I have a good one that shows some styles. (link below)
We went with one called brocade which is very similar to knock down but a little bigger pattern.

Here's our ceiling before they painted it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pacific drywall

Here is another site where you can see textures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Textures

Cork

This was an issue for me. My sister ( my family owns a large construction company but they do not do residential- and I would not want them to do mine anyways- you know how that goes)was really adamant that we have a "smooth" ceiling. I asked the builder and the drywallers and they said it's not only more expensive but it's hard to make look good. I finally decided on Knockdown- I think some would call the same orange peel. After my smooth ceiling sister saw it - it was what she was talking about. She just didn't want us to get the popcorn. Our looks a little like the one lindybarts posted- maybe a smaller "pattern" for lack of a better word.

Here's what our builder recommended- have them do a closet first. You can look at it in the closet and see if it's what you want- if not try another closet.

We sprayed ours- I think if you rolled a couple of coats on you would barely see any texture at all.

It looks really nice actually.

PD

They can do a sample(s) on any wall area as long as you are there to make a decision, as they will want to wipe it back down smooth while it is wet. Once you have made a decision, the sample areas are allowed to dry a little before they put the final spray there, as the sampling gets the wallboard slightly wet or damp. It dries pretty quickly while they are doing the rest of the project.

The closet idea is good if you cant be there, but you could have closets w/ a texture you dont like. That would bug some folks even though it's a closet.

Here is mine. It's called Spantex and is done similar to the "popcorn" type but a drywall mud type of stuff is sprayed up. There is a slight color variance which I think looks nice.

The suggestion that it is difficult to get a smooth finish on a ceiling is complete nonsense. Find a professional.

mighty anvil

That was my feeling too... so therefore why does everyone go with textured ceilings? Obviously there must be some practical reason? I personally didn't understand why it was any different than the walls - and my walls are perfect.

The primary reason for a sub-contractor to insist on a textured ceiling is to save the cost of finish taping of the drywall joints or perhaps he doesn't have the skill needed to do it properly.

There are, I assume, those who like the appearance of a textured ceiling but I haven't run across any in the past 40 years.

Because of the high skill level of most drywall installers where I live it is cheaper to use "blueboard" with a thin veneer of plaster. It is so beautiful you hate to paint it.

Thanks Mighty Anvil

I have no doubt the subs who did our walls had the skill. Our finishers were very good - our walls look great. I am also pretty sure they are happy to be done sooner rather than later anytime they can. LOL The whole drywalling group were an interesting bunch.

PD, thanks for the info. That's exactly what we had them do at my MILs house, do a closet for a sample. Unfortunately what our drywallers are telling us (and Mightyanvil, you have a completely different class of drywaller by you because our drywallers are rough, like, straight off the streets or out of jail rough and they're hired by the builder so we have no control over who they are) is that our builder's "standard" is some finish that gets sprayed on and they don't have the equipment to spray the stuff to show us a sample. Basically, if we want that ceiling they say they have to rent the equipment and at that point we're beyond deciding, the decision will already have to be made.

I guess they're willing (and prefer) to do any other type of ceiling texture that doesn't require this special equipment so I suppose we could have them manually do some samples in closets for us, but DH and I are worried that maybe we'll be "missing out" on the "good" ceiling if we don't have them do the sprayed kind? I have no idea. I guess it really shouldn't matter this much but I've seen some butt ugly ceilings that I would hate to end up with.

I would insist on getting some professionals in there despite your builder. It's your house, your money.

I carry a sample board w/ the hand and sprayed textures that i offer to folks who have a finish project going on. I would never texture/sample out a customers closet.

If they dont have the equipment as well as the know how, they have no business being in business.

I know this can be a matter of personal taste but as an architect I would not even consider a ceiling with a rough finish. IMHO ceilings should be perfectly smooth with flat white paint for the best lighting and greatest sense of space in a room.

That's all the help I'm willing to give until you show a little more respect for the Red Sox on your blog.

LOL. Sorry mighty, I'm a born and bread Tribe fan 'til the end. :)

Sierra, yeah... we were immediately concerned too that they didn't have this equipment. I don't think that speaks very highly of them or their company or professionalism. I looked online and the sprayers for this stuff doesn't seem all that expensive, I can't imagine why they don't own one, other than they don't have two nickels to rub together.

They just started the finish work yesterday, and the only thing that happened yesterday was the taping, so at this point we have no idea what quality of work we're going to get on the actual finish. We know for a fact this is the first time our builder has worked with this crew so we are absolutely going to be watching them like hawks and if it looks like they're doing a crappy job we're going to put a stop to the work, call the builder and insist on a different crew. We just want to give these guys a chance to prove themselves before dismissing them. They hung the drywall ok, but we have several curved walls and they didn't have a clue how to do it, my husband had to show them.

The guys that textured my walls/ceilings spent a LOT of time spraying and/or trowelling samples for me on large scraps of sheet rock. They also set up very bright lights and showed me the various effects from different angles. This would not have worked well inside a closet.
I ended up with on orange peel knockdown on the walls and a very light orange peel ceiling. It's all good.

Our ceilings are the same texture as our walls. A basic brocade. Actually what we consider basic here was something new to our texture guys as they do what they called a slide brocade, a heavier wetter consistancy. But once I got them to come to my current house and look they figured out what I wanted in no time and the whole house looks great.

They did samples all over our garage trying to figure out how I wanted it. I've never seen a perfectly smooth ceiling (thinking prep for wallpaper smooth) and the popcorn type I haven't seen around here much in new construction. Therefore if I'd wanted that I'm thinking our crew would have had to rent a sprayer too, they do everything by hand.

I know this can be a matter of personal taste but as an architect I would not even consider a ceiling with a rough finish. IMHO ceilings should be perfectly smooth with flat white paint for the best lighting and greatest sense of space in a room.

Not only personal taste but also regional. Like jeannekay mentioned above, I've been through tons of homes in the last few years and not seen one smooth ceiling in the bunch. As for the white color...LOL...that's another debate.