If you have grown up with white walls and white ceilings like so many of us did (although my parents always insisted that our house was not painted white but eggshell) taking the leap into the world of coloured walls might be a little scary or even mean a nice shade of beige.

I prefer to have white walls (over beige or eggshell) and to add colour to the ceiling, and contrary to popular belief coloured ceiling do not make a room feel smaller.

There are many simple advantages to consider when painting only the ceiling in colour.

Since every room has six sides, remove the floor and the four walls and you only have to paint one wall (yes the ceiling is a wall after all) and when you want to repaint later, well, you have removed five sides from the equation and redecorating your room becomes a one day project.

Its best to pick the most dominant colour in the room, for example if it’s a living room, take a look at your furniture, art work and accessories, and choose a colour from what you already have. If blue is the colour that dominates in these items then make that your ceilings paint colour, repetition is a coordinated room’s best friend.

Remember to dull it down though, find a tone that is similar to your chosen colour but with a grey undertone, your paint store expert will be able to mix up a muddier tone for you, or if it’s a vibrant rich colour use the lightest shade from that spectrum and paint that on the ceiling.

Just repeat the same colour in different tones (go with some deeper and some lighter shades) on your accent pillows, accessories or art work, or with an area carpet and some side lamps.

You will have a colourful and coordinated room while keeping the comfort of your white walls, an easy compromise without a great deal of effort.

 

Paint Colour Benjamin Moore # 2124-10 Wrought Iron

In this entrance I kept the walls white but increased the drama by painting a deep charcoal grey on the ceiling. I repeated the colour on the traditional railing and stair risers and dropped the same colour down to eye level on the back wall. The pallet is warmed by the richness of the Pecan wood floors and stairs. The affect is clean and modern.