Stairwell Ceiling Paint Color - help!?

We have a stairwell that is not very tall. The walls of the stairwell are currently a Williamsburg blue that is just way too dark. The darker color on the wall combined with the white ceiling color make it seem even shorter.





The plan is to paint it a soft beige / sand color but I was wondering if painting the stairwell ceiling the same color would be a good choice or bad. Thoughts? Stairwell Ceiling Paint Color - help!?
How about painting the stairwell ceiling a lighter shade of the same color.Stairwell Ceiling Paint Color - help!?
Stairwells are typically the darkest areas in the house. There's nothing wrong with a darker room except that some areas demand lighter colors for safety. Stairwells should be one of them. A light sand color is a great idea, walls and ceiling so it will reduce contrast and therefore make the space appear bigger. Remember that in a room, floors and horizontal surfaces receive the most light, walls receive the second most amount of light and ceilings receive the least. When I paint a ceiling, I will often have the paint shop make the wall color at 50% strength so that the walls and the ceiling appear to be the same color. The reason is because ceilings always appear darker. If your paint is very light however, this will not work as well. You didn't tell me about the trim in your stairwell....is it painted or stained? If painted, you might try using colors like Ben Moore's Linen White of Bone White on the ceiling depending on the warmth or cool tones your wall color contains. Get this paint in a flat finish and you will have excellent ceiling coverage. Another trick you might pull is to paint the risers on the stairs the color of the trim (if painted) or the ceiling color if stained. This will give you a better dynamic range in the stairway and make it easy to traverse up and down the stairs with safety even though the space is dark.If your stair risers are currently stained, scuff lightly with 180 grit sandpaper to create a tooth. Dust well and use one coat of shellac based primer...not latex primer! Then go over this with two coats of latex or oil based semi-gloss. Voila!


Best,


Rodd
The most reflective would be white for your ceiling, but the advantage of painting it beige would be to blur the distinction between wall and ceiling which would let your eye travel on and help to give an impression of height (provided it is light enough). The blue you mention is notorious for 'swallowing' the light so I think you will see a huge improvement.
Painting the ceiling a dark color would close it in even more, and make you feel like you were walking in a cave. As alerion suggested, use the color chip that contains the color you are using, and select a ceiling paint several shades up the card. Hope this helps.
i would definitely paint the ceiling the same beige that you paint the walls. i did this in my bathroom %26amp; love the cohesiveness.
i would paint wall and ceiling the same color. Since your walls are dark, you migt want to prime first. Priming makes a big difference. if your old color happens to be oil, you must prime first.

pimple