I used to always use flat white ceiling paint, but lately I paint the ceiling 1 or 2 shades lighter than the walls. It makes cutting in easier too.

I am currently painting a bedroom with SW Sand Dollar, and picked Pacer White for the ceiling which is two shades lighter on the same card.

My bedroom ceiling is a very pale true blue. Depending on the light, it can appear off-white, pale violet, pale gray or sky blue ... I love the mutable colors.

The living room ceiling is a pale peach, lighter than the walls. It looks like a warm off-white most of the time. Pure white would have been harsh.

We are building, now to the painting stage. I just had this conversation with my designer friend about the ceilings. Originally had planned for them to all be couple shades lighter than walls (except in my red dining room), but now have decided in some of the rooms, mostly upstairs, to go with white. If the ceilings are flat, no texture, then ceiling white can look bluish depending on the light. If they have texture, she said it takes light differently and won't take on the blue hue. My ceilings are flat without texture, so she recommended going with the trim color SW Dover White but in flat sheen.

Mostly I go with a white or light-light beige tone on the ceilings, as my walls tend to be darker (or cedar such as our current house). However, in our first house, many years ago, we went against advice and reason, followed our youthful hearts, and painted the family room ceiling a warm turquoise. Added a white ceiling fan. Room was modern southwestern, with sand, white, black, and turquoise colors. It was stunning and so different.

Later, we rather quickly put that house on the market, planning to repaint that ceiling the following weekend. Too late! The first folks who walked in bought it, saying that the turquoise ceiling made them smile. Who would have thought?

I still wouldn't recommend such an odd color (for ceilings OR walls) for the resale market, but if a color makes YOU happy while you live there, I say go for it.

I'd decided to do all the walls in an antiquey off-white from Benjamin Moore called Deep In Thought. We just had the ceilings done in 25% tint of that (so 75% lighter) and it looks really good - takes the edge off 'bright white' and looks like it will go beautifully with the wall paint.

It sounds beautiful. What color did you go with for your trim/woodwork?

Went with 50% in satin for trim. There are so many varying tones going on with different off-whites that I decided I wanted to stick with one!

We paint our ceilings in a flat version of the crown color. We use BM #905-Lily of the Valley throughout our house. I would love to try color on my ceilings, but need to convince DH. Still, I do like the look we have.

Hi all. I have selected a color from Benjamin Moore, it is named Vintage Taupe. How do I use their tools to get a color one or two or three shades whiter from Vintage Taupe, meaning closer to white for the ceiling?

Thanks in advance

Many manufacturers do gray up their ceiling whites to increase coverage. Behr uses their Ultra Pure White in their ceiling paint, which is essentially what most manufacturers would call a White Base. One thing common to all "ceiling whites" is that they are very low sheen.