I myself like looking up to a nice white line paint vs. the wall color. That is just me though. I have my ceiling painted in my kitchen and my dining room and I really dislike it. A lot. I am in no way a professioanl though I just really wish it was a lighter color. They are both a sort of camel or goldish color.

I'd not paint the ceiling, save your money. I think your painters gave you excellent advice!

I would be tempted to just build another room up there, but thats not what you asked:) I think it will look fine if you leave it the current paint color.

I'm of the opposite opinion and would have it painted. I'd even go a step further by using a different color. If as you say, your goal is to make the room cozier, I'd go a couple shades darker than your wall color and use flat paint. I mocked it up for you, but please keep in mind, the colors are not accurate on the screen and the ceiling has shadows that make the colors look darker than they really are. for example, the first pic has Crown Point on both the ceiling & walls but looks darker on the ceiling. The others are Crown point on the walls with a variety of colors on the ceiling. I love the way the gold looks, and when there is sun coming in the windows it will add a lot of warmth to the room:

Chestertown Buff

Decatur Buff

Dorset Gold, my favorite.

Hampton - 1 shade lighter than wall color

Jamesboro - 2 shades darker than wall color

Paint the ceiling! it will make a huge difference in the space.

The ceiling needs color and it needs to be several - and I mean several - shades or steps darker than the wall color.

It's out of balance. The floor is a dark value, furniture, textiles, art is of darker value. That's why you can and probably should choose a color for the ceiling.

How it's going to change the room is a darker color on the ceiling will reign in the volume of the room so it feels more in line with human proportion and scale. That high up, with the ceiling that far away from viewing angles, you could even do a dark color with some sheen to the paint - like a satin or even a semi. Those would be some big and brave color steps to take, tho. I know. :D

I'm chiming in with a vote for painting the ceiling the same color as the walls.

Although I almost always agree with funcolors, this time I think that what the room needs is a blurring of the lines at the corners and the top edges. Wrapping the room in one color, particularly if it has some saturation, makes shadows and plane changes less noticeable, and I think your room's proportions and scale would benefit from de-emphasizing the height.

Guess you'll have to decide yourself, judging from all the various and sundry opinions and here's mine.

If you're painting your walls essentially offwhite, I would leave the ceiling the cottage white b/c I think it will be contrasty enough.

If your walls are going to be darker and warmer then I would think about painting the ceiling the same hue as the walls, except lighter.

What about painting the tallest walls in the original color, the ceiling a shade or two lighter and that wall that looks like it opens to the kitchen in the same hue, only darker?

Just owo

Thank you so much, everyone, for your help. Palimpsest, I laughed when I read your post because we did debate having a room (or two) put in over the living areas. That would cost a mint, though, and we don't need the space, so we can't justify it.

Lukkiirish, thank you so much for mocking those up. I also love the Dorset Gold! It's a serious contender.

I feel I should mention that in the mockups, the Crown Point Sand looks very light. You all are probably wondering why I'm painting my room an off white again when I'm complaining about it. LOL! The same thing happened to me when I used BM's color tool. In reality, it's a darker color than our current color, and it's sort of a greenish tan. I have it in our master bedroom and bathroom. I guess it's one of those colors that does not show well on a monitor.

In reality, it's a darker color than our current color, and it's sort of a greenish tan. I have it in our master bedroom and bathroom.

I'm still torn on this. I think I'll have the painters paint the walls and then look at it so I can judge whether or not I want the ceiling painted. One thing--would it look odd to paint that high ceiling and leave the lower ceiling of the kitchen (visible in the my first pic)the way it is?
Because I wouldn't paint that lower ceiling or the one in the entry way, which is out of sight to the left of the kitchen.

Thanks again--I've plenty to think about now. My gut is still saying to paint the ceiling, and now I'm wondering if I should go with druidclark's rec to paint the walls different colors too. That explains why the painters were asking how many colors. Crown Point Sand is a chameleon color, though, and does change a lot based on light/time of day, so it will probably look different anyway. So many decisions to make!

