue is a greener blue, while Alex is more violet (subtle, but its there) and those two blues didn't play nicely together.

I think that (m)any light blue(s) will work, but only if you're not painting blue-ish walls. If you might paint blue walls, then you should consider carefully which pale blue you want for the ceiling. And I don't think one precludes the other.

Very lovely ttodd and coleen, as usual!

Well, I just found a mistint at the hardware store that is very close to Palladian blue - so I bought it. It was only $15 so I'll try it and see.

amy, I turned the house upsidedown last night looking for my F&B paint cards - nowhere to be found. THere is no dealer here so I'd have to order online and it just seems like too much trouble. I did remember the light blue and thought that it might work.

Oceanna, even doing them at the kitchen table, my stick figures still look like stick figures. Believe me, no one would put any of my pictures on the ceiling :-)

I did my living room ceiling with EK Alexandra Blue. The only time my mind reads the ceiling as blue is late in the day. Most people think it's white with a hint of blue. The flash brings out the blue when a picture is taken, it rarely looks this blue in person.
No matter what color it appears to be at any given point, the feeling is restful.
{{!gwi}}

I love your ceiling with the wood trim. Blue and gray, as mentioned, usually do nothing for your color of wood. Greens and golds would bring out the beauty of the wood better. I would choose a creamy gold, assuming you can find one that also compliments your wall color. I love blue ceilings and have them myself, but with painted moldings. I would be thrilled to have your stained beams!
Diane

Thanks powermuffin, we love our woodwork too. I agree about the blues and woodwork. We tried blue in our bedroom and it just didn't work - too cold with the wood floors and furniture. However the blues I'm looking at are more green than blue and seem to work well with the woodwork.

dian, I love the colour of your ceiling with your paint colour and trim. I think we need something with more colour too it though.

I'm going to do some sampling on Friday. I tried to tape a sample of the mistint but of course can't get it to stay on the ceiling - darn gravity. I like the colour but it may be a bit dark. I'll try to get it to stay up and take a picture.