Painting Ceilings

Walls & Ceiling: Wine Dark No.308

Very little thought tends to be given to the colour of the humble ceiling, but the choice you make will have a huge effect on the overall feel of a room. Consider the ceiling to be your fifth wall and give it due consideration. 

Although ceilings are so often painted in some ubiquitous colourless paint, there is no rule to say that they have to be white; in the past few years, the fashion for painting ceilings the same colour as walls has exploded with the realization that most people don’t want the size and shape of their room to be defined by the ceiling. 

Your ceiling colour can make a room look lighter or darker as well as change the perceived height of the ceiling. And don’t forget that Full Gloss on the ceiling has an amazing effect on a room, as does wallpaper – if you are feeling very brave.

Making a Room Look Lighter or Darker

White is by far the most common choice for a ceiling, but a bright white can actually make a room feel darker. Although this sounds counterintuitive, decorating is all about contrast. The lighter the ceiling, the darker the walls will appear. A bright white will make even the subtlest of colours feel relatively dark. That’s why we’ve paired all of our shades with a complementary white, making it simple to create a lighter, more cohesive space. Of course, if you have dark walls that you want to emphasise, a white ceiling could be a wonderful choice.

1. 

   String

   No. 8

   No. 8
2. 

   Pointing

   No. 2003

   No. 2003
3. 

   Broccoli Brown

   No. W108

   No. W108
4. 

   Skimmed Milk White

   No. W7

   No. W7

Creating calm with ceilings

Having the same colour on your ceiling and your walls creates a soothing atmosphere and looks  much more subtle than you might imagine. There are no sharp lines or harsh contrasts, so your eye simply floats around the room.

This technique covers up a multitude of sins and is particularly useful if you have an oddly angled ceiling that you’d like to be less noticeable.

Changing the size of a room (or so it seems)

If you use a bright white on the ceiling of a room with coloured walls, the contrast between the two is so great that one’s eye is immediately drawn upwards, to read where the wall ends and the ceiling begins. Having read the top edge of the walls, you are immediately aware of the ceiling height, which causes it to drop.  

If, however, you choose a white for the ceiling that is more sympathetic to the tone on the walls, it will feel as if the wall colour has just gradated into a lighter tone on the ceiling. You are then much less aware of where the walls end and the ceiling begins, which means that the perceived ceiling height will rise. Old-school decorators would very often mix 25 per cent of the wall colour into the ceiling white to achieve this effect. Luckily, Farrow & Ball have done all this work for you – there is a complementary white, with the correct coloured undertone, for every wall colour in our palette. It is also worth noting that if you have a very high ceiling and want to bring it down to a more comfortable height, then you should use a darker tone on the ceiling than on the walls. This will visually lower the height of a space and make it more intimate. 

Decorative Ceilings

Of course, there’s nothing to say you have to use white at all. Using colour on the ceiling has become increasingly popular, which we’re delighted to see. It creates an unexpected focal point, introducing an element of surprise. Even a hint of colour will infuse a space with individuality. 
You can play with finish too. Ceilings painted in Full Gloss have an undeniably glamourous feel and this super high shine finish bounces light around the room, making a gloomy space feel brighter. It looks especially beautiful in candlelight. 

Why stop at paint? Using wallpaper on a ceiling is a spectacular statement. It might feel a bit too adventurous at first, but decorative ceilings have a long history in both architecture and interior design. Stripes are a classic choice or for something more subtle, we have plenty of small-scale patterns to sample.