Hands down paint it! I had a huge room and it always felt cold and then one day I decided to paint the ceiling and deep green gray. I loved it so much and it made every tiny bit of difference. My ceiling was only 9 feet as well. I would definitely go dark.

here is a pic. It does not even do it justice.

{{gwi:1545068}}

Yes, you are right the monitor skews the colors a bit, but your color choice is still very light for such a large room. It's just me, but rooms like that offer a lot of opportunity to use colors that might not work as well in smaller rooms. I'd want to take advantage of that. I didn't have a lot of time to play, and just threw some colors together from the BM Historical collection. Just for an idea though here's sort of what some color would do:

Henderson Buff, Millington Gold

Huntington Beige, Norwich Brown

Pittsfield Buff, Blair Gold

If you browse through the BM paints and see some other color combos you might like, let me know, I'll mock them up for you.

Thank you so much! Ooooh--I didn't think about a different color. I want to go with an olive green, since green is my favorite color and those types of greens (including the Crown Point Sand which is more brown but still reads green on my walls)look stunning with the turquoise I've used for my curtains. This opens up other possibilities. I've got my BM fan decks here...what about Olive Branch or Ivy Lane? Ivy Lane in particular looks really nice next to the curtain color.

Now I'm really excited because new possibilities have opened up. My husband's going to go nuts :-).

That wonderful! Glad this is helping. Olive Branch or Ivy Lane for the Ceiling? or walls? Or are you keeping the walls with the Crown Point Sand? Anyway, I went ahead and did the mock up with the CPS on the walls.

So here's Olive branch on ceiling w/CPS:

And Ivy League:

lukkiirish, I'm actually thinking of those colors for the walls now because you pointed out the opportunity to go a bit darker. I think the Crown Point sand might prove to be too light for such a large, light space.

I love the way the Olive Branch looks on the ceiling in the mock-up! Is there an Ivy League, too? I was looking at Ivy Lane, #523. It's in their classic colors. I see Ivy League now--it's one down from Baby Turtle. How funny! The very next strip is the one with Ivy Lane.

Thank you so much for all your help! I think I'm definitely going to have to get sample pots from BM to make sure I'm getting a good color. We can't afford to repaint if I mess this up. But truthfully, I've never made a paint mistake and I've never used samples, just picked one from the strips. Maybe I've just been lucky?

Forgot to mention--funcolors talked about big, brave color steps. I am all about big brave steps! In my last house I painted a large kitchen/family room combo in deep red, deep olive, and gold. Here are some pics. Ignore the hideous dining table--that was a Craig's List mistake and even the nice wood inlay (glass used to be there) we had made couldn't save it. LOL
{{!gwi}}From Old family/kitchen
{{!gwi}}From Old family/kitchen

I really want to stay with a nice green in this case, though. Green is the one color I never seem to regret. I also would like to stay warm toned, as I tend to dislike cool colors on my walls. Plus, this is a very large open space that needs some warming up.

Dawn, I haven't forgotten you, I'm self employed and have a couple of orders I need to work on. As soon as I'm done, I'll come back so we can play. :c) In the meantime, if you want those colors for the walls (ivy & olive) see what you can find in the fan deck for ceiling colors to go with them. How fun! You're poor hubby! LOL, my DH can relate, he's in the same boat!

Thanks, lukkiirish--no hurry. I don't think this is getting decided anytime soon. I've picked out some more colors--all BM: Brookside Moss and Terrapin Green (same chip), and Ivy Lane and Hiking Path (same chip).

I bought a sample of SW Ryegrass today and it looks odd in my room. I don't like it.

I just want a nice medium-tending towards the darker side green that leans towards olive. Is that too much to ask? LOL I'm going to start a new thread and ask for suggestions.

Perfect, just tell me which color you want to see where like

ivey lane - walls
brookside moss - ceiling

and I'll post them up. I might be able to find some samples too now that I can see the direction you're moving in. Too bad the monitors skew the colors a bit. LOL...

Hi lukkiirish, I just posted for color suggestions, probably as you were typing this.

Okay, I painted a board in an medium olive color I have in my study, and I see that the room could definitely handle a medium to darker color (that color, unfortunately, has too much gray for the space).

