No I would paint it a shade of white. Maybe with a hint of blue?

Keep your ceiling white to visually lift the ceiling. Otherwise you create a cave.

Ceiling white and walls off white. Halls like this need lightness. Also if it's in your budget, new more stylish light fittings.

thanks all. I know it seems counterintuitive but there are many who say that painting the ceiling and walls the same color visually lifts the space, and with such a skinny ceiling I was wondering if that would actually make it look larger than it is. Perhaps not in this case though?

I can't wait for it to be done so I can put my photo galleries back up and start hunting for new rugs. Right now it's pretty much dullsville....but it connects so many other rooms I didn't think anything bold or dramatic would work in the long run.

I like the ceiling white and the walls off white as suggested by Laurie. It seems like the contrast would lift the ceiling while still giving a light airy look.

Pain the ceiling white, and if it is an area that doesn't get a lot of light, paint the walls a saturated color. If there is no light to reflect off of a light paint color, it will look dreary and drab.

"I know it seems counterintuitive but there are many who say that painting the ceiling and walls the same color visually lifts the space, and with such a skinny ceiling I was wondering if that would actually make it look larger than it is. Perhaps not in this case though?"

yes, it does, in many cases. but not in all of them.

it might work wonderfully-or not.

the light reflects differently on the ceiling than on the walls. in one space, it will look the same, and in a different one-the ceiling might seem darker, even being painted with the same paint.

if you have energy for it-you'll need to play with it a bit to know whether you'd need to go with the same exact color or, say, half of the color formula; or to keep the ceiling lighter as it is now, and tint the ceiling color with a wall paint just a tiny-tiny bit.

It's hard to fully predict how a color will behave in a space, until you actually try it.

But if ceiling and walls seem to be the same color-it doesn't always mean the paint was the same))

Ask me how I know..))

you also have crown molding-if you keep the ceiling and crown molding the same color, while keeping walls more saturated, as tibbrix suggested, it also creates a lifting effect.

I really like your hallway by the way.

As for unattractive stuff on the ceiling-yeah..I guess we all have these...really annoying. The good thing-you'll stop paying attention to it, in a short while.

I have done hallway ceilings the same color as the walls. I like it. Depending on the time of day, there could be the appearance that the ceiling was darker than the walls.

You have crown, and I don't like crown with that flat ceiling white. Also your crown would minimize the illusion the ceilings were darker if you painted them the same as the walls. One thing you can do is paint the ceiling with a 50% formula of the color you paint the walls. This gives your crown some flair and puts some tone on your ceilings, but not too dark.

Good luck!

PS I see April has the same ideas. We were posting at the same time. Great minds etc.

jn and april, sounds like you have some experience with this. One wrinkle here is that I'm using Ellen Kennon full spectrum paint. I asked Ellen about diluting it and she discouraged it in general with her paint; she said it would just look greyed down. I painted the ceiling and walls the same color in our room over the garage and loved it; but it's a big room with two windows. One thing for sure though; we used the same color throughout and it looked fine.

This may be something I'll just have to try.....if DH doesn't overrule me first! He's ready to go with ceiling white. I will probably trim out walls first and give it a little more thought. I also sent Ellen K an email about this to see what she recommends. Probably much ado about nothing here; but it's really an important space to me. I walk through it several times a day and would like it to have a pleasing; though not necessarily dramatic, effect.

I'd paint the ceiling a different color from the molding (or at least different sheen).

Also, more hallway-decorating-ideas-212562

Alternative to cutting the paint formula is to select the next shade or two lighter up the sample strip.

Good luck with your project!

OK, Bingo, nosoccermom! Your link shows a photo that is exactly what I've been looking for. In the very first photo it shows a long narrow hallway with the walls painted a light grey, with the ceiling a similar if not the same shade. I love it. I think I'm going to give it a try. I especially love the runner it shows in the photo; I am going to look for one like it. Also interesting; I've got two photo galleries that will line two of the long walls (not directly facing each other), and the remaining walls have one big piece of art. Looks like a very similar setup in many of the hallways shown in the article. Thank you!!

thanks jn; with ellen kennon's paint there isn't a sample strip per se. I'm waiting to see what she suggests. I'm a fan of her paint; it seems to reflect light better so I thought it couldn't hurt in this application.

