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What color is your ceiling?

14 years ago

My cabinets are creamy white (mix of White Dove and Linen White) and my trim matches the cabinets. The cabinets go to the 10' high ceilings and my walls are going to be a medium to dark color - I think it's BM Mystic Gold, & there isn't a lot of wall space. My question is - what color do I paint the ceiling??? Painter of course says white... Any thoughts?

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Comments (6)

cali_wendy
14 years ago
I have BM Linen White cabinetry and trim throughout the house. I have medium to darkish wall (BM Dried Basil) and I painted my ceiling a 25% mixture of the wall color. It gives enough of a pop to the crown without being too dark.
plllog
14 years ago
My to the ceiling cabinets are blond bamboo and my very little wall space is a spice orange. The woodwork is the same white that the rest of the woodwork in my house is (custom color) but the ceiling is a tint of the orange on the walls. It reads as whitish--which I needed to bounce light off of or I would have gone a bit darker--but it's actually a pale peach, and much warmer looking than if it were a true white.

I can't remember the formula for sure, but I think it was something like 18 parts base white to one part wall color, but they computer matched the sample I painted on a drywall scrap rather than using the formula.

This is a picture from the construction, but it shows the paint colors best, though shadowed. With lights the ceiling color appears much lighter.
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techmom1
Original Author
14 years ago
So is that the general rule - to use a 20-25% mix of the wall color?
Suzy
14 years ago
my decorators both said to use flat white. just plain BM white. my cabs and trim are dove white
techmom1
Original Author
14 years ago
srg215 - how tall is your ceiling?
sw_in_austin
14 years ago
When we built an addition a few years ago and I came to a complete befuddled standstill when it came to deciding on colors I hired a color consultant who said (in addition to a bunch of other advice about wall colors that I mostly ignored) absolutely BM Decorators White for the ceilings. She was so sure and I was so totally confused that I did what she said. More recently we had a couple more rooms painted, with BM White Dove trim, including crown, and we went for Decorator's White for the ceilings again. It looks good. The colors on the walls (BM Silver Fox, a brownish gray, in one room, and SW Techno Gray, a greenish gray, in the other) sort of reflect off the ceiling, giving the impression of a slight tint to the ceiling, if that makes any sense. Okay I'm starting to feel that picking-paint colors-fog coming on me so I'm signing off now.

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