So, here's what I'm thinking:

Brookside Moss or Terrapin walls with Avocado ceiling
Ivy Lane walls with Savannah Shade ceiling
Medieval Times walls with Winding Vines ceiling
Baby Turtle with Greenbrook (or even Sterling Forest) ceiling
Olive Branch with Sage ceiling

As you can probably tell, I'm not really creative about picking my ceiling color. I've simply gone one to three down on the strip. LOL--safe that way, right? I did like the Dorset Gold, so maybe that would work with one of the colors, particularly the Brookside Moss?

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this. It does help a lot, even with the monitor color difference. If I can narrow it down to a few choices, I can get sample sizes and try them out.

Dawn

I don't know if you can do Sherwin Williams, but I picked out a couple there:

Tupelo Tree 6417 walls with Saguaro 6419 ceiling

Hi-
I have Crown Point Sand in a 2 story entry and used Providence Olive on the ceiling. I love it and it makes a HUGE difference! Good luck!

shellfish, thank you so much! That is a good color combination. I'm so torn on the ceiling because it's going to add a lot of money to the overall cost, but I think it would make a huge difference, as you said.

Actually Dawn, that's exactly what I do too. Either than or I'll add the color to white until it has the contrast I want. So here you go...

Brookside Moss / Avacado - I think may be too dark:

Ivy Lane / Savannah Shade

Medieval Times / Winding Vines

Sweet Daphne / Winding Vines - since Medieval had little contrast.

Baby Turtle / Sterling forest

Baby Turtle / Greenbrook

Olive Branch / Sage

Brookside Moss / Millington gold (dorset was too bright)

Brookside Moss / tarrytown green

olive branch and tarrytown green

:c)

Thank you so, so much lukkiirish! I love the Tarrytown Green and the Millington Gold on the ceiling! Not loving the previous owner's blind choice so much, though. I might have to change those out, depending on which color I choose.

I brought home a sample of Ivy Lane today, among others. I LOVE Ivy Lane in my space. It is warm and happy, even now in the evening. Georgian Green, one I didn't find until this morning, is second in line behind it. Both look wonderful in all light conditions in our space. GG doesn't evoke the "happy" response, though. I've yet to see them in early morning, but then again I don't get up all that early, so who cares? LOL

I'm hesitant to go with Ivy Lane because the resale voice in my head keeps saying "Too much green--people won't like it if you have to sell." But when I think about it, it is MY house now, and I have to live here. I could go with a more neutral color, but I don't care for neutrals very much. Even Crown Point Sand, which I love in my bedroom and bath, looks horribly muddy in this space and awful with the light maple wood banister (previous owner's choice). I could paint the banister to have CPS, but that's not really where I wanted to go.

All of the others are reading too gray. I really have an aversion to gray in decor, though I will wear it. We also sampled Flowering Herbs and it is way too gray. It depresses me in our light. I'm afraid Olive Branch would be more of the same, though it's beautiful on the swatch.

I guess it's hard to say what Ivy Lane will look like if all the walls are painted. In the mockup it almost looks minty, but it doesn't look like that on the board. I wish I knew more about how a color will behave in a very large, light space. Time to Google...

Thanks again! I'll post pics once I get a paint on the walls, even if it's a disaster (eek!).

Dawn, You're so welcome, I'm glad it was able to help you find some direction. While the pictures are great for visualizing, you should definitely get samples to try because these monitors really skew the colors. They actually even change a bit from when I mock them up to when I post them.

In regards to your fears about resale, the only place I have neutral in my home is in the hallways. I think that understandably it's important to consider resale when making changes that are more permanent or difficult to change but not with something as simple as paint. Unless the house is in one neutral color, I think pretty much everyone expects to paint when they move into a home. right? So please don't avoid painting YOUR home in a color that sings to you just because...

Looking forward to see the results! Good luck!

Thank you, lukkiirish. I'm going to get a sample of Olive Branch and Baby Turtle, just to make sure they aren't my perfect color (you never know!). I'll try some others, too. I really want to make sure I get it right, or as close to right as possible.