Oh What a Feeling--Painting on the Ceiling

Add a little color to your life by painting that often ignored canvass above your head-your ceiling.

Consider changing the atmosphere in your home by painting your ceilings. They don't have to be replicas of the Sistine Chapel, but a new color above your head will dramatically change the feeling of your room. Even a hint of color can make a difference. A light peach on the ceiling will brighten a room with a warm rosy hue much more than a cold white.

Paint can also be used to change the appearance of height of a ceiling. To bring the ceiling lower in a cavernous room, make the walls a dark color and the ceiling white. This will bring the eye to a firm point where the wall ends and the ceiling begins, making the ceiling seem closer. Blurring that line of demarcation between the walls and the ceiling will create the effect of a high ceiling, since the eye cannot tell where the boundary exists between the wall and the ceiling.

Once you've made up your mind to begin this project the next step is to determine what kind of paint to use. You'll find you are faced with two genres-ceiling paint or wall paint. How much of a difference can there be in paint, you may wonder. A lot. For starters, price. Ceiling paint is cheaper, but don't start calculating how much money you can save by painting your walls with ceiling paint. There's a reason it's cheaper-ceiling paint doesn't contain some of the expensive ingredients that make wall paint resistant to smudge marks and easy to clean. Ceiling paint is also chalkier than wall paint, and can be easily damaged in high traffic areas. Ceiling paint is a flat paint that will not show imperfections as easily as glossier wall paint. It is also a thicker paint, designed to reduce splatter when applied.

While ceiling paint is exclusively for use on the ceiling, wall paint is a bit more versatile. It works quite well on ceilings since it is easier to tint than ceiling paint, so you will be able to get the exact color you desire. Ceiling paints appear in far fewer colors-generally a variation on the "white" theme. Recently, however, Martha Stewart introduced some color to the ceiling paint world, and other companies will likely follow suit, expanding your options for colorful ceilings.

You don't have to be Michelangelo to have a fabulous ceiling. A little know-how and some paint can change your life-or at least your living room!

Sources: Patricia Dane Rogers, The Washington Post