Why Should You Paint Your Ceiling White?

During a color consulting appointment clients will often remark that they are nervous choosing a paint color for their ceiling. There are far more reasons to not paint a ceiling white than you'd think. In situations where white is the perfect color to use, it is successful only because it is used very consciously as a color -- not a knee-jerk reaction to getting out of the paint store sooner than later. I posted a piece about the color white on my color blog. Here's the lead.
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Painting your ceiling white is not necessary or even always a good idea. White paint will not always make your room look larger, cleaner and more fashionable. Sometimes white will seem to expand the size of a room, but sometimes it’s a big mistake. Mostly, people paint their ceilings white because they don’t know what else to do.

I’m not exactly sure when white ceilings became fashionable, though I suspect the country’s fascination with white paint began in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. The famed White City at the World’s Fair included a complex of buildings and streets over an area of hundreds of acres. Buildings were finished with white stucco and brightly lit with the new-fangled street lights. Acres of radiant whiteness must have been an entrancing alternative to the dark countryside and dimly lit city streets filled with dark tenement buildings.

Then, about thirty-five years later, the Great Depression. . . READ MORE at Color Conversations with Cristina.