I would definitely paint. I personally like to paint ceilings 10%-15% lighter than the walls. Depending on the formula of the paint this can get a little tricky. If the formula has white do not let them just reduce all colorants by 10%. Have them reduce all colorants except the white.

Another option is to go one shade lighter than the wall color per the paint strip. Make sure it looks like the same color only lighter, sometimes it is a bit lighter and a bit something else.

I would not do BM Alabaster, it is a pink white and will probably look quite pink next to your trim. Ceiling White will probably look too white next to trim. (Trim looks creamy white/Ivory on my monitor).

It would be easier to advise you if you could tell us the new paint color and the color of the trim.

Colors in photographs on the internet are not reliable. If you don't know the trim color you could pick up some color swatches and tell us a similar color and take a close up picture of the trim with the "Close" color.

Jennifer the grey color on the walls is requisite gray. The trim color I don’t know but I have swatches and it appears to match very closely to alabaster, which is why I thought maybe that color for the ceiling. I was going to do the trim in alabaster as it looks like it would just freshen it up which is what I want. Here is another pic of the bedroom ceiling , I want the beam to still pop and not just blend in. Thanks for your help. I think it would very pretty to do the shade above on the paint strip, but I don’t want to have to redo the ceilings again if I repaint walls later either ..

With and without flash

Upon further inspection it appears that my crown is a different color than the door trim. Good thing we are painting the door trim and baseboards lol

Geez I take it back with flash it is the same I think it is the lighting. It looks like they are both alabaster

I have used alabaster in a house with canvas tan. It may be too warm for requisite gray. I would take a look at simple white or eider white.

Flo mangan the wall color is requisite gray and already painted. Will be carrying it through the house. I can see how alabaster has yellow in it but it seems like it looks good together now so I figured it was ok. Open to suggestions though, thanks for advice !

Alice , I saw those on the back of the card and got the swatches but they didn’t seem white enough when I held up to wall :( They have a lot of grey in them which I guess is why they go with it. Will look at them again. Thank you

It looks like you have alabaster or a similar color already. Do you like the way it looks? It sounded like you just want to refresh and then paint ceiling to match. If the alabaster looks good with your walls in your lighting, I think it will be fine. It is very light and a very common color in new home building. Pure white is always a safe way to go as well. Are you thinking of painting the beam a gray to make it "pop"?

Alice , it does appear that it is alabaster now ..or close to it and I really liked it lol. I wasn’t sure if the ceiling should be the same color as trim or different, and I could paint the beam grey. Had not thought of that. Do you think it would look good ? We are pairing elephant ear in another room with the requisite Grey wall color ...so it could be that , or same as wall color. Elephant ear is darker. Wasn’t sure what to do I usually only see white or stained.

https://www.countryliving.com/shopping/a2107/homeaway-cozy-cabins-dupe/ If I did this right it will link up to a requisite gray with pure white. Requisite is considered a warm gray so alabaster is probably perfectly fine. I would do the same color on ceiling as Flo suggested for sure. I have no idea for your beam, I was more curious of how you were going to make it pop. Sorry. Happy painting!

Alabaster and Requisite work well together. Can do Alabaster on the ceiling or have SW color match PPG's Delicate White (it's my favorite flavor of white for ceilings).

Ok Requisite Gray (SW 7023) has an LRV of 46. SW Alabaster is in the Yellow Hue family. If you choose Alabaster for trim in semi-gloss, do the ceiling in the same color in flat finish. Do beam in same finish as trim. The beam doesn’t need different color. If it were wood or some special look it would be different. But personal choice. The darker the beam is painted the lower it will feel.

Yeah, what she said. :-) @Flo Mangan

Didn’t see Lori’s previous input! So we both posted the Colorography for each color. Now just personal choice. I tend to prefer fewer colors in a space.

Please be aware that just because a color is on a strip of color doesn’t mean they relate to each other. Common misunderstanding.

Lori & Flo , thanks so much for your input. Your speaking a foreign language to me with the Lrv and hues, lol. I could be wrong the trim may not currently be alabaster , I was just trying to match it as close as possible to prevent from having to repaint every door as well. But I do want it to look really nice when all done. The ceilings are def not the same color as the trim currently and my main goal was to paint the ceilings because they are very Manila and baseboards/trim because over time they get scuffed. So it is my understanding the best course of action would be to find the best match to the current trim even if that is alabaster and then use that in flat on the ceilings? I know alabaster has yellow hues but I don’t want the ceiling to look yellow. I just wasn’t sure I wanted it to look stark white either.

Also, here is another thing to consider , I am painting my cabinets white soon. Should they also be the same color as trim ? I would think...

So it is my understanding the best course of action would be to find the best match to the current trim even if that is alabaster and then use that in flat on the ceilings?

Yep. Exactly.

If you can pop off a short piece of trim and take it to the paint store, they can measure it and tell you the closest match. It's usually easy to pop it off and then put it back on.

BM Chantilly Lace is a very neutral white. It tends to be too bright white in most homes, but it is the perfect color to compare other whites to when trying to determine the undertone. (Got this tip from Maria Killam)

Color meters like the color Muse are not accurate enough to really measure very light colors and, in my experience, are not the best way to determine undertones in White.

If you look at Alabaster next to Chantilly Lace you will see the pink I am talking about.

Like so many other neutrals, white looks white until we paint a large area. On Trim you may never see the pink undertones. On a 100 SF ceiling it will be more obvious.

If you want white and want to be safe, Cloud White is the most popular white sold by Benjamin Moore for a reason. It works with just about anything. You can sometimes do better with a bluer white if you have a light blue gray pallet or a creamier white if you have rich warm golds and oranges. But for a neutral color pallet, Cloud White is usually the answer.

The more contrast you have between colors the more something will pop.

If you want the beam to pop you will have to paint the trim lighter then the ceilings.

You will get some distinction if you are painting a gloss on the trim and a flat on the ceiling. The trim will look lighter because it is reflecting more light and because it has more vertical exposure.

Ceilings don't get the same amount of light reflection, which is why you have to lighten colors a bit for ceilings if you want them to look like the same color on the wall as the ceiling.

Always paint your ceilings in a flat paint. Ceilings often have slight imperfections that don't show when we use a flat paint, but become glaringly obvious with any level of gloss. Seams, cracks and slight bows will scream at you.