gagesgranny-I wouldn't say that it makes the room feel darker as it seems to just cozy it up. The starkness of the white ceiling before really bothered me and it wasn't as comfortable a space as it is now, if that makes sense. Because of the height of the ceiling, I think the room really needed the ceiling to feel lower. Just changing the white took all the coolness out of the room. I don't think you have to paint the room a very dark color at all to achieve that, either! Good luck (and you should post pics)!

I think all dark walls would be awesome! In fact DS1 was helping pick a shade of deep blue for a decorating project and he went directly to a SW chip that I had called Sea Serpent and and called it the color of outer space. The other color that he liked was BM Polo Blue (the one we're going w/) which is a deep navy, almost black color. It will be on the top quarter of our DR walls and ceiling. I've never really gone for the whole accent wall. A deep blue almost black w/ white trim in a light filled room would look killer! This is also coming from a person who does not mind painting though. Deep colors take lots of coats if you don't use a tinted primer and vice verse if you decide to take it lighter later. Love Spitfires idea about the room being a space ship looking out into space! DS1 & DS2 have a different themed room of transportation but they do have tin planes, helicopters and a zepplin hanging fromn the ceiling. These pics are old and I've transitioned it into a big boy bedroom now (they are 3 & 6) but the planes are still on the ceiling. Proper planning is key to being able to transition it through his growing and changing tatses over the yrs. One cool idea that DS1 came up w/ last yr. after we made Halloween costumes was to take a leftover box, cut off 2 flaps opposite each other and paint it grey. He put spaceship markings on it in marker and glued leftover Wawa hot dish cups on the bottom outside of the box. They got painted grey too. These were the ships boosters. We crumpled up orange and red tissue paper and stuffed inside the cups to look like flames shooting out. We tacked it onto the ceiling. The 2 box top flaps that we left on were the wings. Now they're into antique British sports cars and the Beatles (every Sunday they listen to Lunch w/ the Beatles on the radio). They want British and American flags over their beds and a deep navy blue ceiling becuase they still love all things sky related. I'm sure that I'll have blue paint leftover from the DR so I bet they get their wish.

The current beam is too narrow and has to be wrapped. The fan base hangs out at least and inch on each side. As far as wrapping it with a certain type of wood, it’s hard to find 16’ boards and I didn’t want to mess with seaming together multiple boards. That said, our local options are pine, Douglas fir, and cedar. We thought the grain on Douglas fir looked nice. I mainly wanted to know if staining the wood dark would be a good compliment to light colored floor. I know some people try to match the floor but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that.

Figure out if you are going to keep it as a kid's play space or possibly use the room as a family room? If you are going to keep it for the children, I would paint the wall a neat accent color where the entranceway is on the left side wall. I would tie that together with a nice area rug===something colorful that has the same color as the painted wall. Maybe a nice shade of apricot or even a pale yellow or a lime green. I would put some big stuffed animals in there and hang some shelves on the walls. You could get a colorful throw for the sofa. If you are going to use it as a family room, I would mount a tv over the piece of furniture in that inset and put the couch facing the tv. Get a coffee table and paint the entire left wall a cool accent color. Get a throw for the couch and some throw pillows for the couch and add some comfortable swivel chairs towards the tv. For the back wall you could place the table with chairs and add a credenza against the wall or some low book shelves.