I might prime, but I am not familiar with Feather Down.

My colors are all warm and earth tones, so I used SW's Canvas Tan for my ceilings (this is a white not actually a beige or a tan, but it is warm). It works well with the colors I've chosen for my walls without feeling too "stark".

I will note my GC was expecting to do some sort of standard ceiling white (stark), which in my circumstance I did not want.

I can't answer your question, Shee, but am going to be dealing with questions on white ceiling vs off white (or other color) later so am interested in seeing what people think.

Artemis: Do you have any pictures of your SW Canvas Tan ceiling. I would love to see it in relation to the wall color.

I prefer ceiling white, but that's just laziness on my part....

I only have one ceiling that's a shade or 2 lighter than the wall color and that's because it's not a huge room but there are 18'(?) ceilings and I didn't want to feel too much like I was in a well...

If you're doing 2 coats I don't think primer is necessary...just my experience though and it does depend on the paint brand.

Why not just paint the ceilings Feather Down also?

Honestly I think I'm putting too much thought into this but I don't like to paint ceilings and it's disappointing to put the work into something and think how you should have selected something else. Just winging it before is how I ended up with off the shelf stark white for my trim.

Going off of Maria Killam's book, she says the colors painted on vertical surfaces will look different on the ceiling and will be a shade darker; which makes sense So if you want an off-white ceiling, select one of the true white colors. She gives a list of colors for BM and SW.

I really like combo of the Navajo White ceiling with stark trim and beige walls that I have throughout most of the house but the two colors (Feather Down and Navajo White) just aren't going to look right together. The Feather Down is a lighter color and I think the ceiling needs some contrast.

I think I'm going to use a true white so it will read more off-white.

I'm thinking two coats should be good. Come to think of it, I painted over BM Olive Branch (which is rather dark) a few years back with two coats of paint and it was good.

Terriks - I want some contrast. Then again if I could snap my fingers and see it both ways I might change my mind.

Think of that ceiling as your fifth wall. Stark white doesn’t really add anything to the room even when it comes to the reflection of light whereas something as simple as a warmer white can. Some of our ceilings are a soft creamy white, our master bath is painted the same color (Comfort gray) as our walls and our kitchen has a complimentary very light tan. The colored ceilings add depth to the room, where as the warm white is less noticed but reflects lighting from the windows nicely. If you’re coloring is similar to what’s there, you most likely don’t need to prime, but will need to do two coats.

Well I came home with eight gallons of paint yesterday so I'll be busy for a while. I went with Feather Down for the walls and an off-white for the ceiling. I do like creamier ceilings I have with the mid and darker color walls in my house but glad I'm changing it out where I'm using the new color. Eventually everything else will transition and change too (not to grays). The sample looks good but hope I still find it light enough when I'm finished. I wanted something with color because I think my house needs it but wanted to push it as light as I thought I could go. It's definitely void of looking yellow and more neutral which is what I want. I really like SW Aria Ivory but I just think it's too light and going to look like I moved in and didn't paint.

I'm the most excited to get rid of the gold in my bedroom. I want to change my bedding (plaids/houndstooths) and only pull it out in the winter because it feels off/wrong all of a sudden to use it year round. The Feather Down color is in the bedroom thankfully. I know I should have waited until I figured out what I'm doing with new bedding but I just can't see past the gold. What I used to really love about the color feels almost suffocating now. We had a good run but time for a change!

Everything old is new. When first married we rented a 1940's home and the walls and ceiling were all baby poop brown. White ceilings are the industry standard. They are the expected. More and more people are venturing off grid and to each his own as they say but be aware--you will get comments FOREVER and you will have to repaint if you ever sell. Sprayed ceilings aren't painted at all. If yours has the original texture mix then painting/moisture can cause it to release the texture. It's not like painting a wall. For sure the amount of color I dared put on a ceiling would be dependent on the height of the ceiling. You bring it lower with every shade away from WHITE.