I have smooth on the slanted & the flat part. I also painted the slanted part another color when decorating. I had crown moulding put up in the tray as well. The crown moulding goes up against the flat part (upper ceiling) & also at the bottom of the slant (lower ceiling). That looks real sharp. If you leave the slanted part smooth, you'll have more painting options. Sorry, no camera, no pics. Of course, the finishers want to texture. It's much easier for them. When they do smooth, they have to be more careful & do a better job taping etc. When they spray they "cover all kinds of sins". In my area, many people are removing texture from their ceilings & doing smooth. It's not easy. If you only have the original texture, then you can just wet it & scrape. Once you paint it, it becomes difficult & expensive to remove. This is JMO: I HATE "textured" ceilings. When it's time to paint again, you will hate the job. Trust me. Been there, done that. Besides, I read somewhere that the texture holds more dust mites-yuck. If you wish to experiment, try to get close to an older ceiling & see if you will itch. I tried it & it was true. No more texture for me.

Our whole house came with heavily textured ceilings when we bought it. The previous homeowners had paid to have texture added to every ceiling in the house when they added the master bedroom. Removing it meant getting in the experts...asbestos...and lots and lots of $$$. The first couple rooms we painted, we used the large nap rollers. Go in one direction first, let it dry, then paint in the other direction. With shadows on the texture it's hard to tell where you've 'missed a spot' but painting from north to south and when dry, west to east, really made sure we got all those spots. A few years later we rented a sprayer when we were doing another couple of rooms. WOW...what a difference. We were done with the ceiling in an hour! Again, first one way, let it set, then the other way. Push all the furniture into the middle of the room. Tape what you can. We were lazy and I just went around with a large piece of cardboard/shield and held it up where Mr. Amity sprayed..worked perfectly! We painted with water-base paint so any little bit of overspray came off with a damp kitchen sponge...the gentle kind used for Teflon pans. About 7 years ago when we decided to tackle the last couple rooms in the house, Mr. Amity went out and bought a sprayer. Let me tell ya....that spray has paid for itself 10 times over! Not only used for the ceiling but for walls, brick wall, front to back wood fence, chain link dog run, sealer on concrete.....you name it, we spray it on now and save so much time and energy.

Wow, looks like Mr. Shaw and myperfectcolor is owed an apology - big time. ctlane - sure, I can explain why looking at the darkest color doesn't work. Even when it looks as though a strip of color is a nice, even, orderly stepping down (or up) from darkest to lightest, you have to consider how many factors change to arrive at those 5 or 7 colors on the strip. It's not just a backing down or reducing in the amount of colorants. That's why 'letting down' a color is so different from 'cutting' formulas. In the process of letting down the formula from darkest to lightest, various characteristics in the actual colors can shift - maybe ever so slightly. Viewing color in the context of a strip chip skews the reality of each individual color. When you take a color off the strip, out of that context and into the context of a three-dimensional room and unique inherent light, that new context will very likely enhance different parts of that color's character thus 'giving' it a different undertone than it appeared to have while on the strip next to the other paint colors. When you are working with the darker colors, the darkest color on the strip indicating undertone has a better chance of holding true. Most people don't choose to use the darker colors on the strip. We mostly choose the midtones to lighter colors - the range on the strip where colorant + base combinations become more complicated. This area is where there isn't one colorant in the mix that will unquestionably dominate taking the lead over all the other colorants to define an undeniable undertone. Those more complex, less direct, colors don't have such clear-cut undertones. Their undertones can only be established in the context of a room and among the other elements.

This is a stipple "effect texture on the drywall. There are many ways of achieving this. I invite you to visit my site http://www.handymanaustintexas.com If you email me I will give you ideas and ways for you to make different types of textures on your drywall repairs. Texture ing is a great and affordable way to add value to your home. If you learn to do this yourself, it may not hurt to do a remodel on your home, and do this throughout your house! Here is a link that might be useful: JCK Home Services Handyman