I agree that white ceilings help the room look brighter.

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DS - 8
DD - 5

I did our bedroom and upstairs bathroom walls and ceiling the same color and I LOVE it. It's really cozy. I did them in a pretty green.

When I think of a small room with walls and ceilings the same color, it brings to my mind an image of a box. I like having contrasting/complimenting colors on the ceilings and trim. We used white and it makes the rooms brighter and makes the ceilings seem higher....even when I was in a house that didn't have 9.5 foot ceilings.

Of course, it is all a matter of preferences, and if you don't like it, you can always paint them white again, so you might as well give it a try.

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Home Depot has ColorHome discs you can buy to try different paint colors on your computer. That's what made my decision and it was way less work that painting and repainting.

I've had the opposite experience with the white / bright effect. Dark colors tend to fade away like the night sky that creates a sense of looking into oblivion. Right now I'm sitting in my livingroom and looking into my dining room. My living room has a high dark wood panelled ceiling and my dining room has a ceiling of the same height but it is plain white. The living room ceiling seems about 6 inches higher than the dining room ceiling. I know it is an optical illusion because they are the same height. It is the dark colors that seem to fade back and the bright colors that blare forward and want to be noticed.

In my previous house I painted the ceiling of my kitchen and eating area a medium denim blue. You entered the kitchen from a very high ceilinged living room and I wanted to give the kitchen and eating area a cozy feel. Instead of giving a feeling of the ceiling being lower, the blue opened up the whole space and made it feel bigger. On top of this, we had a wall of windows across the entrance to the kitchen and it was the longest time before I put curtains up. I loved when night came and the black of the windows added to the illusion that the room went on forever into space.

Now, that said, I wouldn't paint every wall and ceiling in my house black, that would absorb too much light. And very dark or very bright colors can be oppressive. But I don't think some color on the ceiling is a major drawback. Sometimes white is simply too stark.

A word about white ... In one house I painted a bathroom light blue and planned on a white ceiling. Unfortunately, by the time I was done with the walls the color reflected around the room so much, that the ceiling ended up looking light blue, too. In order to make the ceiling look white, I had to paint it light yellow to counter-act the blue light. Just a reminder that sometimes white doesn't end up looking white no matter what the paint can says.

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Well ladies I painted the ceiling before I checked the replies and I love it. DH actually complimented me on the bathroom and he never gives compliments unless I tell him too.

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DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

Yes with one exception our Nursery, we did the sky with faux clouds on the upper part of the walls painting the ceiline added to the effect.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006

We repainted to whole house and left the ceiling white. I like it, because it helps keep the room bright. But that is just what I like.

My walls and ceiling are the same color, a very light beige. It looks great. You can give it a try if you don't like it paint it again.

most of my celings are off-white or a creamy color. My favorite celing color in my house is called "White Chocolate"!!!! I love it. In the same room my walls are kind of a pear green. It looks good together.
I have an interior design degree, and in school we learned that there are MANY rules when it comes to making a colored celing look good. It depends on the height of the room, colors you are using, how large the room is and where the window placements are. The only celing in my house that is painted the same color as the wall is the dropped celing over our jaccuzzi tub. It makes it look more "romantic" and relaxing.

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One happy wife and mommy!!!