The rise in your ceiling is so gentle that I don't think it needs to be featured. If you are choosing a soft neutral color for your walls, I would paint the ceiling the same color, to make the shape of the walls seem more natural. Your room needs better lighting almost everywhere, and I agree that you need a larger, lower chandelier over your table. I'd also recommend the following steps, before you make a big investment in furniture. Move the big picture toward the corner cabinet, so that its center lines up with the center of the table, and hang it lower, so that the top of the frame lines up with the top of your china cabinet. If your corner cabinet is not a valuable antique, paint the inside to match the wall, which will lighten the look of that corner. Take everything off the top of it, too. Try shifting your loveseat another foot away from the wall, and move the console that is now along the long wall to stand behind the loveseat, facing into the dining room. Use that wall like an art gallery, and cover it with pictures you like, and your children's drawings in inexpensive frames. Add a more substantial end table between the loveseat and the wall, with a larger lamp. Try shifting your larger sofa forward into the room, at least a foot away from the railing, add a skinny table behind it, and a nice pair of floor lamps to stand behind the outer ends of the sofa. Find a big, rectangular mirror and hang that vertically over your drop-leaf table in the living room. It will open that wall visually, break up the space, and reflect light from the window into the room, as well as add some sparkle and glow. Consider replacing the two unrelated shelf cabinets in that end of the room with a pair of very tall, slender bookcases painted to match your walls, perhaps with a deep contrasting color inside the boxes. Move everything that's now in and on top of your two cases, as well as all the photos on the table, into those bookcases, to unclutter the surfaces, and pull all those things into some sort of order. Then you'll have room to put a lamp on that table as well. Those changes should pull your nice things together better, and solve the light issue, and then you will know what else you want to do.

I would paint the walls a warm toasty neutral, a light tan/mocha/warm "greige". Looks like you have some red/orange touches in the room. To add some pop, I would paint one small area a red/orange (like BM navajo red). Maybe just the wall that the small square picture is hanging on... And hang a nicely framed large piece of artwork or some large "pier oneish" plates for a little wow factor. I would leave the ceilings white. I think these colors will pull everything together and warm up the space. Good luck!

What else would you paint it with? I suppose you could spray it but what a mess. I always roll the direction the sun shines. Then if you do get a lap mark it will be parallel to the sunlight and less noticeable. Not sure what Christopher will recommend but I wouldn't do quadrants. If you need to section it, section the whole length to minimize those perpendicular lap lines where the light could catch them. Hopefully you don't need to do two coats lol. I used to have to do that when ppl smoked in the house. Hard to keep track. I've used painters tape on the wall and just moved it as I've done another stripe. Good luck!

Somewhat off topic, you have a very nice living room, and I agree with removing those structures at each side of the fireplace. I would probably put bookcases there, although they don't have to be tall. Large paintings above them or gallery walls would take away the emphasis from the functional TV. I would remove everything off the mantel. I notice that your rug is really too small for the space, and a larger and more colorful one, perhaps an Oriental, would make a much greater statement and brighten this room considerably. You can pull in the colors from the rug for the art and other accessories. Your rooms seem very monochromatic and you may prefer that, but color is coming back in a big way in home decoration, and I think it actually makes people feel better when everything is not gray or beige, and they're surrounded by pretty colors. I would pick a carpet that has some warm colors, in addition to cooler colors, to give the room some depth.