Interior Design and Redesign

Friday, June 23, 2006

Different Colors for Ceilings

QUESTION
I have a question regarding painting a kitchen ceiling. It's a cathedral knock-down ceiling but changes to popcorn between the kitchen and family room doorway area which is only about a 4 or 5 foot space. My client doesn't want to paint the family room ceiling because it's popcorn and flows to most other areas of the house, but the kitchen is separate except for the doorway area into the family room. She is painting the family room a warm gold color and leaving the ceilings white, but we are thinking about painting the ceiling in the kitchen the same gold color because it is a high ceiling and the gold matches the kitchen faux wallpaper nicely. Would it look funny to just end the paint at the break in ceiling types or is there a better way to do this?

ANSWER
I don't have a problem with changing the color on the ceiling when it is clearly a different room and the texture changes, so long as a colored ceiling does not make the room look smaller. It will, but when you have high ceilings to begin with, you can get away with it.

After it's done, if it doesn't feel perfect, you can add a faux beam or molding to separate the two to make them visually more separate. Or perhaps the lighting will allow you to section off a portion inside the gold and paint it white to match the outer area, creating a "border" with the gold rather than an all one-color ceiling.