Finished.... for now

So I am "finished" with the stuff I needed to complete on this trip. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get done until yesterday, but now I am home again. This photo shows what the walls look like – this is that same room with all the masking in the previous post . Much of the ceiling has the same finish on it. Usually in really small spaces – especially with low ceilings, it is important to finish the ceiling as well as the walls. Often, in early consultations, clients express concerns that having anything other than white on their ceiling will make the ceiling feel closer. I have found that white simply makes the ceiling feel forgotten or even the whole space feel uncompleted. I think either of these is worse than having it look closer.

Sometimes when I am doing a whole house – especially in colored plaster, the ceilings add up to be a very substantial amount of additional money. In these situations often it works to find a similar color to the plaster for some of the ceilings. Rarely is the best option to have all the ceilings just be painted. Mostly it seems to depend on how awkward the ceiling may be, and more importantly how much of your field of vision is ceiling in that particular space. Ceilings can be a really good opportunity to support the feeling you are attempting with the walls. Even if the walls are just a carefully selected paint color, the ceiling color can be a color that can have a powerful effect.

In our library/nursery/guestroom we have a deep turquoise on the walls , The lighting isn’t great there, so I went with a darker color on the walls because darker colors recede into the distance in low light situations. The more intense color prevents the room from looking drab in the low light. Much of the natural light in this room come almost vertically up. This is reflected off the concrete of our neighbor’s driveway that is right outside that window and the neighbor’s house blocks most of the light from the sky that would be very blue. Light reflected from the ground is usually reddish (unless it is off of grass of course) so on the ceiling in there we put a very bright lemony green (almost a chartreuse muted just enough to read as white). I think this color gives a look of a glow that makes the soft light look more comforting and makes the ceiling combine with the walls really well. If it was done the same darker color as the walls, it would have absorbed way too much light . Unless you are trying to achieve a stark or rigid look and feel (maybe in a very formal setting), true white should be avoided for any painted surfaces.