Thanks so much.... That hallway is officially my inspiration!! Dang, really love that runner, btw...

My hall (and 80% of my house) has the same paint on the ceiling as the walls (SW Antique White). Perhaps having 9-ft. ceilings helps. Depending on the time of day and amount of light, the ceilings can appear lighter or darker than the walls, but mostly they just flow together in a seamless way. White ceilings might visually heighten a space, but my first reaction is, "it's a white ceiling," and that's often more attention than I want to pay to a ceiling.

My hallway opens into my living room that is vaulted, i.e., at mid-wall. I didn't want to end with a white stripe so my hand was forced to wrap everything in the same color. Since it's light, it works.

Love nosoccermom's pictures!

Together with that-on the first pic, that hallway gets much more light, there is a stair well from one side.

The other one is beautiful as well. Love everything, and the runner)) But the old picture is an amateur photo; the new one is a professional one. It being a professional picture-already gets like twice as much of light.

Even Lauren Liess's blog started getting well deserved attention only after she started taking much better pictures.

Now to the point-everything, literally everything suggested n this thread might work amazingly. And might not.

You'll try, and then you'll know.

I have a feeling it will be a beautiful space whatever road you decide to take.

The moment you really consider something, and give it a thought, and try this and that-that is usually the moment that takes you to success.

People here have bought some nice runners on esale rugs. I'm really bad at finding them, though.

Yes, esale rugs seems to be the vendor of choice on GW! Trying not to get ahead of myself yet...but those are nice, thank you!

Meanwhile I'm starting to paint and WOW the paint looks like a completely different color when t's on the ceiling. That didn't happen n the larger room I tried this with. Maybe it's because everything's so closed in. Generally like it though :)

Update here; definitely NOT working to use the same paint full strength walls and ceiling. Unbelievable how different they look. I do like the idea of a lighter version of the wall color for the ceiling though, so I have ordered a gallon of EK parchment; the color I'm using on the walls, at 25% for the ceiling; as recommended by Ellen. Will update when I've made some progress....could be another day or so.

"Since ceilings tend to look darker than walls, try a couple of shades lighter to make the room feel airier."

Just came across this last chance auction for 200.00.

I'm done! And I'm very happy. My rugs look better now too, although I still would love to get some new ones. They look better in the photos than they do IRL, but they're at least ok for now. I will need to sell them first; either on CL or eBay, and then figure out what to replace them with.

Here are a few photos:

And here's one with my photo galleries in place. (I blurred the faces to protect the innocent, lol)

So.....from now on; ceilings in my home will be 25% of whatever the wall color is! The effect is subtle but really nice. Only thing I'm not happy about is that DH vetoed the idea of painting the grille over the furnace filter, but hopefully he'll come around to the idea. He thinks it will chip off and become a nuisance when changing the filters. But, whatever, I'm happy with the overall result. I am extremely happy with Ellen Kennon's paint and her personal service. I've used her paint throughout my second floor and they all look great together.

Thanks all, and also thanks nosoccermom for the link to that gorgeous runner! I can't get it but maybe someone else on GW will :)

Great result. Congrats!

Told you it's going to be a success))

Thank you april....you were so encouraging and of course, right!

Looks fantastic! Like a magazine layout.

Thanks tibb! I never thought such a boring space could become one of my favorite rooms in my house, but I love it.

Wow, this is such an amazing transformation!

On the pictures, the ceiling does look higher. Do you find that it does, too, in real life?

Beautiful!!

Yes, absolutely. Ceiling does look higher. The whole space feels more open, cleaner, and airy. It's a pleasure to be there, after 25+ years of being kind of a utilitarian space. So there's hope for all of those boring spaces in our homes, y'all!

Uhoh, you realize that I need to paint my hallway ceiling now. I kind of suspected it but was in denial.

Ha! If it's just the ceiling shouldn't be that bad. The trim is what just about killed me. Have fun :)

I hate painting ceilings.... I could, of course, paint the walls white!