The ceiling paint could go down to the molding so it wouldn't be such an arduous task to paint the inch of wall above. My picture molding is 21" below the ceiling, and the ceiling color goes to it, the strong wall colors below. I think it looks good. Your 1" is barely going to be noticed. Casey

Stain blocking primer first. Then a good ceiling flat. All the top lines at each manufacturer are good. I like BM's top line ceiling flat. Depends how white you want it as many are greyed up a bit straight out of the can. Go with the BM flat. It is worth the money. And a sealer like Gripper from Dulux.

I do think a dark color is nice for a media room. Consider the cocoa brown from the bottom of your art as a good neutral. Then pop the red, orange and white around as your accent colors with throws, pillows. Does your seating recline? Can the curio find another home? I'd like to see the sofa on the red wall and the chair angled in the corner of the current TV wall. A glare free TV on the wall opposite the window might be larger. Your shades look to be close to black outs, but if not, you might add inside mounted, skinny solar shades under them. Another option is to put the curio where the TV is, sofa at window, TV on red wall and chair angled where sofa is now.

Sorry, it was late last night when I sent you the two links. I understand the hesitancy. Simply white is the right undertone, but may feel a bit too yellow, a bit too colorful when you are looking at samples vs looking at an entire wall. I also get that painting trim and ceilings is not inexpensive and something you don't want to make a mistake. @Beth H. : is one of the pros who posts often on Houzz and I believe I remember some posts from her where she stated that she had used White Dove and re-painted with Simply White. I think she used it on her Trim, Walls and Ceilings, but maybe she will see this post and chime in. There is not a color out there that works 100% of the time in every home. There is a reason that I didn't pick a ready formulated white and used the color match to icing. Although it is very slight, the difference between Simply White and Icing is that Simply White has a bit of gray added to the yellow, where Icing has orange. Both are very light whites, both give you a touch of warmth to soften the feeling, but I notice the slightest green tinge in Simply White that I don't see when I use Icing. Simply White would be my first choice if I had to choose a white from one of the stock formula whites from BM or SW. I am not sure that anyone would see a difference if I would have chosen Simply White instead of Icing, but my OCD took over the decision making process. Here are two photos of my foyer using BM Frosted Toffee (walls and ceiling) and Icing (door and trim).