Shanghaimom and Willow - Here are the answers to your questions: Shanghaimom: Yes - we plan to have a darkish dining table. Haven't decided on the exact color yet - I guess it will somewhat depend on the color of the beams. Willow: The ceilings are 9' high. The light should be good - there will be french doors and 2 windows facing south; and light from the living room coming from the north. I will be buying a new dining room table and am not planning to have a rug in this room (not until my youngest (3 yrs) is a little older. There is no dark wood in any other part of the house. The feeling I am trying to achieve (I think) is old/classic, but new/fresh. I like your idea of keeping them dark and then if it doesn't work, we can always paint them to match the trim later. Couple of other notes/issues: * I am including a drawing of the kitchen. The cabinets will be white/cream inset. The island in the kitchen will be distressed black (Amaretto) with a butcheblock top. The island color was somewhat of a random choice; I didn't want it to be white and distressed black was the only color that my husband and I could agree on. The counter on the perimeter cabinets will be Quartz in Raven (I think). We haven't decided 100% on a wall color, but are leaning towards a warm color red/orange/ color (BM Fire Dance). I know that cool colors would probably work better in this space - but somehow we want to try a warm color. With the wainscoting and the cabinets there will be a lot of what/cream to water the color down. * The other weird thing about the coffered beams is that there are 4 light fixures sticking out of them where the beams cross. So, there is a chandelier (which we will replace) in the middle and then 4 light fixtures wih just bulbs sticking directly out of the beams. I went on the "Old House" forum and was told that these lights are architecturally correct and most people suggested that I leave them as is. While I would like to keep them for the sake of preserving the character of the house, I think they make the ceiling look way to busy - with the coffered ceiling and the chandelier, there is just way too much going on up there. Plus, I don't really want to look at plain lightbulbs and haven't found any type of mini shade/cover that could go on them. The problem is, of course, that if we take out the light fixtures, we will be left with big holes in the beams that will be hard to fix, as well as expensive. This is partly why we had originally planed to paint the beams the same color as the trim... So, as you can see, I have some issues to work out! Let me know what you think I should do. thank you!!

Alexa Hampton of Mark Hampton Inc. recommends 50/50 wall color and ceiling white paint mixed.....something to consider unless you love a white ceiling. I did my ceiling the same color as the trim although my crown molding was done in semi gloss and the ceiling was done in flat which is an easier paint job for a DIY like me.

We were in a restaurant last weekend and remarked how nice the atmosphere was. There was dark gray wainscoting on the lower part of the walls with brick above, and a tray ceiling painted black. Contrary to what you might think, the ceiling resembled the dark night sky, and it felt expansive, not closed in. Not sure what it would look like during the day, but it's something to consider. If you want to draw attention to the ceiling, a darker color in the squares would do that. Painting it all one color, especially white, won't be as dramatic.

I think that painting the ceiling planks white is perfect for your beachhouse, it just needs to be accessorized correctly so that it doesn't look too white and gray (see illustrations below). For the walls, I suggest a light greige, BM Balboa Mist, that mixes well with white, gray, and wood. Or a neutral gray such as BM Gray Owl. Any paint you choose I highly recomment that you paint a large cardboard (available at Dollar stores) with 2 coats of paint (samples available at paint stores) and walk around the room to see the colour in different lights. For your corner fireplace, it looks like something black on the floor under the fireplace, not sure what it is but I would do a black porcelain tile under and on the sides of the base. You can also replace the spotlight on the ceiling by a more modern black one, Amazon has nice ones around $40. Have fun with your project!